We had the good fortune of connecting with Bryanna Smith and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Bryanna, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
The idea of Sketch Club Cafe was originally thought up by two artists that fondly have a great love for specialty coffee, social environments, and supporting local small business. SCC was founded by two black women, who more often than not were unable to feel completely comfortable or safe taking up space alone. We also, as minority women, are at a disadvantage when it comes to having access to being seen or heard when we express ourselves creatively. We believe this is an extremely important part of our mission because we pride ourselves on creating safe spaces for all to feel comfortable to interact positively together over a shared love of art.
We want to remain open to all ages, and invite members to embrace their own unique way of expression. We work hard to provide support, encouragement, and a variety of opportunities to further uplift our community.
Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
What do you want the world to know about your brand and story?
Sketch Club Cafe was founded on the idea of building a positive and inclusive community for anyone and everyone who needs it. That is especially true for marginalized groups that often feel excluded and unable to find their own voice. From the very beginning, this has been our primary goal, and as our community has grown, we’ve expanded to include and spotlight a collective of vastly diverse local artists. As we continue to grow and move forward, that will always be the key tenet to Sketch Club Cafe.
Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
This seems like such a loaded question for us, as we are fiercely loyal to the local coffee and food scene. We fancy ourselves foodies and Kourtney even has her own food influencer page (It’s quite popular)!
We would be remiss if we didn’t spotlight a number of our closest coffee shop partners, such as Pair Cupworks in Mesa, as well as Little Jupiter Cafe and GrindTime Coffee in Gilbert. It may seem like we only like coffee, but we have to show love for many of the boba shops that have shown us support, as well, such as Tea Fresho in Chandler, Xing Fu Tang in Mesa, and Fire Tiger Dessert Cafe in Mesa.
Of course, we’ve already mentioned that we’re foodies, and a few favorite spots include Glai Baan, Valentine, The Stone Tofu House, and Cornish Pasty to name a few.
As a collective of artists, we’re also always on the lookout for inspiring places to visit. A few favorite of ours would be the Japanese Friendship Garden, and WonderSpaces in Scottsdale.
One thing we’ve found that many artists have in common is our love of stationary and knick-knacks, with a few favorite stops being Kei Collective, Collector’s Marketplace, Cutie in Mesa, and ACG GO in Tempe.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We have found much of our inspiration through various outlets.
We would like to mention the local coffee scene in Arizona as this was an essential foundation of our origin. Our Co-founders frequented these places and Bryanna has been a part of the AZ coffee scene for around 8 years, watching many of her barista friends grow to starting their own shops. Our organization acts as somewhat of a partner and a support to local shops, but especially coffee shops. They provide us with space, and we provide them with a flash mob of coffee-obsessed artists. We are extremely grateful for their support, and thank every single shop and barista that have welcomed us, and provided us with amazing experiences each and every meet. Without our coffee shops Sketch Club would still be an idea rather than the movement that we created.
The idea of starting a Sketch Club is not exactly an original thought, though we do think that our organization has its own uniqueness. We definitely would like to shout out a fellow Sketch Club starter and friend, Jayne Lawless, of North End Sketch Club in Liverpool, UK. Co-founder, Kourtney, found inspiration from long time friend Jayne. She saw how it could be a great opportunity to engage with other artists by connecting with the community. We were highly encouraged by Jayne to pursue starting and working towards our mission.
We would like to show love to, of course, our members too! We have felt such a joy and huge embrace from the art community as a whole. Starting this, We told each other, “its ok if no one comes and it’s just us.” But instead, we have grown and have been supported in many ways by our members. They show up for what we provide, and they reflect love back to us. It’s been a mostly positive experience for us all. It’s a sacrifice that we are willing to make because we feel very passionate about what we are doing for our community!
Thank you all for keeping the space a place filled with positive vibes, encouragement, and love.
Website: http://sketchclubcafe.com/
Instagram: @sketchclubcafe
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sketchclubcafe
Image Credits
Bridget Michelle Photo, City of Mesa, Sketch Club Cafe