“I've been drawing all my life, since I was a little kid, since I could hold a pencil,” recalls Jennifer Faria. She is Portuguese, Dutch and Indigenous, a member of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation who was born and raised in Toronto. For a short time she lived in Mississauga briefly, and for the last nine years she’s been living in Burlington. In her professional life, she’s a fine artist, portrait painter, picture book illustrator, writer and poet. 

Faria found her way to this career path after taking a career aptitude test in grade one that said she should be a fine artist, graphic designer or illustrator. She ended up becoming all three. As someone with ADHD, drawing and illustrating appealed to her because it is project-based. She also has an entrepreneurial mindset and enjoys the flexibility of being able to draw or paint anywhere. She gets excited about drawing things to challenge herself. 

To prepare herself for this career, Faria practiced a lot. Growing up she would draw her cat, Barbies, toys, and other household objects. She would also draw people, her favourite to draw and paint. She’s put in about 50,000 hours of practice. All of that practice gave her examples of her work for a portfolio to get into the fine hearts program at Central Tech when she was a teen. Later, she took graphic design and advertising at George Brown. She didn’t enjoy it as much but it was helpful to her in learning how to create websites, business cards and brochures. 

At one point, someone saw her work and asked if Faria wanted to illustrate picture books and after some back and forth she had a contract. She also had a business doing baby and family portraits after her first son was born. “I’ve just been drawing and painting since I can remember,” she beams. With her ADHD, she needs to do interesting work or she finds she just can’t produce and she loves how being an artist afforded her the flexibility of going to Mommy and Baby yoga classes and other activities with her son. 

When it comes to obstacles, growing up Faria had no support with her mother passing away at a young age. People didn’t understand how she worked with ADHD and looked down on her, telling her to get a real job. She spent 16 hours a day painting, developing her skills to play the long game while she was being encouraged to get a retail job she knew she would end up quitting. She was sure she was on the right path and she’s grateful she didn’t listen to their advice. She learned to push herself to do what she had to do and overcome her ADHD, using rewards and making things exciting. She also struggled with mom guilt and stopped doing her art for a while. Eventually, her kids told her that they loved her being an artist and she gave herself permission to pursue her passion. 

If she could give a message to her younger self it would be, “You're allowed to say no. You don't have to do everything everybody asks you.”

When it comes to her mental health, Faria equipped herself early to get through a difficult childhood by reading personal development books. She would walk to the library as a young teen and read books by Stephen Covey, Dale Carnegie and other authors who inspired her. As a Christian, she also reads the Bible. Her favourite place to go when she feels overwhelmed is the mall, enjoying the smells, sights and sounds. Another thing she does to feel better is take a shower and sit on the porch with a coffee. Going to Downtown Burlington is something else she loves to do, as well as going to the gym or watching 80s music videos. 

She’s been drawing ever since she could remember and for Jennifer Faria, it turned into a career and a way of life. Her first grade career aptitude test told her that she should become a fine artist, graphic designer or illustrator and that’s what she ended up doing. With so many obstacles to overcome and ADHD to contend with, she found a way to thrive and do work that was exciting for her while creating a life that is a masterpiece.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.