Name: Nicole Leth    

Title: CEO of Sex + Ice Cream

Located: Kansas City, MO

Hi Nicole! We always like to start with asking how did you get your start as an artist/designer?

As a kid, I was always super interested in art and fashion and was involved in all the arts programs I could find in my schools and hometown. I graduated high school and went to college at the Kansas City Art Institute where I really began my journey as an artist and designer and started to work towards what would ultimately become Sex + Ice Cream!

And how did your vision for Sex + Ice Cream take form? What is Sex + Ice Cream?

I started Sex + Ice Cream as a teenager as a way to empower myself after a break-up. Sex + Ice Cream became a way for me to speak openly about what I was going through as a young woman in the world today. It became a way for me to talk about abusive relationships and mistakes I made, and really serious stuff mixed in with light-hearted things like shaving my legs and being taken to Wal-Mart for a first date. I view Sex + Ice Cream as a visual diary where I can create things and talk about this stuff, and grow and learn while I do it. Sex + Ice Cream is my art practice personified. Literally, however, Sex + Ice Cream is a clothing brand, an online store, and a chain of brick and mortar shops where you can shop for things that I create side by side with goods produced by other kick-ass brands that I believe in.

Since starting Sex + Ice Cream, what has been the most rewarding part of your work? The most difficult?

The most rewarding part is definitely being able to have an outlet in which I can make positive work out of these sometimes lack luster things that happen in life. It's therapy for me. What's even more rewarding are the hundreds of people who tell us that what we do matters; that is has helped them get out of a relationship, fall in love with their body, cope with loss, and generally just feel inspired to become what they have always wanted. The most difficult is definitely being taken seriously as a business person as a 23-year old female. There is a lot of sexism, trickery, mocking, and doubt that I encounter when I try to work with other professionals who are older than me, and it never gets less frustrating. What keeps me going, however, is continuously silencing these people by proving them wrong by doing what I do best, my job.

Hell yeah! Well where do you find inspiration? When/Where are you your most creative self?

I find inspiration from life experience and hardships. I am my most creative self usually when I am alone and letting myself feel things that I need to feel shamelessly. My work is never produced by a lack of emotion. I thrive on being an emotional being.

Do you admire a certain artist? Do you have any role models?

I have a lot of people in the arts that I admire deeply. To name a few: Peggy Noland, Tracey Emin, Yayoi Kusama, Emily Weiss, Sophia Amoruso.

Those ladies are all amazing! What can we expect from Sex + Ice Cream for the future? Large or small scale goals?

My biggest goal for myself and my brand was to open my own store. I will be opening my second store this May in Des Moines -- something that I never could’ve imagined happening even in my wildest dreams, and especially not at the age of 23. So, because of this I have kind of stopped making ‘goals’ for myself and the brand. I’ve decided that if I am just open to growth in general then I will always be surprised by the opportunities that come up and never get bored.

Well said. Any parting words of advice for young artists? Life advice in general?

Work hard, like really fucking hard. The type of hard work where your body and brain hurt when you go to sleep at night, but you’re still excited to wake up and do it all over again. Talk to your idols but never copy them; learn from them but do things in your own way. Try to always view negative things (that happen in life and business) as opportunities that can lead to better things. If you do this, you will be one step ahead of everyone out there who thinks you can’t do it.

Last, where can we find more of your work?

You can shop Sex + Ice Cream online at www.sexandicecream.net, at either of our stores in Kansas City or Des Moines, or at one of our many stockists around the US.

Much love and thanks to Nicole! All photos are Nicole's/Sex + Ice Cream.