Career Area: Executive Director

  • Sisi Garland

    “Being brave does not mean being unafraid. It’s being scared and going forward with it anyway.”

    Sisi Garland is the Executive Director of Heart Inclusive Arts Community, an interdisciplinary art studio in North Charleston, South Carolina, serving adults with disabilities. With a background in stage management and theater, Garland has worked in New York and Charleston and celebrates five years of leadership at Heart. She believes in the power of creativity, community, and courage in the arts.

    Interview

    Transcript

    0:02 | Lexi Raines 

    So first, just give a little introduction of yourself. What do you do from work and where are you currently working from? 

    0:20| Sisi Garland 

    I am Sierra Sisi Garland. I’m the Executive Director of Heart Inclusive Arts Community. And I am working from my office (my pink office) here at the Heart Art studio. And I’ve been with Heart for five years now. I just celebrated my fifth anniversary as the Executive Director. (Yeah? So, yeah, did that answer all of those?) 

    0:47 | Lexi Raines 

    Yeah, tell us a little bit about the Hearts initiative. 

    0:52 | Sisi Garland 

    Heart Inclusive Arts Community is an art studio for adults with disabilities, and we are multi-disciplinary. So, we do performing arts, visual arts, any kind of creative endeavor that we want to get our hands into. We take it on. 

    1:07 | Lexi Raines 

    That’s awesome. That sounds like a really fun and meaningful thing to start. So, where in South Carolina are y’all based? 

    1:23 | Sisi Garland 

    We are in North Charleston, South Carolina. We started 10 years ago in downtown Charleston and have moved into the North Charleston area about a year ago. But yeah, so we’re in the Lowcountry. We have members in our studio who are from all over the Dorchester, Berkeley, Charleston area. 

    1:46 | Lexi Raines 

    Yeah, that’s awesome. Charleston! I love Charleston. Such a good area.  

    1:50 | Sisi Garland 

    Yeah, it’s beautiful here. 

    1:53 | Lexi Raines 

    It really is. So, kind of on that note, like what’s one thing that you love about working as a creative in South Carolina? 

    2:03 | Sisi Garland 

    There’s lots of inspiration here, for sure. Visually, it’s stunning, especially in this and I’m bias from being from Charleston, but especially in this Low Country region, it’s just gorgeous. You have so many places and parks that you can go to and create. But outside of that, there’s also such a rich culture here, and so many different cultures coming together, especially in this downtown area. There’s just a lot to take in, and a lot that you can be inspired by. 

    2:38 | Lexi Raines 

    I completely agree. I’ve been in Charleston a lot. I used to have family who lived there, and I feel like there’s just so many different areas blended into one. Like, I feel like you can go to like, one side of Charleston, and it’s completely different from the other side of Charleston. 

    2:57 | Sisi Garland 

    Yeah, absolutely it makes it pretty clear why a lot of Hollywood productions want to come out to Charleston and South Carolina, because there’s a lot to offer here. 

    03:10 | Lexi Raines 

    Yes, for sure. So, what do you think South Carolina does offer, like, what do you think it brings to your work compared to anywhere else? 

    03:21 | Sisi Garland 

    South Carolina has this incredible way of feeling like a sort of small town, where you know everyone, and everyone knows what’s going on with you and what you’re doing, and you just have a lot of familiar support. But at the same time, it also has this broader, bigger feeling to it as well. Like it has a lot of resources, it cares a lot about the arts. It was immediately surprising to me how much South Carolina actually does support its arts and artists, while still feeling very tight-knit community as well 

    04:07 | Lexi Raines 

    And that’s amazing to hear, obviously, because that’s like, what we’re trying to do here is just spread that word. Because so many people, I feel like, especially young students in like, middle school and high school, I feel like they really think that they have to move out of South Carolina to pursue a creative path, which definitely isn’t true at all. So that’s amazing to hear. 

