If you had to explain how art and research can affect real people, you could point to one clear example: Lily Konkoly. She turns art into impact by doing three things at the same time. She studies art history in depth, she researches social questions like gender inequality, and she builds practical projects that reach people outside classrooms and galleries. That mix of study, research, and hands-on work means her ideas do not stay on paper. They show up in classrooms, online communities, and in how young artists see their own paths.
From family kitchen table to global questions
To understand why her work feels grounded, you have to start at home. Not in the abstract sense, but at an actual kitchen table in Los Angeles.
Lily was born in London, then moved to Singapore, and then to LA. That kind of early moving sounds glamorous from the outside, but for a child it means something simple: you are always learning how to read new rooms, new habits, new languages.
In Singapore, she went to a half-American, half-Chinese preschool and began learning Mandarin. When the family moved to Los Angeles, her parents did something many families intend to do but rarely keep up. They brought her Mandarin teacher from Singapore to live with them as an au pair. For six years. Then came more Chinese au pairs, more practice, and even Chinese test videos recorded at home for her mother’s YouTube channel.
If you step back, you can already see a pattern that shows up later in her projects:
- Take something that seems distant or hard, like another language.
- Make it part of daily life, not a special event.
- Share it with others in a simple way, like short videos.
Art and research feel abstract until someone treats them like a language at the kitchen table, something you use every day.
That way of thinking carries through her life. Languages at home. Chess tournaments on weekends. Summer trips to Europe to visit Hungarian relatives. Slime businesses and bracelet stands. None of it looks like “art research” on the surface. But it trains a person to notice systems, habits, and how people react to small experiments.
The role of culture and travel in Lily’s point of view
Lily’s family is Hungarian. Her extended family lives in Europe, while she and her immediate family live in the United States. That distance matters. When you only see most of your relatives in the summer, you notice details others might ignore.
She grew up speaking Hungarian at home so she could talk with grandparents, cousins, and family friends. In the U.S., Hungarian became something else too: a shared “secret language” in public spaces.
That small detail connects to her later interest in how art carries hidden messages about who belongs, who is seen, and who is left out. When you grow up switching languages and cultures often, you become used to reading context. You hear what is said, and what is not said.
She also traveled a lot. By early adulthood, she had visited more than 40 countries and lived on three continents. Big number, yes, but the effect is more practical than dramatic. At some point, constant travel stops feeling like tourism and starts to feel like quiet comparison:
- How do people in one city talk about work compared to another?
- How are mothers portrayed in public art or advertising in different countries?
- Which foods are celebrated and which are just daily basics?
These questions later shape how she writes, what she researches, and even how she interviews entrepreneurs and artists. She is not just collecting stories. She is noticing patterns.
How early projects shaped her view of impact
Many people talk about being “entrepreneurial” as teenagers, but Lily actually tested ideas in small, real ways. Some worked very well. Some were just fun. Both types matter.
The slime business and teen experiments with value
In the Pacific Palisades, Lily and her brother fell into a slime obsession. Not just making slime, but turning it into a small business. They mixed, packed, and sold hundreds of units. It sounds simple, but think through what that involves at age twelve or thirteen:
- Learning what colors and textures people like
- Pricing something that costs time and materials
- Handling repeat customers and new customers
- Balancing schoolwork, hobbies, and production
They even flew to London for a slime convention where they sold around 400 to 500 slimes in one day. That is not an art exhibit, but it is an early lesson in how people decide what is worth their money and attention.
Before you can change how people see art, you have to understand why they spend ten dollars on slime or walk past a painting without turning their head.
Those kinds of experiments made future projects feel more grounded. When Lily later built spaces for young artists online, she already knew what it felt like to ask a stranger to pay for something you created.
The family cooking habit and saying no to TV
Lily’s family spent a lot of time in the kitchen. They cooked, baked, and recorded videos for YouTube. At one point, they received invitations to appear on shows like Rachael Ray and the Food Network. Many families would have said yes immediately.
