Rachel Singh: Quest for the Arts

FOR the past 20 years, Rachel Singh has climbed the corporate ladder to attain success in business while helping others to achieve financial wellness. Now, the multi-award-winning unit manager has breathed new life into her art skills.

Epitomising the essence of Emilie Wapnick’s multipotentialite description, Singh has painted a path to success for herself in the arts through the recent launch of her business, Rachel Exhibit, to pursue her dream as an artist.

“I didn’t want to betray myself. I enjoy my career as a financial service professional and I have a passion for business, but there are other things I enjoy doing as well. While doing these, I always had this burning desire to take art to the next level,” Singh stated.

“My passion stemmed from loving to do it and the reason it is now public is that I realised that not only is it therapeutic, but it also gives an avenue for freedom of expression,” she added.

She recounted that of all her classes throughout her academic career, art classes were always the best and shared that music, dance and entertainment played a key role in her upbringing.

“I am multi-passionate and I love to sell things,” Singh said of her talents. “I used to do puff painting art, which included the use of neon color puff paints on T-shirts and sold them. I used to get paid to do nails and braid hairstyles among other styles while I was in college,” she stated.

Though she would occasionally paint and do exhibitions, the passionate financial service professional turned artist shared that her love for the arts was rekindled during the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns.

“Though I was secure in my field and was still earning, fortunately, it reminded me that I was sitting on a lot of talent, and I thought, ‘why wait until I retire to pursue art’,” she related. “I started having more free time on my hands and also by that time my youngest son was an adult, so I went for it.”

Driven by her innate creativity and passion for business, she soon launched her online art store, rachelexhibit.com, and recorded herself painting, which she shared with her YouTube and Instagram followers.

She also built a community for artists by coordinating several art shows and providing the upcoming creatives a space to exhibit and sell their pieces.

Singh later expanded her business to offer art enthusiasts an avenue to express themselves through her secondary brand, Sip-Vibe-Paint, through which she hosts pop-up sip and paint events with an element of entertainment. She stated that her unique events are an avenue for others to experience freedom through art.

“Sip, Vibe and Paint allows me to connect with like-minded persons who want to be free to create and freely appreciate their ‘Jamaican-ness’. It is a beginner-friendly, entertainment and art session that makes it easy for anyone to follow and at the end of the session, each participant has a completed painting to take home as a memento of the experience,” she explained.

But despite her passion, Singh admitted that she too had to overcome doubts to be able to reach this stage in the pursuit of her dreams.

“One of the lessons of doing this with other persons is seeing how people compare their art or drawing to somebody else’s. What I find is that because everybody is comparing what they do to other persons, insecurity comes into play and, feeling like you’re not good enough or your art isn’t good enough when your art is your own, there is no comparison,” she said. “I went through a period where I was not creating, focusing solely on my professional career and business instead of pursuing art professionally.”

Asked how she has been able to balance all she does, Singh smiled and admitted that she, too, sometimes wonders how she does it. The wife and mother of two, said she has the support of her two sons and husband Michael, who though behind the scenes, plays an integral role in helping her go after her dreams.

“I spend my time wisely. Especially now, my time is valuable so I am very deliberate on how I focus my energy. There are 24 hours in everybody’s day and you get to decide how you spend it; I decide to spend mine by being creative and it is fun for me,” she said. “When Monday morning comes, I put on my unit manager hat so don’t ask me anything about Rachel Exhibit; check me weekends for that. I take both my roles seriously.”

Unlocking a new level of success and happiness, Singh, who is based at the Sagicor Life Corporate Circle branch, encouraged people to go after their passions despite life’s challenges.

“If you do it for the love, the passion, everything else will fall into place. I want people to know that your dreams matter, your creative ambitions matter and as long as you believe in what you’re doing, you should go for it. When you express your inner creativity and it comes out naturally, people gravitate towards you; everybody else eventually will catch on,” she said.

She continued: “I want to say especially to those young people who are doubtful, you are unique for a reason, whatever you bring to the table, there is a reason why there is only one of you. Just continue to be focused on your goals and ambitions”.