Will you see you with me?
A newsletter rebrand, my quick life summary and some polls to shape future content
Hello to all the new subscribers who are here after discovering last week’s post, which is already the top post in this newsletter’s lifetime! If you missed it, read it below:
Since we have a bunch of new folks, I thought I’d make today’s newsletter a reintroduction, complete with a rebrand ✨ that I’ve been meaning to tackle for ages: the newsletter formerly known as CYOO is now called SEE YOU!
The two names sound exactly the same.1 Much like that, nothing about this newsletter’s focus on creativity and self-inquiry is going to change. But I wanted the name to evolve since CYOO is just an acronym of my name, while SEE YOU is an invitation for you to observe and explore yourself through your creative practice.
Here’s the evolution of the logo, before and after:
My old logo incorporated eyes in the ‘o’ characters (that kind of look like boobs) because I was already cognizant of the homonym with “see you”.
Looking back, this was too stealthy of a meaning to convey through a logo of a non-word that someone looks at for half a second. Now my new logo comprises of known words, with the “o” as an open eye and the “u” a resting eye with eyelashes!
Hello, who are you again?
My name is Carolyn and I’m an artist living in Brooklyn, New York. I also work a day job as a senior engineer at Mailchimp (a Substack competitor, gasp! But nowadays the two platforms have completely different target users).
I have dabbled in creative hobbies all my life and had big dreams to become a professional journalist as a teen, but financial practicality took over as I prepared to jump into adulthood. After a brief stint in digital marketing, I pivoted to engineering as a stable career choice that wouldn’t completely crush my spirit.
Once I got used to the rhythms of my day job, I leapt into self-discovery mode by trying lots of creative mediums and projects, such as:
Hosting a popular book club/event series for Asian women
Launching an interview series about work & meaning
Dancing in a group performance before a Brooklyn Nets game at Barclays Center
Illustrating for newsletters such as Girls’ Night In (now
) andExhibiting paintings in group shows around the US
Making cute breakfast yarn coasters that went viral on Instagram
Writing parts of a memoir and a novel
The list is random even to me, a bonafide multi-hyphenate, but every endeavor was born out of genuine curiosity and enthusiasm. If my interest fizzled, I didn’t hesitate to abandon projects especially since they didn’t affect my income and livelihood. This is one of the best reasons to keep a day job—you are free to evolve as you explore yourself and your creativity!
Through many shifts in creative identity this newsletter has been my constant home. I started this Substack publication over four years ago2 as a casual internet abode for me to share my notes and artist dates while completing the 12 week Artist’s Way program, which has since evolved into the weekly newsletter on art practice that you’re reading now.
Thank you for being here, whether it’s been four years or four days! Now I’d love to know more about YOU and where you are in your creative journey—please take a few seconds to answer the poll questions below. This will help me guide future topics for this newsletter so that you keep looking forward to these posts every week! 💛
Note: when I use the term “art” below, I mean this to be comprehensive of all forms of personal creative expression including visual art, writing, performance, and so forth!
If you’d like to share further, tell me about the creative mediums, projects, and business endeavors you’ve tried over the years! Can you top the randomness of my random list?
Though now I’m horrified to think that maybe some of you were saying CYOO differently! “Kyu” perhaps? Or “sy-yoh”? Oh gosh, please let me know in the comments.
Four years on Substack may seem like ancient times but there are a good number of early adopter publications still here today, including
I am in the “sy-yoh” camp haha! Most of my career has been in academia (lecturing in a business school) and art has been a side thing, but I am trying to find a way to make it a bigger part of my life. I really enjoyed your random list, it's amazing! It reminded me of Austin Kleon's "Steel like an artist", where he says "Don't throw any of yourself away". I am a mixed media artist and I love ALL the supplies, I don't think I will ever focus on one thing, and I am also quite crafty, e.g. I love knitting small winter hats & scarfs for toys 🤣 Another point on my random list is sci-fi stories, sometimes plots just pop into my head like a movie and I write them down, don't know if I ever turn them into full-fledged books / screenplays, but I enjoy thinking about the details and how characters develop. Thank's a lot for sharing your story, and thanks for your inspiring writing! ❤️
Hi Carolyn! I recently found your Substack and as a fellow software engineer/artist I’m thrilled to be in such good company 💜 I went back to your Artist’s Way series because I’ve been feeling this pull to do the 12 week program for a couple years now but every time I've tried I’ve experienced a ton of resistance, especially when it comes to doing morning pages since dedicating that amount of time to stream of consciousness writing feels almost leisurely, my pragmatic ways tell me I should rather be painting, sharpening my marketing skills or doing all the business-y things. I’m curious as to what was your motivation for doing the program back then and if there are any lessons or habits you still carry in your art practice four years later? If you don’t mind sharing of course. Thanks for cultivating this amazing space!