Make Calm your new KPI // Host, Beyond Margins Podcast // I help business owners build calmer businesses with comfortable margins // Speaker, CFO + COO, Consultant

Susan Boles

Stay safe when you show up online// Founder at Unpublic & Beyond Margins // I help creators stay safe when they show up online // Make Calm Your New KPI

Most privacy companies will tell you to get off social media. 
That's not realistic for creators. 

You NEED visibility. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲.
 
You can be both. You just need the right systems - systems that protect what matters (your home address, your family, your peace of mind and mental health and sensitive info) while letting you stay visible where it counts (your platform, your content, your public appearances).
 
Think of it like this:
 
In the Old West, stagecoaches crossing dangerous territory had a guard with a shotgun riding beside the driver. (Yep, that’s where “shotgun” comes from when your friends pile into the car.)
 
The guard didn't grab the reins. Didn't tell the driver where to go. They watched the road for trouble so the driver focused on getting everyone to their destination.
 
That's what safety should be for creators: someone riding shotgun while you drive.
 
You've got the reins. You're building something that matters. You've got somewhere important to go.

That's why I created Unpublic. We handle the landscape so you can focus on the road ahead. We’re riding shotgun so you can enjoy the drive and get there faster.

We need to rethink the role of safety in our creator businesses and online platforms:
 
❌ Go from thinking: "I'm not big enough to be at risk"
✅ To instead embrace: Risk exists at every level. Prevention is easier than reaction.
 
❌ From "I feel fine" (incomplete tips from friends or ChatGPT)
✅ To actually BEING protected (layered, systematic approach)
 
❌ From safety as emergency response
✅ To safety as business infrastructure
 
This ensures you’re prepared, not scared.
 
This isn't about hiding or going private. You can't - and shouldn't - stop building your platform. This is about 𝘀taying safe while staying visible … so you can get even more visible.
 
Most privacy companies will tell you to get off social media. That's not realistic for creators. You NEED visibility. But you also deserve to be safe.
 
You can be both. You just need the right systems - systems that protect what matters (your home address, your family, your peace of mind and mental health and sensitive info) while letting you stay visible where it counts (your platform, your content, your public appearances).

Privacy isn't a crisis response plan. It's business infrastructure. 

You can't build a calm, sustainable business without it. 

Every growing business runs on invisible systems - finance, operations, publishing, monetization. Privacy, security and safety belong in that list. They're not exciting - they're foundational. And like your accounting system, they should work in your favor without constant attention. 

Here's what all these systems have in common: when they fail, everything stops. 

You don't wake up excited to think about your chart of accounts or your privacy settings. But the moment something breaks - or you realize there's no system at all - it becomes the ONLY thing you can think about. Existential. All-consuming. The opposite of calm. 

That's the difference between infrastructure and crisis management. 

Reliable systems create margin. Broken systems - or missing ones - create chaos. 

Privacy is no different than any other foundational system. The question is whether you build it before you need it or scramble to fix it when everything's on fire.

Safety as a creator shouldn't require going dark. 

As a creator, you build your platform to connect, to teach, to entertain, to sell. 
That work matters. Your voice matters. 

And you shouldn't have to disappear in order to feel safe.

I’ve always been drawn to portraiture and people’s faces. I am endlessly fascinated by the human body in all of its intricacy and grace.

Growing up, it was the portraits in art history books that I first fell in love with – people’s stories and lives looking out at me centuries later.

But those stories are also limited in their scope. While there are exceptions, for most of history, portraits were used to tell just a few kinds of stories.

Portraits are about legacy, but I want to stretch that definition beyond merely “status symbol”. I want your portrait to leave the legacy of your journey, to share the wholeness of your character.

I want to tell new kinds of stories. I want portraits to be inclusive, subversive and dare I say it – a little bit radical. I want to break portraits out of their tiny pigeonhole and invite the whole world in.

I want to honour the lives of those of us who have been historically left out, whether because of gender, race, social status or the thousand other ways people were excluded.

If you think “A portrait? Me? Really? But I’m not [fill in the blank]” but the idea intrigues you, then you’re exactly who I’m talking to.

We all deserve the dignity of having our story told. None of us is boring. We all contain a lifetime of depth in our faces.

I currently live in Ottawa, Canada with a small legion of benignly neglected houseplants. In my spare time, I can be found knitting with an absentminded disregard for patterns, walking the riverside or wandering thrift and antique stores. 

The Professional Bits:
I trained at Studio Escalier in France, spending over 2000 hours honing my craft under master artists. My art has been featured in American Art Collector and Fine Art Connoisseur, and awarded a Certificate of Honour at the Portrait Society of America’s International Portrait Competition. I have demonstrated 18th century portrait drawing techniques at the National Gallery of Canada on several occasions and ran a popular traditional painting & drawing school for 5 years. My work has been exhibited in Canada, the US and Ireland and I am currently working towards another solo exhibition.

