Welcome To Mpowering You!

Dear YOU!

Seeing that this is my first blog post, I found it essential to introduce myself. My name's Merrisa, also known by MCW—my writing signature. I'm currently 24 years old and I'm the owner and content creator of Mpowered.

When I started Mpowered back in 2017, I was just looking for a way to showcase my illustrative art. I did cartoonic drawings and paintings and attempted to sell them as prints on my website and Facebook page—to no avail. I continued putting work out there, predominantly on my Instagram, because I loved completing new pieces and seeing how well I'd done, always came as an exhilarating surprise to me (still working on that self confidence.)

I didn't essentially have a goal or plan for Mpowered, I just knew that I was called to art. In December of 2018, I experienced a decline in my mental health. I was spiritually attacked pertaining to my identity and my career. There was an active battlefield in my mind—one voice telling me I was useless and to quit and the other telling me to just take a step back. I was emotionally exhausted but by God's grace I listened to the latter and decided to lay art down for a while.

During that time I drew closer to God and continued walking through a healing process. Before I knew it, I felt my passion for art resurrecting again. I started watching videos and taking classes, learning how to apply realism techniques to my drawings and doing practice sketches ever so often. I still do this, as I am nowhere near where I'd like to be [skill wise] but God has also unlocked another part of my gift of creativity—writing.

During the process of marketing and releasing my poetry book Ready or Not—which I am currently on—God had made clear to me that Mpowered isn't just about emotional and spiritual wellbeing, or the production of artwork and poetry even, but more specifically about bringing healing and deliverance to others through my work because that's what he's done for me. My painting 'Sentimental' was a gateway to my healing in early 2018 and now it's time for my stories—though still being written—to be told.

Will you join me on my storytelling journey through Mpowered and through this blog, which God has prompted me to title 'Mpowering You'? Here I'll be sharing more authentic aspects of my real life and depth to my art and writing, through testimonies. These words are as real as it gets.

Feel free to subscribe to always be notified on new posts and be sure to follow my social media accounts to keep up with me as well!

—xoxo

MCW

#mpowered

Instagram (personal): @risa_shey

Instagram (brand): @mpwrd.by.mcw