Hello, my name is Atalissa. I’m the owner of Atafrd Industries and Atafrd’s Art.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve been creative. I was always dancing, drawing, or singing. Every single thing I wanted to be when I grew up involved creating in some way. I wanted to be a fashion designer, an artist, a mermaid, a stop-motion animator, a cartoonist, a dancer. Now that I’m grown up, I feel like I’ve somehow found a way to do a little bit of all of it.

I was born in 1999 in Iowa and named after a nearby town. My parents worked on the pipeline, so my brother and I were homeschooled. Because of that, I never felt confined to school fashion trends. I got to build my own sense of style from the beginning.

One of my earliest memories is from when we lived in Colorado. We did not usually have television growing up, but at that time we did. I remember watching Scooby-Doo and Kim Possible while drawing pictures of the characters and taking them to the fair. Even back then, my art was full of color and whimsy, and I am really glad that has not changed.

I think my real start in fashion design was with those Crayola fashion designer kits. I would use the stencils to create different outfits over and over again. Some of my modern artwork is honestly just an evolved version of those early designs.

Barbie was also a huge influence on me. I had a book about the history of Barbie and another that listed the entire Barbie inventory, complete with a family tree and character details. I was absolutely a Barbie nerd. When I became a preteen and Monster High came out, I fell in love with their alternative fashion and the dolls’ posability, which felt revolutionary at the time. I started making stop-motion videos with my Monster High dolls, and I still have them. Recently, I have even started collecting again and restoring my childhood dolls.

My fashion style today reflects all of that. My favorite color is pink, but honestly I love almost every color. I am not very drawn to natural tones, even though they are beautiful. I gravitate toward bold colors, interesting silhouettes, and alternative fashion. I love high heels and colorful shoes, especially if they make me taller. I am already around 5'9" or 5'10", and I love being taller than everyone. I also love creative makeup and used to do a lot of body painting when I was younger. I even love coloring my hair and usually change it every month. In early 2025, I accidentally melted half of it off, which was unfortunate but very on brand for me.

As I got older, my dreams kept shifting. At one point, I wanted to be a stop-motion animator. In 2017, after interning at Jete Dance Arts, I became passionate about the idea of owning a dance studio. My favorite styles of dance are ballet, hip hop, and aerial sports. Then 2020 happened, and the pandemic put a pause on a lot of plans.

During quarantine, I dove deep into drawing again. That is when I decided to try selling my work online through Redbubble. I believed my art was unique, but it was hard to market without already having a platform. So I pivoted. I started painting my artwork onto clothing and selling it on Etsy. I did fairly well there, but when I decided to form my LLC and build my own website, I accidentally entered something incorrectly while updating my tax information, and my shop was shut down.

So I adapted again.

Now I focus mainly on my own website and in-person events like art festivals and conventions. My audience is steadily growing, even though I am still a small business. I feel incredibly lucky for the fan base I have. I have even had a couple of celebrity fans, which completely blows my mind. A dance group even cosplayed my pastel goth princesses for a comic con dance skit, and that felt surreal.

Outside of my business, I still collect creative hobbies. I love reading, even though I have not had much time recently, so I listen to a lot of audiobooks. My favorite book is Dracula, which I have listened to at least once a year since I was thirteen. The Read Dracula podcast made that experience even better. I also love fantasy, true crime, and ghost stories.

My music taste is all over the place. My current favorites are Poor Man’s Poison, The Struts, and My Chemical Romance, but I also love girly pop, 1970s music, and honestly a little bit of everything. My favorite movies tend to be stop-motion animated films like Coraline and Corpse Bride. I clearly never outgrew that phase.

Some of my artistic hobbies include doll restoration, collage, sewing, painting, drawing, video editing, makeup, and just about anything that lets me create something from nothing.

I truly would not be where I am without my parents.

My mom studied fashion and fiber arts in college, and she taught me how to draw, paint, and sew. Creativity was just part of everyday life in our house. She encouraged self-expression and let my brother and me wear whatever we wanted, as long as it was not indecent. That freedom shaped my confidence and sense of style early on.

My dad has always been my biggest cheerleader. If I post something online, he is the first to share it or make it his profile picture. When I was younger, he built cosplay props for me, including an Undertaker scythe made from real cow bones and a steampunk blunderbuss that could be charged with air and shoot glitter. It was heavy, but it was iconic.

I would also be remiss if I did not mention my husband, Jace. We met in 2018 on a cruise ship on the last day and somehow discovered we were both from the same state, just on opposite ends. We started long distance, driving five hours every other weekend to see each other. Eventually, I moved to Springdale while he attended college in Russellville, so we were only two hours apart. Then we got married.

Now we work on projects together. He supports every creative venture I chase and constantly tells me how proud he is. He is an incredible cosplayer who builds amazing props and fixes all of my technical problems. He is definitely the brains. I just like glitter and pretty colors.

After buying our house, we added two sweet Australian Shepherds to our little family.

I do not know exactly where life will take me next, but I know it will always involve creating. I hope you stick around to see what comes next.