    04:32 | Sisi Garland 

    Yeah, absolutely. My niece is in high school now, and she’s thinking about a creative career. She’s an actor, and so she, you know, is starting to do the search for school programs and things that she can get to when she graduates. And she’s dead set on New York. She’s got her mind fixed that she’s going to go to New York. And I’ve done the New York path. I’ve moved there for a little over two years and worked there as a stage manager and an actor, primarily as a stage manager, if we’re being honest, but it’s so hard to break people of that idea that you have to go to these you know, like New York especially, or Chicago, if you’re an improver or if you’re in film and television, that you have to move out to LA and it’s just not true.  

    And in a lot of ways, I think that being go going to those big places, especially for your education in the arts, before becoming a career professional, it can be a little too daunting, or it can be a little too unsupportive, because if you’re not coming there with a network or with a confident background, then it’s going to, it’s going to feel so overwhelming so quickly. So, I’ve been trying to steer her in other directions, to find something a little bit more friendly to the younger, to the greener people, before hitting the big cities. 

    06:10 | Lexi Raines 

    Yeah. Well, if she does get accepted there, maybe, like, I feel like New York is obviously an awesome place, but maybe, maybe she’ll miss home. 

    06:21 | Sisi Garland 

    Maybe. I’m originally from Delaware, and she still lives in Delaware as well, so it’s only three hours away. It’s fine.  

    06:28 | Lexi Raines 

    Yeah, that’s not that bad at all. So how would you describe like the local professional community in Charleston? 

    06:38 | Sisi Garland 

    Supportive. That’s the first word that comes to mind. We are so lucky to have a lot of professionals around us who are not only interested in what we’re doing and want to be a part of it, but that will rally their support around us whenever we do things. They’re coming to shows they’re supporting each other’s shows. they’re just getting involved amongst everyone and not just creating this insular, individual attitude where it can’t all exist together. 

    07:17 | Lexi Raines 

    I feel like that definitely is something that does happen in a lot of bigger cities, because I feel like things start to get, like, so niche that it’s like you have to be in one specific group or interest. So, I feel like that’s definitely an amazing thing. 

    07:33 | Sisi Garland 

    Yeah, yeah. I saw that a lot in New York, which is bizarrely, you know, for being such a big city and everyone, millions of people living there, you still ran into the same people all the time. You’d be in auditions with the same people, or you’d end up like in productions with somebody else’s show running at the same theater. And so, to still have that sort of competitive mindset and attitude toward things. It made it so much more difficult, because on one hand, you’re talking to each other so chummily and or, you know, whatever it is, but then you’re still feeling like you have to compete with those people for the same resources. And so, it just nothing ever felt very secure.

    Whereas here it feels like you have friends, you have supporters, you have people that you can turn to, and they’re not going to hoard their information or their experiences and ideas. They’re sharing with you because that inspires them as well. 

    08:42 | Lexi Raines 

    Yeah, that’s something I’ve heard a lot across all interviews, is that, South Carolina, really is such a community. Everybody is willing to support everybody. Everyone wants to, kind of, like, hold a hand out for everyone who’s trying to get in who’s trying to grow, all that stuff, and I feel like that’s just such a beautiful thing.

    So, kind of shifting gears here. How would you define professional or personal successes in your creative endeavors or in your career? 

    09:19 | Sisi Garland 

    As far as in my career, it’s kind of easy, I guess, to define for me, because being Executive Director, I’m sort of responsible for the overall wellness and health of the organization, and so as long as the nonprofit is still going, then I feel like we’ve succeeded to some degree, but as far as in our creative endeavors, if we have reached even one person who hadn’t seen us before, or who was touched by something that we did, or inspired by it, or felt something from what we were doing. Sounds so cliche, I know that’s probably like the creative cliche, but it does mean something, and it does feel like a success. If you’re presenting a gallery in a new space, and someone has walked in and they had no idea what Heart was or who our artists were, and they come in and they see a piece, and they just are in awe of it. That’s so successful and so meaningful to us. So, that’s creatively how we know we’re doing something.  

    10:31 | Lexi Raines 

    That is really awesome. And do y’all have your showings in North Charleston? How often do y’all have those showings?  

