Tiffany Machler ( known personally snd professionally as nugget) shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Tiffany , so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
I’m being called to speak — boldly, publicly, and without apology — from the parts of myself I used to keep hidden. For years, I created beauty on walls and canvases, but now I’m turning that lens inward and writing How to Rise to Meet a Woman Like This — a book that blends humor, heartbreak, and holy truth about what it really means to love, lose, and rise.
I used to be afraid of being “too much” — too intense, too honest, too spiritual, too sensual. Now, I see that those are my superpowers. This book is me standing fully in that light, not just for myself, but for every woman who’s ever been told to shrink.
I’m not chasing perfection anymore; I’m answering a call. And the call is to help other women remember that healing can be fierce, funny, and sacred all at once.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Nugget, a multidisciplinary artist and creative provocateur based in Wilmington, North Carolina. Through my brand Art by Nugget, I create large-scale murals and mixed-media works that celebrate the feminine — unapologetic, sensual, and powerful in all her forms. My art blurs the line between beauty and rebellion, inviting viewers to feel something raw, alive, and a little dangerous.
What makes my brand unique is its fusion of visual allure and emotional depth — I use color, contrast, and composition like language, translating vulnerability into something magnetic. Beyond murals, I mentor emerging artists and use public art to challenge perceptions of who gets to be seen and celebrated.
I’m currently working on my first book, How to Rise to Meet a Woman Like This — a witty, spiritually charged, and fiercely feminine manifesto about healing, desire, and self-possession.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I’ve been a lot of things — a survivor, a shapeshifter, a resilience architect. For a long time, I tailored myself to what I needed to be to survive, or what I thought people wanted from me. But somewhere along the way, I realized that constant adaptation was costing me my essence.
Now, I’m unapologetically me — bold, sensual, and unfiltered. I understand that when I channel my truth through my art and my voice, it moves people. My work has become the alchemy of everything I’ve lived through — the beauty, the ache, the lessons. Whether it’s visual or verbal, every piece I create is a transmutation of pain into power, and that’s where my magic lives.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
I’d tell her she doesn’t have to earn love by being useful. That survival mode made her strong, but it doesn’t have to be her home. I’d tell her that softness isn’t weakness, that pleasure isn’t shameful, and that her voice — even when it shakes — is powerful enough to move mountains.
For so long, I was afraid to take up space, to rest, to be seen in my full, messy truth. Now I know resilience isn’t about being unbreakable — it’s about being willing to rebuild, again and again, into something truer. Every scar is a brushstroke in the masterpiece.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
I believe that power and tenderness can coexist — that a woman can be both provocative and pure-hearted. The world still struggles to hold that duality, but that’s where I live and create.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What light inside you have you been dimming?
For a long time, I dimmed my light to make other people comfortable—my intensity, sensuality, and voice. I thought that softening myself would make me safer or more accepted. But my light was never meant to stay small; it was meant to ignite. Today, I let it shine unapologetically through my art, my words, and the spaces I create for others to do the same.
I know some will misunderstand that light. They might see confidence and mistake it for ego, or sensuality and call it vanity. But my work has never been about image—it’s about truth, liberation, and connection. If my art helps someone feel seen, powerful, or more at home in their own skin, then that’s the legacy I want to leave behind.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.artbynugget.com
- Instagram: Artnynugget
- Linkedin: Artbynugget
- Facebook: Art by nugget
- Youtube: Art by nugget presents 11oh9 and friends
- Other: Www.freeprintbynugget.com
For a free art printAlso, Google me Art by Nugget
Image Credits
Selfies were taken myself
