Dear Viewer,
I was a very analytical child. I started studying calculus in middle school and spent years convinced I was going to MIT. But every once in a while, I would spend a good 30 minutes picking the best PowerPoint animation. And at some point, I started creating my own.
That tension between the analytical and the creative has followed me across three cities and just as many versions of myself. I grew up in Astana, Kazakhstan, where the plan was to be a chess player. Then my family moved to Boston and the plan became Russian School of Math on weekends, and "I don't know, it's too soon, maybe game theory" being the answer to "what do you want to do when you grow up?" I would take calculus and journalism classes in high school and pretend like the two had nothing to do with each other. Eventually that question got too loud to ignore. I had to choose. But instead, I moved to New York City and married the two: the analytical and the creative.
You quickly realize after moving that this city doesn't let you be vague about what you offer. It puts you face to face with the best in their field: you ride the same trains to work every morning, you're in the same coffee shops, you have the same bagel order - and it very quickly asks you why you belong there too. I thought about leaving, because for a while I wasn't sure I did. I thought about building something somewhere safer, with less competition, and coming back when I was ready. Instead I stayed. I got in the rooms and learned from the people already doing what I desired to do.
What I came away with is a working theory: the analytical and the creative have always been closer than we wanted to admit. There's geometry in every painting people have ever loved. There's artistry behind every decision they've ever made. They were never really opposites, we just convinced ourselves they were.
This portfolio is the proof and an invitation….with an open bar. Tech, jewelry, sports, lifestyle, strategy, feeling, New York City and everywhere I came from before it. The creative fixer I always aspired to be.
Curtains up. Please enjoy the show. Mariam Dossayeva
There are two things you should know about me: when I was a child, my parents sent me to violin lessons and English classes. I didn’t particularly enjoy either at first, and when I expressed my reluctance, they assured me that I would thank them one day. The English lessons turned out to be invaluable, with a foundation built on perfecting my R’s in the first sessions, I moved to the United States. This exposure gave me a seamless transition into American culture and helped me develop an accent-free command of English.
As for the violin lessons, I continued with them for nine more years, even though I never fully understood why. I never liked them, and at no point did I pretend otherwise. Yet, looking back, there’s a part of me that wonders if those lessons laid the groundwork for something more profound. Maybe they instilled a discipline and resilience that now fuel my ambitions. Perhaps this site is a step toward recognizing that the possibility that my creative drive, the one pushing me toward a career of substance and meaning, traces back to those years with the violin. I don’t collect skills to simply showcase them, I pursue them with the intention of growth and meaningful application. Just as my English brought me to a new country, I believe that every skill I acquire has potential, even if its purpose has yet to be revealed.
So, thank you, Mom and Dad. I’ll strive to make you proud.