Karolina Kwaśniak decided the uncertain time of lockdown was ideal to change her career path; and she was right
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While people started losing their jobs due to Covid-19 and lockdown and the government suggested to artists to retrain, Karolina Kwaśniak decided to leave her day job to pursue a career in arts.
Karolina Kwaśniak, 23, grew up in a little town in Poland where Halloween wasn’t celebrated and cosplay wasn’t very known, but her life changed when she moved out at the age of 18 and discovered the art of dressing up and costume making. As someone who has always been interested in art, she quickly added cosplay to her list of hobbies, not knowing it would her to a whole new career.
It might come to some as a surprise, but the cosplaying scene in the UK is big. There are numbers of conventions and competitions and the year is usually filled with different championships. Costume making keeps becoming an artistic expression for more and more people every year and Karolina saw her potential there.
Cosplay commissions
After Karolina finished her undergraduate studies, where she perfected her English and learned Welsh, she moved to Swansea.
She started teaching adult foreigners English, but even with her love for languages, the job wasn’t too enjoyable as many of the students did not respect her or her knowledge because of her young age.
“I was teaching people older than me, and they would sometimes make me feel like they are trying to teach me a lesson rather than me helping them,” Karolina explains.
At that time, people would already ask her for a cosplay commission, but she didn’t think it could be a full-time job for her as she was worried if she could make enough money through it. After all, a career in arts isn’t seen as the most secure and stable one.
In February, Karolina realised her job didn’t bring her any joy anymore, only stress. The job was also time-consuming so she couldn’t spend time creating art as much as she wanted. The solution became clear to her – it was time to change her career, and the first national lockdown seemed like a good time to do it.
“I was lucky”
“I thought it is the right time to try and see if I can do it,” Karolina said. “I was lucky that my husband is so supportive because [without him] I’d be too scared to do it.”
“He said: ‘You don’t like your job so quit it; you can always come back,’” she explains.
The lockdown brought its challenges. For a business, you often need professional photographs, especially when it comes to costume making and due to the restrictions, she couldn’t get help from professional photographers. But it was in a way a blessing in disguise. She learned how to take and edit pictures and became completely self-reliant.
Karolina could not be happier for changing her career in the lockdown. While people found themselves struggling and not being able to work, she built her studio at home and created a job that she can do from home where she decides her work hours.
Changing jobs is often a difficult decision and this year made it even harder for people, but Karolina doesn’t think you should stay in a bad work environment. Instead, you should chase your dreams.
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