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Today, the Spotlight is shining on Amy LaBossiere, partner (along with her husband, Tao) and Administrating Director of Art of Tao LaBossiere. Amy is also one of our technical advisors here at the Entrepreneurial & Women’s Business Center (EWBC).
Q: You and your husband have such an interesting business! What kinds of projects do you do?
Amy: Art of Tao LaBossiere is a creative services business that specializes in large scale public art, illustrations, murals, and sculpture restoration, as well as sculpture. My husband is a fine artist and I do the business side of things, but we collaborate on all aspects of the business together.
Q: How did you first become affiliated with the EWBC?
Amy: I first contacted them years ago, and we worked together on a business that my husband and I have since sold. But it was a great connection, and not long after that I started working with them as a technical advisor in the area of marketing. I love doing that! I help businesses with marketing strategy, social media content, and overall branding. It’s great to be able to work with business owners to help them visualize their next steps.
The marketing piece is in my blood. I always worked in communications, and when I first came to Connecticut, I worked for several small advertising agencies, and also in journalism. When I met my husband and we started working together, we really melded art and marketing.
Q: What has the EWBC done to help you?
Amy: We worked with Lacey Banks McGill on our previous business, but that was a physical property, a retreat center business that we ended up selling during COVID. It was all too much pressure for the two of us, and now we can focus on our art business. Year ago, I took Jack Antonich’s class on writing a business plan, and that really helped to shape my thinking about a business from beginning to end. That had a big impact on me.
Q: How is business going for you now?
Amy: This is a wonderful time for our art business. We’re slowly navigating away from commercial projects. We still love to work with businesses like restaurants, because they are really fun to create art for, but as artists, we want to focus more on our vision for creativity and self-expression as the actual product. Tao just completed a beautiful large-scale mural in downtown Hartford called “The Oneness of Being in Still Waters.” It’s a giant New England Painted Turtle, 65 feet high, and it has changed the landscape of downtown Hartford. That’s what we want for the business now. Being able to do art for art’s sake is so rewarding.
Top photo: “The Oneness of Being in Still Waters” located in downtown Hartford (Photo by Art of Tao LaBossiere).
Lower left photo: Amy & Tao LaBossiere (Photo by Time Frozen Photography).
Lower right-hand photos: "Bee the Change" located on The 224 EcoSpace in Hartford, where the EWBC TechLab initiative is holding classes (Photos by Shana Sureck Photography).
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