Welcome to Refinery29’s Why I Code, a Changing Face series where we ask inspirational, tech-disrupting trailblazers in computer science 29 questions about what fuels them on and off the clock.
New York-based artist and designer Anya Karolyn never thought her longtime hobby of creating different types of art could turn into a full-time career. One dream art studio in Manhattan and successful print and apparel business later, it’s safe to say that she’s singing a different tune. As a mixed-media artist, Karolyn weaves together her passion for creating on a physical canvas with Photoshop-level computer editing and coding. You might call her a modern renaissance woman, constantly innovating via graphics and code.
Growing up, Karolyn considered herself an “art kid,” but always thought it would just be something she enjoyed quietly. “[Art] was the thing that first gave me confidence in my identity because I wasn’t really identifying with anything else in school,” says the 26-year-old Boulder, CO native. “In art class, I just felt this weird sense of confidence that I didn’t have in any other aspect of my life, but I never thought it could be a full-time career — I didn’t even go to college for art. It was very much a fun talent I had.”
Now, she’s fully immersed in KARO, her very own ever-evolving art project and business — but her journey to get there wasn’t always a straight line. “It’s [been] years and years of tiny baby steps, nuanced realizations, and breaking out of self-limiting beliefs,” she shares. “There have been so many sleepless nights, all-nighters on projects that I never got paid for, projects that never saw the light of day, or things that I felt were just a waste.”
She started growing KARO on the side in 2018, but at the time, she was working as an in-house creative in the music industry at a major label, doing anything from directing music videos to animating lyric videos and GIFs to shooting single covers to editing concert recaps. “I was constantly working to make other artists’ visions come to life, and I kept asking myself, Why can’t I bet on myself like that? Am I going to live my whole life feeling like I’m in the wrong role? I was working at this job close to 50 hours per week, and then staying up every night working on art for KARO,” she says. “I couldn’t take it anymore eventually and saved up enough to give myself a chance and quit. The momentum built really quickly and it hasn’t stopped, which I’m super thankful for.”
As Karolyn prepares for her first solo show in NYC, she’s incorporating coding into the experience in a unique and interactive way — another example of her layered approach to art. Although she doesn’t code in her daily life, she finds innovative ways to shape code to create anything her heart desires.
What’s the first thing you’ve ever coded? “The first thing I ever coded was a ‘choose your own adventure’ game in Python, which I think, is a pretty simple first project. It allowed a player to navigate different story paths, and it was really cute. It was my first experience structuring logic [in coding].”
What’s a project that was the most challenging for you? “The one that I’m doing right now in terms of coding integration because I’m learning how to do projection mapping for my next art show. I have so many ideas for it and I want it to be really special and custom. Projection mapping is so cool in the art world because you can enhance a piece of art by creating animations around it to supplement it.
“I’m first using [TouchDesigner] to create animations of motifs, poetry, and visuals of my work, then using [MadMapper] to do custom projection mapping onto the gallery space. I have some time — which is good — but it’s a multi-step process that I haven’t done before. It’s a great way to merge nontraditional coding and technology with art, and I love being very much in the weeds with everything that I do for KARO.”
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up? “I have to start my espresso machine. I also like to physically rise as soon as my alarm goes off. Because, once I’m up, I’m up. I used to have the bad habit of snoozing my alarm all the time. So now, I need to physically shake myself around, defrost my brain in the morning, turn on my espresso machine, and make myself a little latte.”
What’s the last thing you do before going to bed? “I have my little nighttime routine and the biggest anchor of that is journaling. I love journaling. I really believe in it — I think it’s so powerful. I’ve been journaling nearly every day for years and years. I’ll go periods without it, but even since high school, I’ve been keeping a journal ,and it just helps decompress my brain and get me calm for the night.”
When does inspiration strike for you? “100% at night — never once in the morning. I’m such a night owl. My brain takes a couple hours in the morning to defrost. I’ve always wanted to be a morning person that wakes up really early and is super productive, but I just had to accept that I’m more productive, creative, inspired, motivated, and energetic at night, and I can’t change it. That’s why I started talking about this on my YouTube channel. I made a video about it. I have a day shift and I have a night shift. My night shift is where the actual magic happens.”
What does your workspace look like? “My studio is honestly a perfect reflection of myself. It’s my inner self materialized as a physical space. It’s kind of artistically messy. It’s very playful and it’s fun. There are lots of colors, but there’s a lot of intention behind the little knick-knacks everywhere. It’s like a showroom of my brain.”
What do you do when you’re stuck in a rut? “I’ll journal or I’ll go for a walk. Going for a walk always resets my mental health — I love walking around in New York. Dancing in my studio [also helps]. I’ll put on a song that I love dancing to — it’s one of my greatest joys. That will really get me out of a rut [because it helps] to physically move myself. Also, sleeping. If I’m stuck in a rut, it’s likely because I’m getting burnt out. I tend to work myself to burn out pretty easily. Then, I’ll cancel plans and I’ll sleep because sometimes I just really need a mental reset. I need to sleep in without an alarm and I’ll feel so much better the next day.”
What’s one thing you wish to accomplish? “A solo show in New York City! That one’s easy for me, because I’m already planning it right now, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.
What’s your favorite piece of advice that you’ve gotten? “Leap and the net will appear. I just got LEAP tattooed on my hand [laughs].”
