Equipped with an effortlessly chic aesthetic and unique artistic style, Taylor Quitara is cultivating a niche internet presence on her own terms.
The New York City-based artist and influencer has taken social media by storm, amassing a loyal fan base of followers (over 210k on TikTok and over 40k on Instagram) who tune in for art advice, fashion musings and more.
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Quitara has been endorsed by fashion powerhouses, including Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren and Chanel, for her distinct style and engaging digital presence. Between fashion diaries around the city and curated content on her personalized oil paintings and artistic process, Quitara will surely be your newest fashion holy grail.
We recently had the opportunity to chat with Quitara about her time in the influencer space, her recent Chelsea pop-up gallery and more.
What was your journey into the influencer space like, and when did you realize this could become a professional career?
[I] started posting out of boredom in 2020 during COVID. I think a lot of creators now came from that time period. I was having a little bit of a crisis, in a sense, where I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life professionally, and I was working a corporate job, so I was working from home, and I just had all this time on my hands.
I started painting large-scale works. I started doing fun little fashion videos, and the painting videos especially really started to blow up all of a sudden. People were asking for part two or part three, or they were asking for me to maybe do a painting based on a certain theme, and so I just went along with it, not ever expecting it to become what it did.
When I hit 10k, 15k followers on TikTok, I said, “All right, people are asking me now for prints. They’re asking me for fashion advice. I think maybe there’s something here. I’m gonna pretend for six months I’m taking this very seriously. I’m just gonna dive right in. I’m gonna post three or four times a day and see what happens.” Four years later, [I’m a] full-time content creator, and I have my art business as well.
How many social media platforms are you active on, and have you noticed any benefits when using one platform over another?
I think every influencer has a platform that catapults them. For me, it’s TikTok. I’m active on Instagram, Tiktok and YouTube. Those are my big three.
@taylorquitara dare I say we killed it? @tiana || nyc photographer Diet Pepsi - Addison Rae
Have you had to deal with negative audience feedback? How do you navigate that?
I have been really lucky. I can say that I haven’t dealt with too much negativity across the board on my pages. Now, of course, if I have a video blow up and it gets millions of views, you're of course gonna get trolls or negative comments, but I never really take those seriously, because they’re not based on any truth except someone else’s opinion.
Do you have a certain creative process regarding your posting schedule?
I'm an Aries. I like to have my schedule. Throughout the week, if I get any cool, fun, creative ideas, I'll just write them down, and then I have content-batching days where I'll just spend all day filming. Then there’s some days where I'll just get an idea and I'll film it right there on the spot.
Lots of planning and lots of editing days where I'm just rotting on the couch.
@taylorquitara new york sample sales are unbeatable #nycsamplesale #apparis #samplesale #thingstodoinnyc original sound - Taylor Quitara
Have you noticed any personal changes within your fashion sense or artistic style since you started posting in 2020?
When I first started posting in 2020, for at least the first two years, people were watching me discover my style. I never look back and cringe. I look back and I'm just like, ‘oh, like, that was me discovering who I am.’
I've learned to be a little bit more vulnerable over time on the internet. I think my art has become a lot more complex, as well as my fashion.
Are there any aspects of being an influencer that people tend to overlook? What would you consider to be the most challenging part of what you do?
It requires a lot of time and energy, and I think a lot of people don't get that. There's never guaranteed success in this world. It's also freelance. I really loved having the security back in the day of my nine-to-five corporate job and all those benefits.
Jumping into any creative field is a risk, because you don't know if people are going to like what you're putting out or not. That goes for art, that goes for content, really, any creative field.”
You're never going to have overnight success. It's so rare. You see big social influencers out there who it looks like they blew up overnight, but I think a lot of posting went into that before that actually happened.
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What is the most rewarding thing about your career?
Definitely the people that I've met, especially in New York. I've made so many friends just off of, like a comment on Tiktok, and then we met up, and now they're like my best friend.
I think just how unpredictable it can be is pretty amazing, and the doors that are opened.
What sets you apart in the creator space?
There aren't a lot of artist influencers in the space. A lot of artists want to be in their studio, and they don't want to post on social media. They just want to create, and I feel like that sometimes too, but you don’t see a lot of hybrid artist influencers. I think that's a kind of unique little niche that's happening. I've noticed that a lot of brands are looking for that as well.
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Do you notice any overlap between your niches of art and fashion? How do you curate this overlap in your content?
From a branding side, I've seen a lot of brands now starting to do more artist collaborations in fashion. They're starting to realize, “we can't just hire a fashion person for this. We need someone who's also maybe a photographer or a painter or sculptor,” and now you have fashion or artists coming and creative directing.
I just think that the landscape is changing, and people really want to see like, multifaceted individuals. I just want to stay true to myself and lean into my art, but also like to show off my personal style.
Can you talk a bit about your oil painting process, particularly your recent pop-up gallery Things I Can’t Lay to Rest?
I think it was a reaction from two years ago when I did my first pop up show in the Lower East Side, which was amazing, but then I felt very burnt out, and I wanted to create art without posting it. I did go dark a little bit on the art posting side of things. I just wanted to be working in my studio and not have to hear people's opinions on my work as they're in progress.
It was almost two years of work that wasn't being shared, and it was kind of cathartic to finally put it all out to the world, and also nerve wracking, because I didn't know what the response would be. Everyone loved my work from two years ago. What if it's not as good as you know it was two years ago, or they don't like it as much?
I think Things I Can’t Lay to Rest was me reflecting on the timeline of my life, from being a young girl to a woman now, and highlighting key moments that changed me, whether they be bad or good. I also have a hard time making things that aren't pretty and visually just cute and whimsical, so even paintings that have this kind of darker meaning to me, they're still gonna look pretty.
@taylorquitara each painting is a piece of me <3
original sound - Bella
On average, how much time do you allot to social media versus the time you carve out purely for your art?
I'd say half the week I'm in the studio trying to not be on socials and really like zone in on that. The other half of the week I'm either shooting content editing or doing like, admin, email stuff.
You have an impressive history of collaborations with brands including Marc Jacobs and Chanel. Looking back, is there any partnership you are particularly proud of?
I do have a soft spot. I did an amazing collaboration in the fall two falls ago with Ralph Lauren, and it was for their fall collection. They said, “we just want your personality show,” and then I ended up doing a small oil painting of the famous Ralph Lauren bear, and incorporated it into all the shots. It felt so fun and whimsical, but then also staying true to their brand image.
What do you consider to be your biggest accomplishment since entering the creator space?
This is going to be kind of cheesy, but I think it's just that I've been able to work on my self confidence posting. I used to be very hard on myself, whereas now I'm just trying to say yes to everything. I've noticed that since I've been doing that, I have a little bit more confidence and amazing things have come out of that.
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Do you have any long-term goals for your art career or your work as a content creator?
This is like a big dream: I'd love to do some kind of artist collaboration with a fashion house. Designing a bag with [a fashion house], and putting a painting over it. I've seen Marc Jacobs do a lot of artist collabs like that. I would also love to do a pop-up show in London. I do have a lot of followers in London, so I need to come.
Do you have any advice you want to pass on to younger aspiring content creators?
Think about what makes you happy, and make that your content. Use social media as much as you can, because social media is free advertising. I don't think I could have grown my business as fast as I did without social media. Just experiment. Just have fun. You know, post until you figure out what works for you.
Follow Quitara on TikTok and Instagram to follow her art, fashion and journey. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Photography by: Daniel Dickinson; Tiana Michele
