Meet Emma Walker | Founder and Editor in Chief of Never Mind Magazine

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

Hi Emma, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
It was 2020 during the height of covid and I was 17, stuck at home like everybody else and seeing everything happening in the world, BLM movement, injustices etc. and I wanted a way to help contribute to everything happening. I immediately turned to my passion of art as an outlet and I found a community of artists online doing similar things, creating art about current events which inspired me to create a platform for young artists to share their work while also donating to causes. And that is how Never Mind Magazine came to be, a platform in a print and digital space for artists to find community, share their art and voices. In a safe space, and that’s how the name of Never Mind came about, “never mind” to the society that doesn’t celebrate our differences. Never Mind represents a demand for change in the world and a community to celebrate our passions.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
What sets Never Mind magazine apart from other independent magazines is that Never Mind is non-profit, each print issue’s profits are donated to a selected charity. I have worked with Black Lives Matter, the Trevor project (leading suicide hotline for LGBTQ+ youth) and Unicef USA. I hope with each issue to help emphasize my belief that art can make a difference and impact. Never Mind also helps publish a lot of young artists see their work in print for the first time. I have received feedback about how both contributors and readers of the magazine have discovered other young artists, photographers, writers, etc. through Never Mind which is an incredible feeling knowing Never Mind can represent a hub for young creatives while also accomplishing the goal of donating to charities. Running a magazine all on my own has been challenging and sometimes it can feel like all the work I’m doing isn’t recognized but a few months ago in between issues I was feeling unmotivated and I was given the advice to create a praise folder meaning each kind comment, or message you screenshot and add to a folder where you can look back on. I went back through the last 3 years of Never Mind’s existence and I found so many kind messages about how Never Mind has impacted them whether it was an article they related to, a new young artist they found, or having their work featured for the first time in print, I was reminded what I was doing does mean something to other people. So I’d say to someone who feels like maybe they should give up on a passion project, to go back to the root of the reason you started it. Each time I’ve done that I’ve been reminded why I started Never Mind in the first place which was to build a community of artists and a safe space to share and inspire each other and ultimately make a difference.
And lastly one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is having patience. I’ve learned how to step away from working in order to sleep on an idea or design, whatever it is taking time away from it and coming back with a fresh perspective helps immensely. I’ve also been able to apply this to my school work understanding how important it is to have patience not only in general but most importantly with yourself.

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?
Growing up in the DFW area I’ve been able to explore and discover some of my favorite places. One being, the historic 1940’s Palace Arts Theater in Grapevine that shows old movies has been the setting for some of my favorite memories growing up including first dates, family nights out, and holiday celebrations. Seeing films in a setting of a restored historical theater captures the original atmosphere of how those films were meant to be shown. It strengthened my love and interest in film. My favorite area to explore is the downtown Denton square that has antique stores, comic book stores, coffee shops, the store windows are often covered with local art and murals. It also has one of my favorite restaurants, the Mellow Mushroom, although it is a chain restaurant each is unique to the location. This particular one is filled with local art and always has great food, atmosphere and friendly service. Lastly, I would recommend going to the Kimble art museum in Fort Worth. It houses some of my favorite pieces, such as Michelangelo’s Torment of Saint Anthony painting. The museum has a wide range of sculptures, paintings, and antiquities that everyone can find a piece that will inspire them.

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?

I credit myself going after my creative dreams fully to having an incredible support system, my parents. I had teachers and even friends discourage a creative path in high school which led me to one of the lowest points feeling like I had no future because I truly felt it’s what I was supposed to do but how do you confidently make that life decision when some of the most important people in your life are discouraging it? Luckily my parents have always supported my creative endeavors from the very beginning cheering me on throughout everything giving me the confidence to make chasing after my dreams a reality. And after seeing the difference I could make through art through Never Mind it really pushed me to continue down this path and abolished any doubts I had about this choice. I’m currently pursuing a Bachelors in Fine art as a Graphic Design major at with a film minor and I can’t imagine studying outside of a creative field. Art truly is my passion and I’m beyond excited to continue exploring all mediums, and I couldn’t have done it without my parents support!

Website: https://www.nevermindmagazine.net/ https://emmawalker-art.wixsite.com/portfolio

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/never.mind.magazine

Other: My personal instagram: https://www.instagram.com/its._.emmaw

Image Credits
Travis Walker took the horizontal photo of me but all other photos can be credited to myself