Anita Stubenrauch, founder of The Land of Make+Believe, got a major wake-up call in 2017.

What started as food poisoning on a business trip led to a traumatic brain injury and a profound questioning of Anita’s life’s purpose.

When a creative career spans 12+ years at a company like Apple, ups and downs are to be expected. For far too long, Anita had been living an existence well beyond burnout, and this pivotal experience prompted a rock-bottom revelation. Excerpt taken from a speech given at her alma mater, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, in 2019:

“I had finally reached a point where the misery of the familiar became more uncomfortable than the mystery of the unknown.

I knew I needed to change something. I wanted to feel creative and alive again. So I turned to Craigslist to find a studio in the form of an Airstream trailer. And that led to the ad that changed my life: ‘For Sale: Artist Retreat Center with Gallery and Hot Springs — New Mexico. Ever dreamed of making a living making art? Ever wished you could live in a beautiful location, surrounded by other artists, while making a living making art?’

Ever since I was a kid I wanted a place where I could invite all my creative friends to come and stay and play. And here it was—all grown up and financially viable.

The business model was super simple: a place for people to stay, and a place for people to create. One of those places was an Airstream trailer.

Sometimes the Universe is subtle when it sends us messages. Other times, it sends them from a place called Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. (Yes, that is where that business was located.)

Ultimately I decided not to buy that business. But I did that search in May 2017, and within two months, I was in contract on the property I now call The Land of Make+Believe. And within another six months, I’d said goodbye to Apple.”