These 2 accountants ditched their City careers to teach arts and crafts instead
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- Sam and Diana used to work for accountancy firms KPMG and EY.
- Now they run an arts and crafts space for adults.
- Their creative space is called M.Y.O. (Make Your Own).
- Workshops include ceramic painting, pottery, and calligraphy.
Sam and Diana used to work for accountancy firms KPMG and EY before deciding to open an arts and craft shop in London.
Their creative space is called M.Y.O. (Make Your Own) and they run several workshops including ceramic painting, pottery, and calligraphy.
"We were not practising artists. We very much had office jobs in finance," M.Y.O. co-creator Diana Muendo told Business Insider. "I wanted to get in touch with my creativity, but I just didn't know how."
"I felt that a lot of people feel the same. They don't work in 'creative jobs' but want to get more creative and want to explore their creative self. So we wanted to provide that space for people."
The idea of a creative space wasn't always at the top of their list. In fact, they explored different possibilities and gave themselves a 6-month window to figure out the right business.
"The ideas I was looking at were very wide-ranging," M.Y.O. co-creator Sam Lehane told Business Insider. "From renewable energy to an Afro-Caribbean hair beauty salon."
"I thought: I'll pursue each one and see what stuck. After that journey, I'm starting to be more creative myself. I just found that I kept spending more time on this idea."
Sam and Diana are now full-time in the business and list their activities on events platform Funzing.
They are looking to expand their staff and workspace.
Produced and filmed by Claudia Romeo