Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Kadinov.
Hi Amanda, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My path is about learning to follow joy. I was born in Austin, and after leaving at the age of two, I took a wild, winding path to get back here. I spent my youth in Fredericksburg, TX and moved to Paris at the age of 18. I was first a nanny, and spent my days wandering around through museums. When my French became strong enough, I enrolled as a student at the Sorbonne University to study the History of Art and Archeology. It was a rigorous and excellent education… but it wasn’t joy!
In those summers I took internships in different art capitals— Berlin and Los Angeles– so that I could test out where I might want to live after my studies.
In Paris, I worked for Art + Commerce, an agency that represents fashion photographers and other artists in the fashion world. My job was to build out visual references for the artist’s photo shoots that included contemporary art so that their work was always nestled into a very rich and alive artistic context.
But after about 4 years in the city, I was done. Yet again, I believed I needed to keep moving and grooving until I felt totally in love with my life. My initial plan was to complete a 7-year Master’s and Doctoral program at Columbia in New York. The fall of my final year at the Sorbonne, I gave my life to preparing that application (in English, while all of my work was in French…). It was enough to lead me to a profound burnout.
On a solo trip to Lisbon, Portugal the following February, I realized that my true joy — the space where I authentically fall in love with both myself and my surroundings — comes alive through traveling. So, I began to plan a 12-month trip around the world.
As it would come to be, I traveled down Sub-Saharan Africa (where I met my now husband), up South and Central America, and into Asia for 6 months. The solo journey turned into a partnered one, we got married along the way (in Sicily), and 19 months into the trip, in a mud hut in the jungles of India, we found out I was pregnant.
And so, a new story in Austin began. We wanted to be near my family, and I wanted to bring the magic of art and travel that I cultivated in my years abroad to this very land-locked, culturally isolated city. I saw it best to advise directly on art collections, allowing collectors to access the galleries and artists with whom I’d cultivated relationships across the 40 countries I’ve visited today.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Is life ever a smooth road?
My most profound struggle was to launch a firm while also beginning a family. I was pregnant with my first child when I opened the LLC, and my highest intention was to be devoted to motherhood.
Watching my business grow very, very slowly was torturous for me as an overachiever. I had many internal demons to meet and to tame. I have learned to redefine what success looks like – both in a daily picture and as an over-arching concept.
Today, I assert that success is living in love. When we feel grace and trust in our actions, we feel successful. It’s a direct experience we can turn to at any moment, not a point at which we may arrive in our careers.
As you know, we’re big fans of Kadinov Art Consulting. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We are an art consulting firm with deep roots in Texas, but true global reach. We work with individuals and corporations on the development of 6- 8 figure art collections.
What I truly provide is a beautiful path to a beautiful work of art. The experience is about my clients getting to ask themselves ‘What do I desire?’, and then getting to meet many brilliant people and artworks on the path to fulfilling that desire.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
We’ll see art grow as a cultural value as AI-driven technology takes a larger role in our daily life. If tech is the trend, art is the countertrend.
Contact Info:
- Website: kadinovart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kadinov.art/
Image Credits
Inked Fingers
