Megan Rizzo

When enjoying Megan Rizzo’s bright, dynamic character illustrations, you’re not too far from the creator herself. Conceptualized by a curious and spirited imagination, Daisy Doodles capture a regular day of emotions—ups and downs from her own life.

When Megan was young, her mother modeled what it looked like for art to manifest in different ways. As her mother’s interests moved from sculpture to painting to baking and face painting, Megan and her sister Tina took art classes and developed their own style. Together in high school, they designed sneakers and lanyard bracelets that they sold to classmates.

From age 16 through her early 20s, Megan worked as a waitress, hostess, and bartender. Some days she powered through two jobs before coming home and picking up a pencil to draw. She refused an office job, convinced it would deplete her energy to create.

Megan knew she wanted to be an artist, but going into college, she followed Mom’s advice: “Make art, but you gotta do something else for money.” She chose art therapy.

After earning her master’s, she facilitated art therapy classes at a men’s rehabilitation center. The classes often began with a prompt to connect the participants to an unconscious emotion. “Seeing those guys who’d never touched art before, especially older men who felt that art is for kids, was amazing,” she says. “People who never would’ve talked, talked more because of art therapy.”

Megan also kept a daily practice of drawing out her feelings for herself. She shared the results on Instagram consistently. The routine grounded her as much as it gave her an audience—especially other Black women—and a mood to relate to. “I still feel weird when I don’t do it,” she confesses. “If I miss a few days, I get irritable! It’s very therapeutic.”

Then opportunity knocked at the door. Her husband, Joe, was accepted into a PhD psychology program in Palo Alto. Megan was ready to pivot away from therapy, so they moved. Their first home was in Mountain View, a disquieting contrast to the bustling streets they were used to. Alone in a dark apartment, with no schedule or social network to lean into, Megan had to remind herself that moving had been her choice, and she would have to seek out her own rays of light.

She forced herself to “get out and go on trips.” Determined to explore, she took a job at Everlane in San Francisco. Soon, she met fellow artists through her coworkers and followed

Written by Esther Young Photography by Arabela Espinoza

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these branches to Oakland. From there, she integrated into small art hubs that included artists from San Jose.

All the while, she began to create as if she was already hired. Continually upping her game in Adobe Procreate and Illustrator, she landed major commissions from back home (her clients include Foot Locker and Black Woman Animate). By joining street art competitions, she also acquired commissions such as a utility box for Redwood City and graphic design work for Sunnyvale.

When NFTs rose into the forefront of public discourse, Megan found herself among many skeptical artists deciding whether to keep their distance, or pan for a golden opportunity. A friend who produced events explained how an NFT could mean more than digital ownership—its purchase could include admission to an event, or mimic incentive-driven fundraisers by selling digital art to support a cause.

Still, Megan questioned the safety of her artwork on marketplace blockchains and the implication of selling what she originally made for herself.

It wasn’t until a friend in tech reached out to Megan that she was convinced. Her friend proposed an NFT project that would highlight change-makers in society. If it raised enough money, they could create a grant to support youth art programs in Detroit.

Their League of Legends NFTs were minted in March. Deliberately styled after baseball cards, the collection honors figures such as Oprah Winfrey, Sidney Poitier, Erykah Badu, Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, and Angela Davis.

With every project that launches, as well as each pitch that goes nowhere, Megan continues to reflect on her growth to keep moving forward. Her next goal is an animation series that stars a Black woman in her late 20s named Daisy. The storyline follows her transition from one community to another.

As with all her best work, Megan sees herself clearly in the concept. “I felt lost when I first moved here. I essentially had to reset my whole life,” she says. But it forced her to make decisions toward positive growth. It drove her to work for an audience she believed would come.

And that’s the heart of it. As she dives into this animation project, aiming to deliver the pilot before her real-life pregnancy delivers a human child into her world, Megan offers one reminder: “Believe in your value.” C