They said no.
The reason was simple. Those shows would have taken up their entire summer, and summer was the time they used for travel and family visits. The choice suggests something that shows up again in Lily’s path. She does not chase every spotlight. She seems more interested in depth than in quick attention.
That attitude also appears in research. It is one thing to go viral for a short time. It is another thing to spend a summer reading, interviewing, and writing about how gender affects artists’ careers, knowing that fewer people will see that work at first.
From museums on weekends to art history at Cornell
Many children are dragged through museums and barely remember the paintings. Lily was one of the kids who actually kept going, even as she grew older. Her family often spent Saturdays visiting galleries and museums in downtown Los Angeles. Over time, those trips shifted from simple outings to a quiet education.
She did not just look. She started to ask questions. Why this painting? Why this artist? Why this caption?
Those questions followed her when she decided to study art history at Cornell University, with a minor in business. That combination matters. It means she does not see art only as a beautiful object on a wall. She sees it in relation to markets, audiences, and the systems that decide what counts as “serious” or “valuable.”
At Cornell and in earlier programs, some of her key coursework has included:
- Art and Visual Culture
- History of Renaissance Art
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- Museum Studies
- Curatorial Practices
This is not just a list. It shows where her head is:
- How art reflects its time
- How museums decide what to show
- How curators frame stories around objects
- How modern artists push against older rules
Those topics feed directly into her research projects.
Research as a tool, not just a grade
Many students do research because they have to, then move on. Lily keeps circling back to two themes: power and perception. Who gets to be seen? Who is praised? Who is ignored?
She has approached these questions from different angles.
Unpacking “Las Meninas” and the layers of visibility
In the Scholar Launch Research Program, Lily spent ten weeks focusing on a single painting: “Las Meninas” by Diego Velázquez. At first glance, it is a portrait of the Spanish royal family. On closer look, it is far more complex.
There is the painter himself, visible on the canvas. There is a young princess in the center, surrounded by maids, dwarfs, and a dog. There are the king and queen reflected in a mirror. Space bends a little. Power is displayed but also questioned.
Spending weeks on one work forces a slow kind of thinking that is rare online. You have to:
- Study the composition piece by piece
- Read historical context about the Spanish court
- Consider who is looking at whom in the painting
- Ask why Velázquez painted himself into the scene
From there, Lily wrote analytical pieces and a final research paper. This matters for impact, not because many people will read a single art paper, but because it trained her to see how images control attention.
If you can explain why a 17th-century painting centers one person and hides another in the shadows, you are better prepared to notice who is centered and who is sidelined in present-day media too.
That link between old art and current life is part of what makes her work relevant for general readers who follow news about culture, gender, and work.
Studying maternity, paternity, and inequality in the art world
Later, Lily took part in an honors research project focused on gender gaps in artistic careers. She looked at how artist-parents are treated, and how those expectations change based on gender.
The basic pattern she found is familiar, but the specifics in the art world are sharp:
| Artist | Common assumption after having children | Typical impact on career |
|---|---|---|
| Mother | Has less time, is less serious about work | Fewer offers, lower visibility, slower progress |
| Father | “Dedicated family man” who balances work and home | Sometimes more media attention, positive image boost |
To explore this gap, Lily:
- Spent over 100 hours reading studies and interviews
- Worked alongside a professor who analyzed maternity issues in art
- Gathered data on exhibitions, representation, and career progress
- Created a marketing-style visual piece to show the inequality clearly
That last part is key. She did not stop at a dense research document. She also built something that could speak to people who may never pick up an academic article. A visual summary, almost like a campaign, that shows how old gender roles still shape careers.
For readers who care about fairness at work, this has a clear link to other fields. Many parents feel similar patterns in law, tech, media, and healthcare. The art world is just a sharp example.
