Today we’d like to introduce you to Paula Torres
Hi Paula, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a first generation Latina, my family and I immigrated from Colombia when I was 7 years old. My parents instilled in me the idea that anything is possible through hard work and dedication. My parents wanted to leave our small city in Colombia, because they knew the world had more to offer than what we had in our surroundings.
I’ve always been creative and felt the most comfortable expressing myself through art. I grew up watching movies about fairy tales and reading books that further emphasized the idea of following your dreams and overcoming all the odds, so it made sense to me to pursue a career in animation, where I could blend my love for storytelling and art.
So I received my bachelors degree from the University of Central Florida in 2022. While in school, I fell in love with 3D art and I was fortunate enough to work a couple of different internships within the field, and it was while doing so that I realized I didn’t feel satisfied.
Although these internships allowed me to create art and be surrounded by it, It was never truly the result of my own vision. I was always working to achieve someone else’s idea and following specific orders, it started to feel like I was placing my creativity in a box.
For what felt like a long time I struggled to find that creative outlet that would just click for me, I always knew I wanted to start a business, I wanted something of my own where I could freely create and somehow be able to share it with the world. So I started filming YouTube tutorials as a way to share my 3D art and teach others as well and upon experiencing some very bad burn out and creative block, I decided to take a step back from it and give myself a break.
Of course like any true creative you are never satisfied with not having a creative outlet, I could only go so long without doing anything creative, so I decided to try other mediums of art, and that is how I found embroidery. Like serendipity I came across a beautiful embroidery on my social feed and I decided to purchase a DIY kit to try for myself, and it truly was love at first stitch!
The possibilities started to open up for me and I began to design my own embroidery kits, once again I incorporated my love for story telling and connected the pieces to begin Needle & Tale.
This is my love letter to all creatives, cozy, crafty, cloud 9 living folks—those of you who love to get lost in whimsical worlds and want to create something magical.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Nothing worth it ever comes easy! I had to do a lot of soul searching to get to where I am now. My art has taken on many different forms throughout my journey and it has been hard to not feel like I am doing something wrong, or perhaps not being my genuine self because I was so used to doing something completely different for so long.
My business is still very early in its stages and as any business owners the fear of failure is always there. In a world where financial gain and the amount of followers you have is used to quantify your value, it is easy to feel like you are failing or your business is not valuable. It is important to remind myself to trust the journey, it is often more important than the destination.
All I can do is my best!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Needle & Tale?
Needle & Tale is my hand embroidery business, I design “do it yourself” kits for everyone.
What sets us apart from others is my story and unique point of view, I am inspired by my love for narrative and folk tales, I love to design kits that are based of some of our most beloved stories and human experiences.
Embroidery has become the process that I’ve fallen in love with and through these kits, I hope everyone else will too. It mimics life in the way that we weave into it with every decision we make and leave a mark behind that is important to the whole picture.
I love being able to encompass story and color with a tactile element, embroidery allows me to think of my concepts in a multidimensional and sensory way. It also allows me to connect with my Latin American roots because it’s an art form that is practiced to this day by our indigenous Colombian people. Embroidery is empowering, taking something that for a long time was a symbol of domesticity and fragility is what I choose as a canvas to express myself and do so freely & loudly.
I hope with Needle & Tale others can feel just as inspired as I have to express themselves through embroidery, to create something beautiful of their own and enjoy the process.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I don’t believe in bad luck, I believe life is hard and it is full of obstacles but those obstacles are what shape you and it’s about how you come out on the other side. Through out my life I’ve had plenty of unfortunate events, being an immigrant was a huge barrier that my family and I had to overcome, we ultimately moved to a new place without knowing anyone here or even speaking the same language, we slept in a mattress on the floor of someone’s living room when we first arrived and we worked our way to stability.
While in college I worked two jobs to help my parents pay for my tuition, because of my legal status I was not eligible for any state aid. One Christmas Eve, my parents where unfortunately deported, this was the biggest obstacle I had to deal with, not only was I devastated emotionally and mentally, but now I had to figure out how I was going to continue to pay for school on my own and not have my parents be at my graduation or many other milestones in my life.
I believe that dedication and passion have been the driving forces for my accomplishments and my journey in general. However, I would say there have been some serendipitous events that have ultimately helped me get here today.
For example, I received a scholarship from The Dream.US, shortly after my parents were deported. That ultimately helped me pay through college, without it, I would not have been able to finish school, and of course the luck of coming across an embroidery kit at the time where I needed it the most.
Pricing:
- Embroidery Kit – $35.00
- Embroidery Kit with Painted Frame – $60.00
- Mini Embroidery Kit – $20.00
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.needleandtale.store
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/needleandtale
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Needle-Tale/61562996785120/?mibextid=LQQJ4d&rdid=JqDHMrgYbK8jd9EI&share_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fshare%2FpfH6GEyM9Yn8xdfY%2F%3Fmibextid%3DLQQJ4d
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Needleandtale
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@needleandtale