Sarah Lacy

I’m so envious of everyone’s “2025 Wrapped” style LinkedIn and IG posts. 

They’re so dang cute! And fun! I wanna make a fun, celebratory update about my 2025 highlights!

Except I want to look back at 2025 about as much as I want to hug a porcupine. 

And maybe this is you too. *waves in solidarity*

For those of you who have been following along, I spent most of last year in and out of emergency rooms, doctor’s offices and medical labs, trying to find answers and terrified I might permanently lose the use of my painting arm. (We will not discuss the terror of intermittent blindness in my left eye that kicked everything off last February.)

My win for 2025 is that I got through it. 

I fought for answers against a medical system that wanted to dismiss me. 

I *got* answers and I know what happened. 

I fought for my passion & my vocation, despite doctor after doctor asking why I couldn’t just give up painting and go do something else. 

I trusted myself and my instinct that whatever was happening could be healed. That this wasn’t some permanent condition. 

I successfully did not throat punch a single well-meaning-but-thoughtless bystander who gave me Dr. Google medical advice or told me that “Giving up art was what the Universe wanted for me and I was now going to find my true purpose in life.”

(I think I deserve many gold stars for that last one.)

I could force myself to relive the year, mining for tiny gems and moments of joy. I know they’re there. But frankly, that’s not being kind to myself. 

So instead, I will share the tender hopes I have for 2026. 

✨ My arm is healing, slowly but surely. 

✨ I am able to paint better and stronger every week. 

✨ My fine motor control and accuracy, so crucial in a portrait, are returning. 

✨ I am aiming to be back to full strength by the end of the year and possibly even as early as July. 

✨ I managed, through some miracle, to keep my portrait painting studio that I rented last January. I am deeply grateful to the private students who studied with me this past year there, who gave me a reason to keep it and kept me connected to the reasons I make art. (And I continue to take private students, if this piques your interest.)

It wasn’t a pretty year, and the highlights reel is thin, but I did it. 

So to those of you who aren’t feeling like 2025 was a year to celebrate, I see you. Here’s to our gentle hopes for 2026. 

=====
Hi! I’m Sarah, and I create thoughtful portraits for thoughtful people. Enjoyed this? Click follow next to my name to add a little colour and contemplation to your LinkedIn feed.

Sarah Marie Lacy, SCA

Award-winning international portrait painter. Creating thoughtful heirloom portraits for people who refuse to disappear. Tell your story.

A former arts journalist once told me that absolutely no one would *ever* spend five figures to commission a portrait from me. 

Looking at my work, she wrinkled her nose disdainfully. 

“The light is too natural. They look like, well…real people.”

She gestured at the website of another portrait artist. 

“See how he makes everyone look grand and ostentatious? Yeah, you need to totally change your style. No one is going to want what you do.”

In a way, she was right. 

(Not about the price tag part: people do pay five figures for my portraits and I’ve sold over $141,500 in portrait commissions to date.)

But I *am* absolute crap at painting ostentatious, flashy portraits. 

If you dream of the portrait version of a neon yellow Lamborghini, I can happily refer you to another artist. There are plenty of folks better at that than me.

But that’s not everyone’s idea of legacy. And that’s not an image everyone is comfortable hanging on the wall. 

My clients, even if they might not describe themselves this way, are quietly rebellious. 

They see the power of portraits on the flip side of the Coin Of Ostentation. 

There is an overarching cultural narrative of what a portrait is supposed to be and who it is supposed to be of and how the person should present themselves.

But I am obsessed with the question of: what if we throw all of that out the window?

What if a portrait is here to tell the story of your life, in a beautifully nuanced way, that captures something much deeper and more meaningful? 

My clients are rejecting that narrative and deciding for themselves what legacy means to them. 

It’s husbands getting portraits of their wives, 20 years into their marriage, so their wife can see how damn beautiful she is to them. 

It’s daughters getting portraits of their Korean parents who came from a humble background, built success from nothing and never dreamed of being people who would be in portraits. (Their grins as they sat next to their finished portraits still makes my heart burst.)

It’s grandmothers getting portraits of their grandchildren at a moment that was important for *their* culture. 

It’s parents celebrating their son and daughter-in-law in the final month before their first child was born - a milestone if there ever was one!

These are the moments that make up our lives - they’re honest and a little vulnerable and very, very real. To me, these are the stories and moments that matter to us most. 

I want to paint real people. I want to honour your story because I don’t think it needs glamourizing - I think you’re pretty damn fascinating, exactly as you are. 

=====
Hi! I’m Sarah, and I create thoughtful portraits for thoughtful people. Enjoyed this? Click follow next to my name to add a little colour and contemplation to your LinkedIn feed.

Look, I know this is not my usual schtick here on LinkedIn. 

My art students, past, present and future, tend to hang out on Instagram, and that's where I've been talking about this the most. 