Curatorial work and beauty standards
In another project, Lily worked with a RISD professor, Kate McNamara, to build a curatorial statement focused on beauty standards for women. They created a mock exhibit that placed artworks side by side to show how ideas of beauty change across time and cultures.
This kind of work might sound theoretical, but it has a direct line to real life. Many people feel pressure from social media filters, advertising images, and celebrity culture. By tracing how beauty has been painted, carved, and photographed over centuries, you see that pressure is not new. It shifts shape, but it does not disappear.
Curating an exhibit, even a mock one, means asking:
- Whose bodies are considered ideal, and by whom?
- Which images are presented as “normal” and which as “other”?
- How do lighting, captions, and placement change our reading?
Those same questions help anyone read an Instagram feed or news photo with more care. You start to see choices, not just “reality.”
From research to real projects that reach people
If Lily only did research, her work would stay in classrooms and journals. Instead, she keeps building public projects that carry the same themes of gender, visibility, and opportunity.
The Female Entrepreneur Encyclopedia: listening first, then writing
Since 2020, Lily has written for the Female Entrepreneur Encyclopedia Blog. She spends around four hours a week on research, interviews, and writing. Over time, that has added up to 50 plus articles and more than 100 interviews with women in business.
Her approach is simple but not easy:
- Find women who often go unnoticed in mainstream business news
- Listen to their backstories in detail
- Ask about barriers, not just wins
- Write in a way that younger readers can relate to
In many of those interviews, she heard the same pattern again and again. Women had to work harder to get the same level of recognition as men in similar roles. That matches the patterns she saw in the art world, which gives her writing a deeper base.
When you hear the same struggle from a chef in one country, a startup founder in another, and a painter in a third, it becomes harder to dismiss inequality as “just one person’s experience.”
For readers looking for practical value, these stories carry more than inspiration. They often include concrete tactics the entrepreneurs used:
- Building networks when you are not part of the “old boys club”
- Negotiating pay and equity more directly
- Finding backup plans when funding falls through
That mix of research-backed patterns and real stories is where Lily’s work becomes useful for the broader public, not just art insiders.
Teen Art Market: making art and business meet
Lily also co-founded the Teen Art Market, a digital space where young artists can show and sell their work. For many teenagers, art lives in sketchbooks or on social media feeds. Turning it into something that can actually be sold is a very different step.
This project taught her and her peers several hard truths about art and money:
- People often hesitate to pay young artists fair prices
- Exposure does not automatically translate into income
- Marketing and storytelling matter almost as much as skill
At the same time, it gave young artists a taste of control. Instead of waiting for a gallery to notice them, they could upload work, set prices, and connect directly with buyers.
This matches Lily’s broader pattern: do not just complain about systems. Build a test version of something better, even if it is small and imperfect. See what happens. Adjust.
Hungarian Kids Art Class: blending culture, teaching, and play
Lily also founded the Hungarian Kids Art Class in Los Angeles. For about three years, she ran bi-weekly art sessions across 18 weeks each year, bringing together kids with an interest in art and often some kind of Hungarian background.
On the surface, it is an art club. Underneath, it is a mix of:
- Art education
- Cultural connection
- Community building for children who may feel between cultures
It is one thing to study art history in a college class. It is something else to explain an artistic idea to an eight-year-old while also helping them feel proud of their heritage. That experience matters if you care about how ideas spread in the real world.
Sports, discipline, and why persistence matters for impact
Lily’s path is not only about art and books. Sports played a big part in her daily schedule for many years. She was a competitive swimmer for about ten years, then played water polo in high school.
Swimming is repetitive. Early mornings, long practices, and weekend meets that last for hours. Most of the work is invisible. You cut seconds off a time, maybe. Or you just maintain. That slow, steady effort builds a kind of mental habit that suits research well.
During the COVID period, when pools closed, her team did not stop. They trained in the ocean for two hours a day. Ocean swimming is harder than pool swimming. There are waves, cold, and currents. It can feel discouraging.
