Whit Whitley is a queer non-binary artist, entrepreneur, and teacher. Whit recently relocated to Long Beach, California where they maintain and share an artist studio at The Vault with their life and business partner Sam Hopwood.
Recently, Whit and Sam facilitated a 12-week Artist’s Way Sacred Circle and hosted a Salon for fellow studio artists. Current projects include an upcoming book, a new single, and watercolor paintings.
Another Artist’s Way Sacred Circle is being planned, so stay tuned or reach out for more details!
More About Whit
Whit was born in Houston on January 7, 1969 and grew up in Spring, Texas. As a child, Whit took private art lessons at a small studio in Old Town Spring for a few years but traded in their pencil for a pick when Whit fell in love with the guitar around age 8 and started writing their own songs.
In middle school, Whit joined the band on trumpet and quickly garnered attention in high school by winning regional competitions that resulted in a coveted spot in the Houston Youth Symphony and private lessons with the Principal Trumpet of the Houston Symphony.
In 1993, Whit went on to graduate from the University of Houston (UH) with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Minor in Applied Music Performance. For many years, Whit balanced a day job as a high school English teacher while pursuing a career in music as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist in various rock bands.
Music began to fade into the background when Whit learned how to code websites in the earliest days of the Internet and excitedly embarked on a new journey. In 2000, Whit founded their digital marketing agency Start Smart Now as a side-hustle at first, but it rapidly grew into something special and became Whit’s full-time passion and business.
Along the way, Whit enjoyed earning a Master of Science in HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) at the University of North Texas and completed their doctoral coursework in TC&R (Tech Comm & Rhetoric) at Texas Tech University but decided to forego a dissertation to keep growing the business.
Shortly after leaving school, Whit’s creative passion for visual art returned after taking a mosaic art class and participating in an Artist’s Way Sacred Circle. A few months later, Whit planned a big international art adventure.
The adventure included a life drawing class at the historic and famed St. Ive’s School of Painting in the historic artist enclave of St. Ive’s in Cornwall, England. That class along with visits to the Tate Modern, National Gallery of London, Victoria and Albert Museum, National Gallery of Ireland, Scottish National Galleries, and countless independently owned art galleries.
At the onset of the pandemic, Whit made a bold move to Savannah, Georgia where that creative spark transformed into a flame. In a very short time span, Whit wrote and recorded their first studio album Love Lost, Love Found that was released in 2024 at the age of 55 about recovering from the ending of a tumultuous 10-year marriage and a year later unexpectedly finding love again in a much younger partner.
Whit also founded East Broad Records in Savannah with the mission of providing development support to emerging artists and offering equitable contracts aimed at fundamentally changing the artist/label relationship. Almost 5 years later, the label is still going strong.
Start Smart Now is celebrating its 25th year in business, and Whit continues to be as excited as ever about helping entrepreneurs and small business owners. All of Whit’s experience, knowledge, and enthusiasm is going into their upcoming book Do What You Love and Pay the Bills to teach anyone who has a creative passion to learn how to build a successful business.
Stay tuned for more information about the upcoming book, the release of singles from their new album Dreams Do Come True, and an Artist’s Way Sacred Circle.
“Be bold, be brave, and always go in the direction of your dreams.” -Whit