Tamia Stinson: Connecting artists to opportunities

Over the years, Tamia Stinson has been described in many ways: serial entrepreneur, Slumber Party Dance-off Champion, visionary, “Purple Rain” aficionado, spreadsheet nerd. There is a bit of truth in each one of those, though I prefer to think of her as a matchmaker. She prefers “connector” to describe her work.

“Matchmaker” probably feels a little too rustic. And “rustic” is a word no one would ever assign to her. She is far too elegant for that, a former stylist and art director who could easily be mistaken for a high-end model.

Stinson is the charismatic dynamo behind the Cincinnati Artist Network, an initiative of the Cincinnati Regional Chamber, dedicated to “uplifting artists and creative entrepreneurs as essential contributors to our region’s economic growth and cultural vibrancy.”

She is a matchmaker whose goal is to bring “creatives” together with businesses that can make use of their professional services.

Stinson herself is a bundle of contradictions. She is endlessly gregarious and chatty, the natural focus of a room from the moment she enters. But at the same time, she is quite private, loath to reveal much about the woman behind that public persona.

That reticence is a relatively recent phenomenon, she said.

“I think since I’ve had a kid, I’ve been less out front,” she said. She describes her 4-year-old daughter Savaan – nicknamed “Savvy” – as “the Tasmanian Devil in a (very cute) little kid’s body.” She will confirm this much about her private life: Her husband Nick is a software developer. They live in St. Bernard with Savvy and a 14-year-old daughter from Nick’s first marriage.  Oh, and there is a dog named Avon Barksdale, which Stinson describes as “a German shepherd mix with unnecessarily long legs so we think he may have some Great Dane in him.”

But beyond that, Stinson prefers to focus on work rather than her private life.

“I used to be pretty active on social media. I had a fashion blog and was relatively comfortable talking about myself. But between COVID and working at home and having a newborn . . . well, it just became a different environment.”

None of this comes as a surprise to Vernard Fields, a filmmaker and artist who has known Stinson since their days growing up together
in Forest Park.

“Even back in high school, Tamia was looking to make an impact,” he said. He and Stinson graduated from Winton Woods High School in 1997. “I mean, if she saw a problem or something that could be improved, she would step up and say ‘I want to solve it.’ And if people gave her a chance, she always did.”

After graduating from Ohio State University with a degree in marketing, Stinson scored an internship at a magazine in London. It proved a game-changer for her. Not only did it put her in daily touch with the types of creatives who would come to be the focus of her current work, but it gave her a template for how to work with them.

While in London, she discovered “Le Book,” a global network connecting creative artists with potential clients. Much of its focus was on the high end of the fashion industry, leading the designer Christian Lacroix to observe that “Le Book” is “to style what a dictionary is to a writer.”

Stinson was impressed and inspired.

“I realized that this sort of thing – forging connections between artists and businesses – was something that might work in Cincinnati,” Stinson said.

Her first job after returning to Cincinnati was as a receptionist at a biotech firm. But that was only the briefest of interludes. Soon, she made her way into agency work and found herself involved in projects for the likes of Kao and Procter & Gamble.

In 2013, she began writing for Cincinnati Magazine, spinning stories about everything from candle-making and Charley Harper to custom wedding bands and top shops for sneakerheads. Her curiosity seemed boundless. And over the next four years, she built a network of connections in the local fashion world that begged for something more.

That something more came about in 2017 when People’s Liberty, a philanthropic arm of the Haile Foundation, awarded her a $100,000 grant to create Tether, a Cincinnati-centric version of “Le Book.”

“I was frustrated by seeing creatives – very skilled people – leave Cincinnati to go to Chicago and Los Angeles,” said Stinson. “That was where the work was.” 

Or, that was what they believed to be the case. In her agency days, Stinson grew tired of seeing clients turn to out-of-town creatives when she knew there were equally capable people here in Greater Cincinnati. 

“I had been a part of that world,” she said. “I knew what it felt like to have a vision and want to make it come to life. I admire people with those skills and goals. Those are my people. And I knew they were available right here in Cincinnati.”

 Creating Tether and garnering the credibility that People’s Liberty bestowed on her proved to be a game-changer.

“Tether is where I got stuck trying to help people,” she said. “I’m joking about ‘stuck,’ of course. It has become more a calling.”

1001 Colors – formerly known as ArtWorks – recognized that Stinson’s passion for connecting artists and businesses was a perfect fit for their organization. The Cincinnati Regional Chamber did, too. After spending a year with ArtWorks, Stinson was hired to create a bigger, more far-reaching – and better funded – version of Tether under the auspices of the Chamber.

“One of the things the Chamber is focused on is growing the area’s cultural vibrancy,” said Stinson. “They recognize that artists are, in their own ways, entrepreneurs.”

In turn, the Chamber has made participation in CAN highly appealing. For $150, artists can not only become part of the CAN roster, but they can also take advantage of the full range of Chamber benefits, such as access to ChamberHealth, the organization’s group health plan for its members.

Thus far, CAN has recruited 351 creatives to participate. It’s an impressive bunch, with videographers, writers, stylists, actors, dancers and all manner of designers. It’s a number that Stinson expects to double in the next 16 months.

And just how does she intend to accomplish that?

“Planning, productivity and persistence,” she replied, turning to a mantra that has held her in good stead for many years.

It’s much too soon to know whether the Cincinnati Artist Network will take off and become the community-altering juggernaut that Stinson envisions. There have been similar efforts in the past, but rarely anything with the enormous scope of CAN.

What is different about this is the backing of the Chamber, an organization with deep pockets and even deeper connections within the community. It is able to provide Stinson a direct path to the people who can actually make a difference in creatives’ careers.

“If anyone can make this happen, it’s Tamia,” said filmmaker Fields, who was one of the first to create a profile on the CAN website. “She’s so organized and so efficient. And I’ve never met anyone who is as well-connected as she is. She knows everyone. Everyone wants to work with her. And they should.”