Today we’d like to introduce you to Charlotte Mirebeau.
Hi Charlotte, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I technically started Diversion Decor back in 2020 when my daughter was born, which I’ve noticed is when many small business owners started their businesses. I had her in January and the pandemic started in March. My ex-husband was in and out of jobs so I decided to do something with my time at home and paint wooden signs from the dollar store. They were signs for kids’ rooms and nurseries. I made a few free ones for family members and I had friends interested who started buying them as well!
When I wanted to turn into a legitimate business, I was discouraged by my partner who wanted part of the LLC to be for his own nonexistent business. I also felt pushed to go back to the workforce, so I did when my daughter was about 8 months old and that was terrible! Not to shame on work, but when you’re away from your infant for 8 hours a day, it hurts. I wish this country had a better system for mothers to work shorter hours and still make a livable wage so they can have more time with their children.
It sort of stayed like that and I kept getting laid off or penalized for my schedule as a mom, especially as a single mom after I finally left my toxic marriage at the end of 2021. But all these instances woke up something inside of me and I had so much fuel to create something of my own, I picked up where I left off with Diversion Decor and was doing exceptionally well until an eviction notice was placed on my apartment door rocked my whole world.
I never thought I’d be a victim of gentrification again after having to leave Miami Beach as a child, but Little Havana was on its way to becoming a gentrified neighborhood as well. Even my mom was evicted from the same building. They raised our rent to unaffordable prices and I found myself homeless with my disabled mother and my daughter. I hated this. I wanted a change. I NEEDED a change. I reached out on the internet for help and a beautiful community of people came together to give me donations and encouraged me to leave Miami like I wanted.
Meanwhile, my ex-husband who works on a boat traveling the Pacific from Alaska to Mexico and was not involved in taking care of our daughter was telling me I couldn’t leave Miami despite being denied to every single apartment or efficiency I tried to obtain for my little family and me. The shelter I found for us had a limit on how long we could stay there, plus it was in Homestead! Mind you, I worked in Downtown Miami and my daughter’s daycare was in Little Havana, so I had about a 5-hour commute daily.
I was still working full-time at my job while painting for Diversion Decor clients in the shelter, sleeping at 3 am every night and waking up at 6 am. I needed to find a solution fast. With all odds against me; being denied housing due to my eviction, my child’s father claiming he’d report me for kidnapping if I left the state, my family telling me if I left I’d lose custody, I put my foot down and followed my heart. I applied for a beautiful little home near Asheville, NC where I had read is voted one of the best places to raise a child as a single parent. I also visited Asheville as a child and remember loving it.
From there on, things just started falling into place so seamlessly. I got approved for this little 3 bedroom house, a room for each of us (my mom, daughter, and I) and a huge yard for my dog. I got fired (once again) from my white-collar job because my car had an issue and I couldn’t make it to work for one week. I took all this as a sign. My best friends and the shelter assisted me with the move and I was on my way to North Carolina by mid-April 2022. I remember crying every day from happiness my first week in North Carolina I had a home. I felt safe and secure.
Still, I kept trying the workforce. I worked for a nonprofit that claimed to “Empower Women” in the community and gave families in need free childcare but charged me a ‘discounted’ $600 monthly daycare fee. Am I not a woman of the community in need? I mean, I just came from a shelter with my 2 year old, right? Eventually, they let me go after missing some work due to my daughter being sick and her daycare closing for a few days. I couldn’t believe this backward society.
Luckily, my child’s father had come to some senses and offered to help financially so I can pursue Diversion Decor full-time. I’ve been working on perfecting my murals all of 2022 and towards the end learned digital art and graphic design. I decided Diversion Decor was going to become an “all-in-one” art business, truly capturing the essence of “diverse” art and design. Do you want a mural? I can do that! Do you want a logo? I can also do that! Want a canvas? No problem! So many people have told me this is a horrible business strategy and that I should stick to one form of art.
Again, I realized nobody knows a damn thing and I’m gonna do what I feel is right! Funny enough, I’ve made the most income from Diversion Decor since relaunching this year as a genuinely diverse art business! Now I do it all, not just signs and paintings like I started with in 2020 and continued in 2021. Now I have a larger target audience. With child support and honoring my business name by working on all sorts of mediums in art and design, I’ve been making by.
I don’t make as much money as I used to in the workforce and to be quite frank with you, I’m terrified half of the time because freelancing is simply scary. To freelance, you need to trust yourself and not many of us can truly say that. A biweekly check working for someone else can feel more stable than obtaining clients for a small business although that’s not always the case either as I’ve gotten laid off from my past 3 jobs due to my schedule as a single mom. With that being said, I am so happy.
I truly understand the meaning that money doesn’t buy happiness, freedom and time do. At least that’s the case for me. My daughter had a 102.6 fever last week, and guess who didn’t have to call out of work? No anxiety attacks about losing my job because a micro-manager decided their business was more important than my child’s health. Taking care of her has been my main priority since she was born and I feel like I can care for her to my full extent.
My sister finally took some responsibility over our mother after I told my family I couldn’t do it alone and she moved back to Miami so I don’t even have a family where I live now (I don’t have a babysitter either) but it still feels easier than when I was working a 9 to 5 job for the sole reason that I have the freedom to attend to my child wholeheartedly. Not only that but I have the freedom to travel to Miami whenever I want and plan to do a few pop-up projects with Diversion Decor in Miami.