Who inspires you the most? “A mix of all of my New York City artist friends that I spend my time with. There’s this very beautiful, artistic, creative community that I feel so giddy to be a part of. I see their journeys and I see what they’re up to and how they keep going. As an artist in my 20s in New York, I just love being a part of that; they inspire me so much. I feel like I’m kind of a mosaic of these people that are around me.”
Who, if anyone, do you try to emulate? “I almost want to be a person that’s emulated — which I have seen when I start getting tagged in things and people would say, “This is so KARO.” It’s honestly the biggest form of flattery.”
What’s something people ask you for advice about often? “People always ask me how to quit their job that they’re not happy with when they have artistic passions. I hear that all the time and that’s my favorite conversation to have. You can put me in a room with someone for an hour who’s on the brink of quitting their job and I’ll make them quit [laughs].”
What’s a piece of advice you felt proud to give? “Definitely the above advice. It’s wild because a couple of years ago, I was on the other side of it, and wondering, How do I quit my job? It’s the most terrifying thing in the world. I had to ask myself: Are my passions legitimate? Or are they just this silly hobby? I had so many self-limiting beliefs and so many things that I was worried about. [It’s great] to be in a position where, I know for a fact, that I made the right decision. There’s no doubt or anxiety in my head, and I feel very thankful.”
What is your most-used app on your phone? “It was StreetEasy until I finally found my dream apartment recently. I was using StreetEasy like it was Instagram — I was refreshing it every day. But now, it’s probably CapCut because I edit nearly everything on it. I spend so much time on there — my screen time goes way up because of how much time I’m working on it.”
What do you do when you feel yourself burning out? “I will cancel all of my plans to give myself time to be alone, journal, exercise, and sleep. I need my alone time. I’m a very social introvert, but I need to recharge by myself.”
What’s something you consider a secret weapon? “I think I have a couple. First, it’s the fact that both of my parents are immigrants. I grew up multiculturally and my stepfamily is also from a completely different culture than my own. My mom is from Peru, my dad is from Germany, and my stepfamily is Lebanese. I was raised trilingual with Spanish and German. My German isn’t that great, though. Growing up with an immigrant family really influenced my worldview, work ethic, and appreciation of diverse experiences. It feels like a superpower. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve had a much more open mind and a much bigger world view. I think that’s a huge privilege: to be able to see a bigger map of the way people live.
My other secret weapon is that I know how to do all the parts of KARO that I’m doing — the business stuff, the software, the Photoshop editing, and the animations. I don’t have to rely on other people all of the time and I can be independent in a lot of respects. People can be intimidated and think they need to hire people for everything — which isn’t always true especially when you’re just starting out.”
Where are you, compared to where you thought you’d be at 12 years old? “I’m light years beyond where I thought I’d be when I was 12 years old! My 12-year-old self could not even fathom where I could possibly be today. I just did not have any self-confidence at 12 years old, and I totally didn’t think that what I’m doing was even an option. I just kind of saw my life going in a very traditional, nuclear [direction] like everyone around me.”
What’s been your biggest piece of support, helping you get to where you are? “My friends and loved ones in my life just loving me and always being supportive of my ideas and not making me feel weird about them. I know a lot of people that try and put themselves out there, and their friends are just like, ‘Why are you doing that?’ The judgment can be a major block. My friends would always like my posts on Instagram when I had zero followers and they would share them. Also, the people who follow me and have been supporting and talking about my art in person to other people. And anyone wearing my work or putting it in their home. That is what makes it possible for me to have this as a full-time career — that kind of support. I’m extremely grateful that I have an audience now. I would be doing this regardless, and I have been doing this my whole life, but the only difference now and why I can make it a career is because I have an audience that listens now.”
If you could change one thing about your professional life, what would it be? “I wish I had more free time. It’s astounding how quickly a day goes by because my to-do list is never-ending, and it’s mostly filled with things that I’m really excited about and want to do. I love what I do. It’s just that there’s no time.”
What do you do to start your workday? “Timeboxing. I block out my day because I’m very scatter-brained and all over the place. I have a never-ending to-do list, and it forces myself to pick three top priorities for the day, and then I can brain-dump in another section [of my planner], and then I can time-lock another section. It helps my brain immensely. I cannot go through a day without a time box or else the day is going to be a mess and I’m going to feel terrible.”
What do you do to end your workday? “I’ll journal again. I like to exercise and take weird workout classes. By weird, I mean, I’ll just try new things. There’s a studio right next to my studio that does really fun pole classes, hoop classes, trapeze, and aerial art. It’s really cool.”
Why do you code? “[I code] when there’s a specific effect I want to achieve with my art like projection-mapping. It gets me where I want to go and is the tool to get me there.”
What’s one thing you’d change about your industry? “[I wish there was] more support and representation for women — women in higher positions and more female voices. I love the initiative that certain companies are taking now. Computer Science is Everything especially, with its efforts to empower women. I love that initiative, and that’s so much of what I want to have for my own brand, too. I’ve seen so much misogyny in the industries that I’ve worked in. So, continuing to put myself out there is hopefully a little tiny piece of that change. We need more female voices in these industries.”
What are you hoping the future of tech will look like? “Definitely to see more representation and more female-led businesses.”
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