But then every now and again, a LinkedIn connection will surprise me with hidden creative dreams or creative kids or a creative spouse. 

So if you've been watching me share my work here and thought "Wow, I wish I could pick Sarah's arty brain on a regular basis to help me with my own artwork", helloooooo!

You can. 

We start this Wednesday. We meet once a month. You get community, support, thoughtful and insightful feedback, and most importantly, a jet-fuel-cheerleader for your creative dreams, no matter how big or small. 

Our creativity matters (maybe even especially so at this moment in our lives and history.) 

I want to see you and your artistic dreams thrive. 

If this sounds like your jam, please slide your way into my DMs with any questions you have. Linky thing will be in the comments.

Mastrius Art Mentoring

I think so much of what passes for mentorship ends up hurting the person being mentored. 

Mentorship should be about *you*, the person being mentored, not about the mentor’s ego or whatever nonsense they’re projecting onto you. (Ask me how I know 🙄) 

I will shout about this all day long. 

And it’s why I continue to mentor, no matter how busy I am or what else is going on in my life, because when you get a mentor who truly wants to see you succeed?

You get jet fuel for your dreams.

Whether those dreams are big ass projects that are bursting from your soul, or a quieter but insistent desire to improve your art because it would bring you bone-deep satisfaction. 

Every creative dream matters. 

And I am pretty damn devoted to cheering on dreams of all sizes. 

Want a jet-fuel-cheerleader for your own creative dreams? 

My Mastrius mentorship group for artists opens at the end of January, focusing on beginner-to-intermediate artists who want to improve their work, retrain that pesky inner critic, and feel momentum in their creative practice. 

Intrigued? Know someone this is a great fit for? I'd love to answer any questions you have. (We all know posting a link will murder the reach, I'll share it in the comments later today.)

“We’d been married for 17 years, and I thought my wife was the finest work of art I’d ever seen.

I wanted to do something romantic and to show her that even now we’re getting older, we still got it. I found your website and I thought, “Wow, this is perfect. I can’t believe I found this.” - Craig H. 

Sometimes it can feel almost impossible to find the right words to tell the person we love just *how much* we love them. 

Or just how wonderful we think they are. 

Maybe we aren’t words people. Maybe we aren’t naturally very romantic. (Hiiii, it’s me.)

Maybe we just want them to see themselves the way *we* see them. 

When Craig’s wife saw her portrait, she gasped and said, “Oh my gosh, I’m beautiful?? Am I really this beautiful?” We both got a little teary eyed.

That’s why I do this work. I want people to see themselves without that damn running commentary we have in our heads when we look in the mirror - too tired, dark circles, too many wrinkles, things are sagging, and on and on it goes.

I want you to see yourself the way that your loved ones see you. 

And if you’re someone trying to find a gift that conveys just how much you love your Person, send me a message - I can take on 2 more 8”x10” portrait drawings before Valentine’s Day, or you can gift the experience of a portrait from start to finish (both are meaningful gifts in different ways.)

And if you’re excited about this but you know your loved one would be very, very resistant to the process and you’d like ideas on how to present it in a way that they can get behind, please send me a DM - I’ve heard it all at this point and usually the people who resist it the most are also the ones who *love it* the most in the end. 

=====

Hi! I’m Sarah, and I paint thoughtful portraits for thoughtful people. Enjoyed this? Click follow next to my name to add a little colour and contemplation to your LinkedIn feed.

Have you ever wondered how art auctions actually work? 

Myself and Heather Simpson are excited to kick off 2026 with a deep dive into the Canadian art market for our next Art & Design Club event at the Rideau Club. 

We’re delighted to have Katherine Meredith, Senior Art Specialist at Cowley Abbott, joining us to discuss auctions, collecting and the Canadian art market.

Cowley Abbott is one of the major Canadian auction houses so we’ll be getting a real behind-the-scenes peek at how this world works. 

During a fireside chat over the dessert course, Ms Meredith will address current market trends, as well as the ins and outs of buying and selling at auction.

Details:
📅 Date: Monday, January 19, 2026
 📍 Location: Rideau Club
 ⏰ Time: 6:00 PM

The evening will begin with cocktails, followed by a three-course dinner and a fireside chat with Katherine during dessert. 

Not a Rideau Club member and interested in attending? Message myself or Heather for ticket information!

There are approximately 347 Very Important Biz Dev Things I Should Absolutely Be Doing. 

But I've fallen in love with a sprouting garlic. Somebody send help because I think he is absolutely adorable. 

We've run away to my studio together 💃

I regret nothing.

taplio

The Battle

Susan Boles

Sarah Lacy

Followers

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Performance ScoreSusan Boles's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreSarah Lacy's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Susan Boles

Sarah Lacy

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Susan Boles's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreSarah Lacy's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreSusan Boles's LinkedIn Performance