Victoria
Spriggs
"He's got no quit."
My journey into performance media started with drawing: artists are driven to capture something they feel in a picture. I used to get in trouble for drawing horses in class when I should have been "paying attention."
When I had more say in the matter, I switched to being required to draw in class at the Savannah College of Art and Design, the largest design school in the US.
Studying Industrial Design next to 10,000 leading industry professionals and other young creatives, I learned to balance artistry with practical design principles.
Surrounded by product, furniture, graphic designers, photographers, architects, painters, sculptors, animators, and film-makers, I learned how to execute on ideas, think creatively, and how to present a product to sell.
— Proverbs 27:17
I spent the next decade learning tough truths about business and making money. I was heads down building a career in Product Design, shipping software and consumer hardware for giant tech companies in L.A.
Along the way I met highly-driven, ambitious, talented, and intelligent individuals (much more so than me) in leadership, sales, marketing, and engineering.
I saw that the key to success and building something GREAT requires the right people, relentless pursuit, and working together.
But most of all, it requires the right mindset.
"Nobody who's above you ever has to put you down.
True confidence has nothing to prove."
— Not sure who said it, but I believe it
I was proud of the career I built, and outside the office it allowed me to pursue my passion for horses.
One day, I found the mentor I had always been searching for. We all have teachers who change our path in life. They know how to speak to us, when to push us, when to be kind.
Mine was an old cowboy from Tennessee. His wisdom was the kind that couldn't be faked or read out of a book. It came from putting 60 years into working horses. He taught me to ride on an old reining horse named Jack, and opened my eyes.
"When the student is ready, the teacher appears."
— Lao Tzu, The Art of War
The tricky thing about growth is it comes to blow up what you're doing, sooner or later.
One day, I sat with my fancy career in a pristine house in a nice neighborhood and felt wildly unhappy.
Is this it?
It was also at this time I watched the documentary Down the Fence. I sat in my living room, mouth hanging open, watching reined cowhorse trainer Erin Toarmino kick those 6'-something grown men's @sses up and down that arena.
Unbelievable.
Maybe that's more common in Texas, but I wasn't born in a horse family or place. Until I saw that, I didn't know it was possible for young women to do that.
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
— Mary Oliver
So naturally I sold the house, quit my job and headed to the performance horse capital of the world.
I'm building a new career in capturing the stories of the bold, determined, at any cost people chasing big dreams.
I believe we all have a calling in life, but it might be a tough SOB that wants to kill you. You have to be brave enough to run it down and get it. Probably why I liked that documentary so much.
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
— Jeremiah 29:11