Your Name: Elaine Cimino

Business Name: Elaine Cimino Studios, LLC

Type of Business: Arts & Entertainment

Business Location: United States

U.S. State: New Mexico

Website www.borntodraw.com
Twitter @ciminostudios
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Born-to-Draw-Childrens-Art-Education/

Reason for starting
I authored two iBooks called, Born To Draw Children Art Drawing Program and Born to Draw Drawing for Holidays and Special Occasions. My goal is to give teachers, homeschool parents and afterschool programs a platform to teach drawing to children. The drawing projects in this book have been aligned with the Common Core State Standards.

Biggest Success
My biggest success was to partner with the Rio Grande Educational Collaborative of the Atrisco Heritage Foundation. They run after school programs that are in 50 schools in New Mexico. Another success was to build the website stores for both my studio art business selling giclee prints and the visual art advocacy and art education platform site.

What is your top challenge and how have you addressed it?
My top challenged is my health and finding the strength to persevere through the bad days. An equal challenge has been to find the cash flow to keep me floating, while I build my lists of supporters, friends, and customers. I have addressed this by teaching art classes at the local senior centers. I teach watercolor, pastel and mixed media.

Who is your most important role model?
My most important role model is Oprah Winfrey because she was able to juggle all those balls in the air for so many years, while providing education to so many children and students’ worldwide. Ultimately, I would like to have a children’s television show that fosters visual and reading literacy and how it is integrated with movement and exercise.