When she moved to Japan, Art 1 and AP 2D-Design teacher Courtney Skinner immersed herself in the world of anime and developed a love for Japanese culture.

In fact, this love for the culture started in elementary school, when she placed second to her best friend Tiffany Lai in their “drawing competitions.” After noticing her best friend draw in anime style, Skinner adopted it.

In fifth grade, she began watching Toonami, discovering her first real animes, “Inuyasha” and “Sailor Moon.”

At the end of sixth grade, she moved to Japan for her dad’s military service where she lived until she was 17. There, she discovered “Hello Kitty,” as well as the other treasures the company Sanrio offered.

“I also discovered ‘Pretty Cure,’ which is a pretty obscure anime for children,” Skinner said. “It’s straight up for 5-year-olds, but it’s so encouraging and pure and beautiful, and I still watch it to this day.”

As her love for Japanese culture and fashion grew, she began to struggle to find clothes that fit her, as plus-size options were limited in Japanese clothing. Skinner decided to make her own clothes.

“I started gaining [followers] on social media,” Skinner said. “I had this motherly teacher role on Facebook where people would come to me and ask me questions about fashion and I’d be like, ‘You’re doing a great job!’ People started to really enjoy my personality. On top of that, I was an active digital artist wearing my own clothing, people got interested. So I was like, ‘Sure, I’ll start selling it.’”

All of this culminated into selling her clothes, developing the brand she called Ota-Q, which is a reference to the Japanese word “otaku” meaning “nerd.”

Though she enjoyed this as a hobby, Skinner became overwhelmed by the demands as a small business owner and ultimately decided to leave the apparel industry.

“It was a hobby that got way too big, and that’s the reason why I quit,” Skinner said. “I knew I wanted to be a teacher, so I couldn’t balance both. But I really enjoyed that phase of my life. I got to travel; I got to do fashion shows; I got to do interviews [and] I got to meet some of my fashion heroes, so it was a wonderful experience.”

After Ota-Q’s closure, Skinner continued to work toward her childhood dream of becoming a teacher.

“My grandmother and mom were teachers, and when I was about 12, I started working summer school jobs [with my mom],” Skinner said. “I would talk to the students and help her pass out the papers. I just figured out that I really enjoy teaching. While I was in high school I was a tutor, so [I was practicing] teaching. I had an education major in college; I knew I wanted to be a teacher.”

Although she was certain she wanted to be a teacher, she had trouble picking which subject to focus on.

“I took science as my major because I knew there would be a better job market,” Skinner said. “I always wanted to be an art teacher, but I knew that I would need something more reliable as I entered the education career. I decided to teach science for about three years with a plan to [eventually] teach art.”

As her love for her career grew, Skinner knew she would need to settle into one school, and began applying for teaching jobs in the Houston area. Though she applied to jobs at other schools, Bellaire stood out to her because of its student diversity and large range of classes offered. The opportunity to teach both art and photography is what ultimately brought her to Bellaire.

“I’m kind of [teaching] everything [when it comes to art], but my emphasis is photography,” Skinner said. “I love photography. I’ve been doing photography since I was 12. [When I found out the photography position was open], I was so excited. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I get to teach people photo.’”

This passion for photography gave her students a clear vision of her excitement to teach the class.

“My first impression was that she was very enthusiastic,” sophomore Charlotte Hart said. “When she introduced herself, she had a very bright personality.”

That enthusiasm has created a positive learning environment for all of her students.

“A lot of the times when you do stuff in class, she would compliment your work,” sophomore Grayson Ho said. “[She would] give you an emotional boost too. She just makes you feel better about yourself when you do the work.”

Skinner feels that encouraging her students is an important part of teaching, as they are a part of the next generation. She not only enjoys being able to help them become the person they want to be, but also become artists who impact others.

“Anything that you see is going to influence you, and if we create any sort of art that has an emotional impact, it’s going to affect other people,” Skinner said. “It’s going to stick in their minds. I just want to be the person to help craft those moments. I think that art is also a cathartic experience. You’re able to rant with art, you’re able to express yourself with art, you’re able to say things that you can’t say with words.”

This story was originally published on Three Penny Press on September 15, 2024.