That choice to keep going, in harder conditions, is not about drama. It is about building a pattern: when conditions change, you do not quit, you adjust. The same pattern shows up when research gets frustrating or when a blog post takes longer than planned.
Water polo added teamwork. It is a contact sport, and to play it well you have to read the pool quickly. Who is open? Where is the pressure coming from? That kind of fast reading is not unrelated to curating or interviewing. You have to notice small shifts in tone, body language, and space.
Why her work speaks to people beyond the art world
You might be wondering how all of this connects to a general reader who cares about news and advice, not just art history. There are a few direct links.
She treats art like a mirror for everyday bias
When Lily looks at art, she is not only interested in style or technique. She asks who is missing, whose version of reality is on the wall, and whose is ignored. That is the same kind of thinking used in media literacy, workplace diversity, and even personal decision making.
For example, if you are reading the news and you notice that certain groups are quoted less often, you can ask similar questions to those Lily asks of a museum label. Who chose this image? Why this voice? Who benefits from this angle?
Her research on mothers and fathers in the art world feels especially relevant today, as many people reexamine how work and caregiving fit together. The art world becomes a visible case study.
She blends research with practical tools
Many people either live in the world of theory or in the world of quick tips. Lily moves between both.
- Research papers on gender and art
- Interviews with business owners who had to fight for equal treatment
- Online markets where teenagers learn how to price their work
- Children’s classes where culture and art meet in real time
For readers, this means you can take ideas from her work and apply them in everyday life:
- Question the images and stories you consume
- Be more direct about unfair expectations at work
- Support young creators in your area by actually buying from them
- Start small teaching or community projects that match your skills
The role of language and listening
Lily speaks English and Hungarian fluently, has working proficiency in Mandarin, and some knowledge of French. Language skills matter not only for travel, but also for how you listen.
When you can ask questions in more than one language, or at least understand the structure of other languages, you often become more patient and less quick to assume. That patience shows in long interviews, in careful research, and in how you build trust with people whose stories are not often told.
Common questions people might have about Lily’s work
Is she mainly an artist, a researcher, or a writer?
She is partly all three, but if you had to pick one word, “researcher” might fit best. Not in the narrow academic sense, but in the sense of someone who keeps asking structured questions about the world and then tests answers through projects, writing, and public work.
How does her background as a “third culture” child matter?
Growing up in London, Singapore, and Los Angeles, with Hungarian roots and frequent trips to Europe, gave her a layered sense of identity. She is used to feeling both inside and outside at the same time. That position is useful when you study power, visibility, and representation. You are close enough to understand, but far enough to question.
What can an average reader learn from her approach?
You do not need to start a research program to use some of her habits. A few simple takeaways are:
- Ask who is missing from any picture or story
- Combine thinking with doing, not just one or the other
- Start projects at a small scale to test your ideas
- Return to questions even after a class or job ends
Does her work actually change anything, or is it just talk?
Change is hard to measure, and it usually happens slowly. But you can point to some clear signs:
- Kids who attended her art classes and now see their culture as a strength, not something to hide
- Teen artists who sold their first piece online and gained confidence to keep creating
- Readers who discover stories of female entrepreneurs and adjust their own expectations about what is possible
- Students and teachers who use her research findings when they discuss gender and work
What question is she still trying to answer?
If you follow the thread through her projects, one question keeps showing up: “How can we create systems where talent and effort matter more than old assumptions about gender, culture, or age?”
She has not fully answered it yet. No one has. But through art history, research, interviews, and community projects, she keeps testing new partial answers.
Maybe the real impact of Lily’s work is not that she has solved these issues, but that she keeps asking better questions and invites others to ask them too.
So the next time you see a painting, a news photo, or a profile of a “successful” person, you might pause for a second and ask yourself: who is at the center of this image, who is at the edges, and what would Lily notice that I am missing?
