BEHIND THE B-ROLL ONLINE

VISALIA, Calif. (BTBR) – The Bad Girls Market is a one of a kind community grown market that features over 80 vendors of all kinds with an emphasis on being an inviting, safe space.

Through a little partnership with yours truly, we’d like to introduce you to a few and share their stories, one at a time.

This month, meet Amber Dawn Hilton. She’s a multi-disciplinary artists who was diagnosed with autism and ADHD.

From a young age, Amber says being neurodivergent helped her move to the beat of her own drum and have an entrepreneurial mindset.

“Since I was 11, I started a baby sitting and like dog sitting business,” she said. “When I was 12 I started selling my jewelry.”

Amber has been a vendor at the Bad Girls Market since October 2024.

Since joining the market, Amber says she’s enjoyed the ambient, community and affordability of the market. She also appreciates the work the Bad Girls Market coordinators go through to promote the market, to help vendors make sales.

“They do a lot to help promote small businesses,” Amber said. “I feel a sense of safety, security [and] community, people really invested in each other, supporting each other.”

Ambers says, like many people, that sense of safety and community are integral to her ability to work and feel fulfilled.

“If I didn’t have the community and things like that, I don’t know where I would start,” she said. “I’ve done Etsy and I’ve had success there, but the market is very oversaturated and they’re like just wringing out the artists for fees and stuff. It just doesn’t feel good.”

Amber says, for many years, the safety and community she has now wasn’t there.

“I’ve worked for other people, including corporations [and] I did not feel appreciated,” she said. “I felt really run down.”

After years of working hard to care for herself and her family Amber says she felt the need to take control.

At the age of 32, she decided to pursue being an artist full time, no matter what.

“It’s harder to make money as an artist,” Amber said. “I’ve had to adjust a little bit and resale some stuff, which has been fine and actually helped.”

Amber says the one of the biggest thing that’s helped her on her artist journey is her vendor community, uplifting her through ups and downs.

“I’ve made so many friends [at the Bad Girls Market], close friends,” she said. “You build a community and that’s really what keeps you going through the downtimes.”

It’s thanks to her community that Amber says she’s able to thrive artistically in all her different endeavors.

From photography, digital art and music to jewelry making and more, Amber took her work to Visalia’s First Fridays and Fresno Art Hop. She also released two full albums and 17 singles, all while raising her son.

Slowly but surely, her work caught the eyes of customer after customer and any self-doubt the blossoming artist had disappeared, Amber could proudly say she was validated by her community as an artist.

Through her art Amber has manifested a life she’s proud of, and she says anyone else can do it too.