00:00One, two, three, four, five.
00:05My name is Carolyn Suzuki, and my artist in residence
00:09is called Access Empathy.
00:14My focus in art is illustration.
00:18My job in illustration is to convey feeling and mood.
00:24Lately, I've been really trying to focus on
00:28inclusivity and incorporating the world that I want to see in my work.
00:34Most of the people and characters I include in my illustrations
00:37are women of color, many sizes,
00:40and I try to represent as much diversity as possible.
00:45I believe that empathy and creativity are synonymous.
00:50In order to be empathetic, you have to really be imaginative,
00:55and to be imaginative is to be creative.
00:58There's a lot of people, I think, who assume that they're not creative,
01:01and I believe that we are all creative.
01:03We just have to know how to access it.
01:06When people experience my art, I hope that people see themselves reflected back at them.
01:13My favorite reaction to my work is when a young girl of color says,
01:20I love seeing myself represented in your work.
01:24It makes me feel included and like I matter.
01:28To make an impact, you have to start with yourself and what you want to see in the world,
01:34what's important to you.
01:36There are so many causes and things that we need to be thinking about,
01:42but you have to start someplace.
01:43So I think it's great to start with yourself and what you want to see.