I have a few locations I’ve been in communication with to do murals at in South Florida and I also have a few clients in Miami who collect my paintings or hire me for logos. Who knew leaving Florida would result in me getting decent business in Florida? I feel like I made a full circle in the best way possible. Business in North Carolina is also pretty good. I feel like I’m ready to take the next step and I’ll even be launching a new business with a friend/partner next year!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Oh no, not at all! Being homeless with my toddler was comparable to losing my father when I was 12. It’s traumatizing. I still have trauma from being in a shelter. I still get afraid of not making my rent and being evicted, but I remain confident in my work and keep hustling!
To anyone in Miami right now experiencing homelessness, forward is the only way. You have to fight every day to keep going. It’s so hard but you have to win the battle, it’s the only way out. Also, reach out for help. You’d be amazed at what a community can make happen when coming together.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I struggled with this question for so long that I said “Screw it, I’m gonna do it all” which I feel honors my business name “Diversion Decor.” But I still feel there are some important things to mention when pursuing a business with a creative outlet. Through working on my portfolio all of last year, I realized you can be an incredible artist or creator but you need to polish up your business and marketing aspect to make an income.
In a way it kind of sucks, I went into this thinking I just had to make nice art but there’s a business side to it as well. I started marketing like crazy and blew up a few videos on TikTok. Also, I learned to become a well-known artist, you need a style or a niche. You can follow trends or you can risk it never making it and setting your trend or style. I hate trends, to be honest, like following social media trends.
I’m sure as hell not gonna start dancing on TikTok to promote my art BUT I did perfect my niche and style. If you see my work, I include a special kind of linework I love doing on most of my pieces. Western North Carolina (WNC) is very mountainous and I have loved mountains my whole life so I started painting them again and again. People started recognizing my work. I had mutuals on social media send me things that “reminded” them of my work.
That felt so good because my art was recognizable. I finally developed my niche which mostly consists of colorful mountains or paintings with linework, sometimes adding some realistic trees as my clients usually love them. I’d say my art is mostly contemporary with some abstracts included. Also, I always add a sun and/or moon to represent balance. I love them both and it even included in my logo.
The balance represents me being a lover of nature and originally a traditional artist who also learned to monetize my art through social media & digital design. I even have on my bio: Finding a balance between the natural and digital world. I don’t think I’d ever have clients if it wasn’t for social media but I would’ve never even had a niche if I wasn’t so connected to the environment and natural world. Most of my inspiration comes from my surroundings living and hiking in the forests & mountains of WNC.
I’m the proudest of a series I did for a client of mine, its two 3 ft x 3 ft canvases’ (so 6 ft x 6 ft in total) of sunset and sunrise including mountains and line-work in my style. I sat with them for hours before packing them for the client. I’ve never been so proud of a painting in my life! I’ll be delivering those by hand in Miami when I visit later this month.
Who else deserves credit for your story?
My daughter is my sole motivator to have started Diversion Decor. I have to shout out my most recent partner for introducing me to some online programs like Figma for some UI and graphic design. They encouraged me to accept the digital side of art as I was so resistant to it for so long. We’re not together anymore but I’ll always be thankful for them. I also did a lot of my research and use other programs like Procreate and I want to dive into Adobe Illustrator now as well since I feel more comfortable with the whole digital aspect of my business.
I also want to give credit to my dear friend Manuela, who goes by the name ToyInvades. She also blew up her art far more than I have on social media and mentored me a bit on how to start selling murals. Not necessarily on the painting side but on how she’s gotten clients and so forth. She has taken time to share her process of how she became a full-time muralist in Miami and she’s a lovely human with a heart of gold.
My mom pushed for me to attend college but always invested in my artistic and creative side. I always had art supplies growing up. She let me paint the walls and doors in my room when I was a teenager and most parents wouldn’t be okay with that. I remember she paid rent late once to buy me a camera because I was so in love with photography which I feel plays a huge part in how I present my business online.
Although college was always her goal for me, she supported me and my art from the moment I dropped out of college and quit the workforce when I decided to pursue art as a job. She’s the first person I tell when I get a new client to book me for a piece or service. I love her so much and she’s my biggest cheerleader! More importantly, I want to thank all of my clients who quite literally are the reason for me making an income off Diversion Decor. My clients appreciate my wit and background.
I used to think it was because they felt bad for me but the truth is, they rather pay someone like me than a big corporation or highly successful artist/designer with a huge following because they appreciate the ethics behind my work, my prices are also pretty affordable compared to larger artists. This makes them unique individuals who genuinely understand the meaning of “shop local” or “support small businesses.” I adore every single one of them.
Lastly, I want to thank the community who came together to help us when we were homeless. My good friend Estefania (Teffa) created the GoFundMe that helped me with obtaining housing again. I had 2 friends (Yovanny and Isaac) and their partners (Gen and Kiana) help move out of my apartment when I was evicted. My friend Smiley and his mom flew down from New York to help me drive the U-Haul to our new home in North Carolina.
Community is such a beautiful feature of life. I had no idea that making one video reaching out for help would reach tens of thousands of people and help me out of homelessness. Do NOT be afraid to ask for help! Humans are so powerful and capable of so much when coming together. I’m tearing up as I’m explaining this but I’m just beyond thankful for everyone who has been part of my journey. It made me believe that humans are amazing creatures.
Pricing:
- Canvas Paintings: $75 to $300
- Murals: $300 – $2,500
- Logos: $150 – $350
- Content Creation / Design: $10 – $100
- Product Labels: $150 – $500
Contact Info:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/diversiondecor
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DiversionDecor
- Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@diversiondecor
