A new chapter
We’re 60 days into 2020 and for most of that time, I’ve been taking a step back - from everything. No photographing. Commuting two hours into the city each way. Placing confetti orders. Carrying 9’ seamless rolls. Taking calls with potential brands that usually didn’t pan out. I had gotten to a point where, for the sake of my sanity, I had to interrupt my regularly scheduling programming of what had become my day-to-day. Instead, I been ideating. Brainstorming. Questioning. Sitting. Sleeping. All while equally practicing patience (not my forte) and focus (a little too much my forte) within the process. What did that entail? For me, reading a lot of branding/startup books. Letting my intuition guide me on who would be part of the founding team. Rewinding and becoming crystal clear on my WHY. What is the cause, belief, movement that I want to champion? While we’re here, what is yours? Because we all have one. I asked myself: am I happy? Why am I so pulled to this work? How can I realize my vision? In nonlinear, random fashion, I began to piece everything together. The night owl in me flourished as was floating in another dimension, imagining a future world that doesn’t exist yet. I had to redefine The Confetti Project so that I could continue waking people up to find the beauty in all their moments - with confetti. How many moments do we really live while we’re alive? If I am going to imbue celebration culture to the masses, things had to change.
Why did I take a break, now? Well, The Confetti Project has been alive for five years. In the first year, it was all about discovery. The second: survival. The third: pause as I grieved the loss of my father. The fourth and fifth: keeping up with playing a photographer. At the end of 2019, I celebrated 50 Open Studios. 100+ volunteers. 500+ participants. 50,000+ photos. All self-produced! What did it feel like to hit this milestone? On paper, accomplished. Yet, as I drove back home from the last one, I couldn’t help but cry. I had put e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g into it. And while that can be seen as admirable, I had given so much that I had nothing left for myself. I realized that for two years I had become a 24/7 photographer, constantly photographing, uploading, curating, editing, distributing, customer servicing - with all things photo. I thought to myself: but I’m so much more than that. I have a vision! I’m an artist. Designer. Creator. Space holder. Truth seeker. I nurtured The Confetti Project into existence to be so much more than taking photos that people could post as cool content on their Instagram. If I wanted to grow my vision into a movement:
(A) I couldn’t keep doing it by myself while jeopardizing my own health and wellness.
(B) I had to work smarter, not necessarily harder.
Driving up the West Side Highway with confetti all over my hair after the 50th Open Studio, the tears were real. And that’s when I uttered a sentence I had been avoiding for 1,360+ days: I need help. It had taken me 30 years to learn the following: just because I could didn’t mean that I should. The to-do list, OCD part of me felt like 50 Open Studios in 5 years was a nice close to a chapter but now, the only way forward was to dig the deepest I ever have and define myself by my WHY:
📷: Erica Gelb
Imagine a world where we celebrate everything.
The good, the bad. The pain, the pleasure.
The easy, the messy. The wins, the losses.
And everything in between because it's all intertwined.
Life is fragile and fleeting. We don't have forever.
Tomorrow is not promised. Everything counts. This moment counts.
You deserve to live every moment of your life - without being in chronic auto-pilot, fear, ignorance or anxiety.
You can make the most of every moment, even in the hard times. Especially in the hard times.
You can find the beauty of every moment, even in the pain. Especially in the pain.
You can be awake to your life right now and not wait until a tragedy or trouble unexpectedly arrives to be grateful.
I want you to live every moment of your life.
None of us are getting out of this alive so every moment is an opportunity to celebrate.
Being alive is the celebration.
^Yes, this is my vision for the world I want to help create.
With a team formed and my attention so unequivocally focused on why I’m here and what I’m meant to do with my time here, it’s an honor to debut The Confetti Project, redefined, that comes from the heart and leads first with experience. While we are known for taking photos, The Confetti Project is a celebration experience that explores: what do you celebrate in your life? while letting go in pounds of confetti - each piece representing your imperfections, challenges, superpowers, circumstances - everything that makes you who you are. We cultivate a space that celebrates it all: the joy, the suffering. The pain, the pleasure. The light, the dark. And everything in between because life is deserving of being celebrated everyday. Our offerings have expanded to reflect the depth of this process you see captured in our photos. As a result, there is an array of updated and brand new offerings that range in price point for everyone to participate. Along with OPEN STUDIOS, we are debuting OPEN HOURS: a new experiential format where you can come into the studio without the flash and cameras for a celebration therapy experience. To ensure that we serve those that want to dig deeper, short surveys will be required for approval to participate in all studio experiences. For me, this is BIG step. It’s my way of protecting myself and the space from those that don’t agree that this experience is so much deeper than sparkle. I’m finally okay with that. While I have no idea how all of this will be received, it feels like the right thing to do because it’s coming from my heart. For the first time, I’m experiencing what it’s like for my passion to trump my fear and vulnerability.
A few evenings ago, I created a calendar, DIY-style, with multi-colored highlighters and pens (the Pilot Precise, V5 of course) for what my plans for the next three months - the rest of the year are. During this break, I’ve learned so much. Turned 30. Fallen in love. Applied for a grant. Come face-to-face with the consequences of my unprocessed traumas. I’m one step away from moving into Brooklyn to be thirty minutes away from the confetti studio, finally. I'm so excited that I’ve become a morning person because, as I’ve continually learned, passion can fuel you in a way that nothing else can. Starting in April, The Confetti Project will be producing a social awareness campaign per month that touches upon a stigmatized topic and/or marginalized community. (The first one: grief.) We will also be hosting themed community circles in the studio space every month because, in order to really make the most of our moments, we have to celebrate every part of ourselves and every other human we share our lifetime with. Here’s to all of the dreamers, givers, friends, fighters, artists, believers, survivors, allies, entrepreneurs, visionaries, activists, lovers, celebrators of life - that fight to stay in the beauty and make the world a better place while they’re here - fully, wholly alive.
