Meet Amal Wasim | Amal Wasim | Paintarcbyamal

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amal Wasim and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amal, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I have always loved painting and found it very therapeutic. But turning it into a business was an idea from my sister-in-law, Noorain. She is an entrepreneur herself. She encouraged me to sell my paintings. Then I did my research on what the market is like and started listing my products on Etsy, Facebook, Instagram, and other social platforms. Initially, I was only doing calligraphy for baby names with personalized backgrounds, but during Ramadan is when I thought of adding wood-burning products as well. And recently someone contacted me to create a stovetop cover, which is going to be an addition to my product family.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
As I mentioned previously, what sets me apart is everything I create is by hand. I have wood-burning products such as cutting boards and display boards. All of these I wood burn by hand and not a machine. I have still let to make a flawless work but I think my slight miss is what makes my products more genuine and natural. One challenge I continuously face is managing time. I have a 15-month-old son, a full-time job, a part-time MBA program, and my brand. Juggling all of these can sometimes become hectic for me. But I make sure to do every day is giving myself time to relax by doing anything such as watching tv, reading a book, or even cleaning. My brand is all about personalization, I try to make it as personalized as possible towards the client’s liking, so it almost looks like they created it themselves. I ensure to deliver quality products instead of taking bulk orders and rushing them. I believe in delivering excellent customer service which means being honest. If I don’t have the time to create a product, I don’t take orders. Lastly, paintarcbyamal donates 50% of its profits to different campaigns.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would take them to The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden. I feel that Dallas has yet to develop its food scene but some of my favorite restaurants are The Capital Grille, Dave’s Hot Chicken, and my favorite dessert place Andy’s Frozen Custard, I have never eaten frozen custard until I moved to Dallas. The Star is another good place to visit, they usually play movies on their big screen once in a while and the public just usually brings some chairs and sits on the lawn and watches movies. They also have some food trucks on the same day. Also, the Legacy West is another great area with tons of restaurants and shopping.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My family is my backbone and without their support, I wouldn’t be capable of doing anything. All my sisters-in-law have encouraged me to create more products and promoted my brand on their social media. My husband has watched our son while I have attended exhibitions as vendors. My eldest brother, Jazar, who has partnered with me on social media and helped me with an exhibition, but most importantly he has helped me come up with my brand name.

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