We’re looking forward to introducing you to Carla René. Check out our conversation below.
Carla, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: What is a normal day like for you right now?
Regimented chaos!
It begins at 4:30 (or, if my registered F3 Bengal, General Toot has anything to say about it, usually around 3 am) when I get up to study, but since I’m taming a feral cat outside for the last 3 years, he’s waiting for his breakfast at that time, so while the coffee pot is going, I’m feeding Monty (named after Monty Python).
Once that’s done, I hit the books for at least 3 hours, take a few hours’ break, then do another 2.
In the afternoon, I then am in the studio until about 4:30 when it’s time for my 3 inside kitties to eat, and by that time my back is wrecked anyway, so it’s a good stopping place.
By 5:30 I’m feeding Monty his dinner, then I’ll watch a little streaming, or update my Etsy shop or work on digital designs until time for my nighttime meds and supplements at 7:30, and then I’m usually asleep by 9 to do it all over again. Living the glamorous life!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Carla René, and I am the sole designer and proprietor of GlitterCat Studios. I’m an award-winning and published coloured pencil artist, and on August 1 of this year I was honoured with my coveted signature status by the Coloured Pencil Society of Ameria. It allows me to display “CPSA” after my name, like a PhD would.
I started off doing just photo- and hyperrealism for my pencil art, then realised that at art shows folks weren’t going to buy fine art, they wanted smaller things to take home, or just to have something. That’s how I really began pushing my Etsy shop and since opening that store 18 years ago, my goal there has always been to do Victorian/vintage/shabby chic graphics and designs. Only this year have I began to make physical items like shabby chic Christmas ornaments using mixed-media materials such as resin and air-dry clay, but I also use those media in my handmade and one-of-a-kind cards. Folks are beginning to finally notice my work and each compliment comes in the form of “what you do is very unique–no one else is doing this, I LOVE it!”
Personally, I’m working toward double doctorates in Astrophysics and applied mathematics, I’m now a private pilot studying for my BGI (basic ground instructor) rating where I’ll be able to teach the ground school physics to student pilots, and I’m wild about my cats. I have 3 maniacal, whiny, codependent and-I-swear-they-drop-acid-behind-my-back cats who treat me like the hired help.
I used to be a television sitcom actor, did music videos, and still do stand-up comedy when the studying and art gets too busy and overwhelming.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
This one is a sad one, and I feel very vulnerable in answering it, but I get the feeling that a LOT of people may be struggling with the same thing, so for their sake, I’ll forego a little privacy.
I did not have any kind of good relationship with my mother. She used to tell me all the time that I was unplanned; an accident; unwanted; they weren’t ready for me. So, I grew up believing that I had ZERO worth as a person (hey–if even your folks don’t want you in this world, then what worth do you really have?), even though I began to demonstrate savantism at an early age. At the age of 10 I was discovered as a child prodigy in music and painting. These were things I could just naturally do well without training. I didn’t know that was anything special until the kids began bullying me.
So I learned to hide them. I never mentioned them to anyone, never told very many people that I was on television, couldn’t share the very heart of ME! These were parts of who I am and my very life and experiences, and I learned that I couldn’t talk about them, because people were jealous and became mean, or ghosted me altogether. I was tired of going home to my room and finding solace in books (since my parents mocked that–maybe they didn’t think that hurt, but it certainly did), and I wanted friends. But I quickly learned that if I was going to be the person God created me to be, brains and talents, then I couldn’t have friends. Kids can be incredibly cruel, and most of those around me were.
It wasn’t until I hit college that I found out I’m Asperger’s, and that usually goes with the high intelligence. But I didn’t know that as a child, I just knew the class hated me for always blowing the bell curve: another thing that will kill any friends.
Back to my mother.
As I grew, I learned that my mother was dealing with her own self-esteem issues, or lack thereof. She suffered severe panic attacks, depression, and agorophobia, where she became afraid to leave the house. Add that to her narcissism, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a master manipulator. I soon realised that in her eyes, I was only there to make HER look better and to do things her way to fulfill her unfulfilled life. She was jealous of all the talents and abilities that I possessed, and that threw a wedge between us because she wanted me to use those to glorify her.
My mother passed away on New Year’s Day of 2020, and when my dad and I finally had a conversation about that, I shared with him my mother’s words to me through the years. His response floored me: he had NEVER known that’s how she felt about her pregnancy.
