She got it from her mama.
Zhauntel Fields grew up in Sacramento, keenly aware of her Southern roots and encouraged by her mother to explore her heritage, art, and self-expression. As an adult, Zhauntel learned to use her interest in art as a way to not only explore herself but to empower children around the world. The mother of three started with greeting cards but that soon paved the way for Zhauntel to launch her own company, Abstrakt Life, an online school stationery shop selling her designs. The pieces celebrate Black culture, commonly depicting images of students who are marginalized or reflections of students who may not often see themselves in products meant for children. “As an educator, my school stationery line is truly sentimental for me,” says the assistant principal at Lincoln Unified School District. “As an educator, I’m concerned with equity.”
The idea to focus on school supplies has many inspirations. Zhauntel draws on her career, her own love of school growing up, and the supplies she coveted as a child. Zhauntel believes her artwork equips students with a positive reflection. A notebook, for example, designed with a teenage or younger student on the cover can serve as a mirror for children who are not aptly represented in the media. She hopes her artwork conveys messages of you are enough and you can do this. “Positive self-talk is so critical for all students but especially for students that statistically have challenges navigating educational systems.”
Her designs are done using computer-aided images. “The computer screen is my paper,” the graphic designer says. “I believe a gift I possess is conceptualizing shapes and how they form other objects in space. I’m drawn to ornate patterns,” Zhauntel says. Her artwork also nods to the patterns and colors popular in the 80s and 90s when Zhauntel was an adolescent herself.
In addition to creating the graphics, Zhauntel, a mother of three, hand assembles all of the notebooks. She also sells leather-bond notebooks, coffee mugs, socks, backpacks, and apparel through her online shop AbstraktLife.com and the Stockton Strong Online Marketplace.
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Abstraktlife.com
@abstrakt_life