I knew that there were some severe self-esteem issues that I just couldn’t shake; they wouldn’t go away with therapy or with encouragement from friends. I didn’t understand this “root of rejection” but I sure knew that it was something that went so much deeper in me than I could fix.
2 years ago I went through the most painful break-up of my entire life with someone I was completely prepared to spend the rest of my life with. I’ve been a born-again Christian since the age of 6, but that painful event that completely came out of nowhere sent me on a journey of real self-exploration. I spent a lot of time in prayer, and one day as I was reading a Joyce Meyer book about “The Root of Rejection”, something in it completely changed the way that I saw myself. In one paragraph, she said sometimes that rejection can take root from inside the womb. THAT WAS IT! My mother, being young and foolish and not knowing any better, had spoken those words of rejection over me in the womb and that’s why therapy and encouragement couldn’t get it out. It took prayer and 2 years worth of work on changing the way that I thought God saw me. I soon realised that He loves me wildly, that I DO have worth in this world, that I AM a beautiful person, that I DO deserve wonderful things–all the antithesis of things that I had believed my entire life.
So, probably more than you wanted to know, but there it is. I hated myself as a kid because I didn’t think I was supposed to be in this world, and now I love myself and have learned that I can finally face anything that comes at me, because I have the One who promised He would never leave me friendless again.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
You are beautiful, your gifts are special and you have a right to them and to talk about them and to share them with the world without worrying about retribution in the form of bullying, jealousy, or hatred. Your mother may have messed up with the words she didn’t know any better by, but don’t let them define you; find your identity in who God says you are, because He is the only one that is madly in love with you and will never let you down.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
You want just one thing? LOL.
When I was discovered as the child prodigy in music, it was suggested to me that my folks find a mentor for me. We could never afford one, so it didn’t happen.
So I grew up thinking because I was “special” as a kid, that those gifts would sail me through the rest of my life, that I wouldn’t have to put any more work into my chosen fields.
Man, was I wrong! As an adult, one day I realised I wasn’t that special kid anymore and the world didn’t give a crap about that anyway, so if I wanted something I was going to have to get off my butt and make it happen. Sadly, I see so many highly-intelligent people making the same mistakes! The definition of real “intelligence” isn’t how much you know, it’s when a person remains open-minded; decides to continue taking in new viewpoints and new data while maybe remaining true to their own. It isn’t learning something and then digging in your heels to defend it to the death. Most times, there are facets of a situation that we aren’t privy to, which is why truly intelligent people remain open to learning more details. It’s being willing to admit if you get something wrong, and then working WITHIN THAT NEW INFORMATION to fix it.
The other thing is that they seem to carry this sense of entitlement. Thankfully, my folks cared enough to never let me get to that point with my talents, but I see SO many suffering from this. If they had also had mentors to reign them in when they needed it (or parents who understood a gifted child), they wouldn’t now feel and act like the world owes them something. The only thing the world “owes” you is change from your twenty for your bag of chocolate chip cookies. Everything else you have to keep working for.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. If you laid down your name, role, and possessions—what would remain?
As a follower of Christ, He told us to lay down those things daily. That’s what “dying to self” means. It is a daily walk and struggle to lay down all the desires to lift ourselves up and to be there for others. It’s our job to love others as wildly as He loves us, and you can’t do that if you’re bogged down by “stuff”, even if that stuff is the worth you’ve placed on yourself in your own mind. Loving someone else–especially someone who has deeply hurt you–isn’t possible until you get rid of the pride, which is a symptom of having the name, the role, the “stuff”. If you want to seriously mess yourself up, make the name, the role, the money, the success, the possessions all you chase. You’ll find out just how tainted and worthless they are in the scheme of things. Instead, make it your goal to do your very best at whatever you do, then perhaps one day those other things will follow. But they cannot be the goal.
That’s been one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in this 2-year “masterclass” in self-reflection and healing. I’m not here to become the smartest, most famous, or most successful anything. My whole job here is to be a servant to everyone else around me. The world loves to say how we all need to “LOVE” to make this mess better. But no one wants to do it Christ’s way because that would take sacrifice. Christ showed us that example when He became the ultimate servant and died on the cross just so I wouldn’t have to. That took REAL LOVE to do for a world full of people He didn’t know face-to-face.
THAT is what I want to remain.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.glittercatstudios.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/glittercatstudios
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/glittercatstudios1
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@glittercatstudios
Image Credits
All images copyright (c) 2025 by Carla René for GlitterCat Studios