    10:43 | Sisi Garland 

    We don’t have set shows or exhibits necessarily. We do a musical every year. Tends to be an original musical that we’ve written ourselves every year, that we might be exploring different avenues in that and outside of that, we do a rock concert at the poor house in Charleston every year in the winter, we do performances all over the place, like we’ve been invited to perform in Myrtle Beach for some professionals convening there, we were just invited to perform at the State House in Columbia for our advocacy day. Yeah, performances were canceled because of the thunderstorms. 

    11:32 | Lexi Raines 

    This weather’s been crazy lately.  

    11:35 | Sisi Garland 

    It cannot decide what season it is around here. 

    11:41 | Lexi Raines 

    So, what was your, you mentioned that you were an actor. What was your biggest fear when you first decided to pursue the arts professionally? 

    11:52 | Sisi Garland 

    The fear that you won’t succeed, that you won’t survive the biz, I guess. You know, like I said, I came from Delaware, which is a small state to begin with, but also I came from a small farming town in Delaware. There wasn’t arts really happening. We had our one school musical every year. And outside of that, there just was not a lot of exposure to the arts, so I had no real concept of what being a professional creative could look like. It felt to me at the time like you either had to be A-Lister red carpet famous or a sad, struggling wannabe, and that there was no in between.  

    And so, when I came down to Charleston, I moved here to go to the College of Charleston, and I signed up that first day to be a theater major. My father was just so worried. And I don’t know that he’s ever stopped being worried about this, but he just was like, “You’re going to have to do something else. You have to have that backup plan. Everyone has to have the backup plan.” And to some degree, he was right, because you know, you have to have that survival gig while you’re forming that career for some people. Some people are lucky that, that career is built in for them from the beginning. But a lot of times you do have to have other things that you’re good at, but having that creative basis, that creative foundation, makes you good at those other things as well. So, his worry that having a theater degree was going to be completely useless the second that I graduated became also my fear, and I was so nervous about it that I was just going to be poor and struggling forever.

    But everything I learned being a creative and being a theater person has gone into all the work I’ve done since, whether or not it’s directly a creative job 

    14:15 | Lexi Raines 

    I feel like that’s definitely a barrier that a lot of people have to work through whether it’s like you just have self-doubt, or your family isn’t supportive about it.

    Because I know personally, I am an English major, that’s not what I was originally. I was originally a computer science major, but when I told my family I was going to be an English major, it did not go down well, but I feel like if you have a buyer for it, I feel like you can figure it out. And I feel like these jobs do have a lot more to offer than people think. So, I feel like breaking down those boundaries is just so important. 

    15:03 | Sisi Garland 

    Yeah, and it starts with having exposure, so like this program that’s coming up, and the creative careers resources, if you don’t know those possibilities are out there, or realize how infused into everything else the arts are. Then if you don’t know it exists, you can’t necessarily imagine that it could happen for you. Um, so, yeah, it’s really cool these programs that that are coming up.  

    15:36 | Lexi Raines 

    I 100% agree. So, can you define, like a defining moment, or describe a defining moment in your creative journey? Like, did you have a particular project you worked on that like had a significant impact on you, or did something that you like produced really showcase your creativity? 

    16:01 | Sisi Garland 

    I think one, probably the most defining moment in my career, was my first time working professionally as a stage manager. I had stage managed all through college as a theater major, but I hadn’t really expanded outside of that yet, and probably mostly because of that fear and nervousness and doubt. But someone I had worked with on a production in college, they were already a creative professional. They were an actor and director, and they were directing a show in Charleston, and wanted me to come stage manage for them. And I said yes to it. Swallowed the doubts and everything, and I said yes, and came on and did it. And it was that production that connected me to the theater company that I have now been working with for almost 15 years. And it was through doing that that I realized, no matter what else I’m doing in my life, to survive or to be able to live day to day, I’m never not going to do theater as well like I have to keep this in my life.  

    So, it’s like you said, it’s kind of, if you have that passion, or you have that fire for something, you’re going to go out and do it. It’s just a matter of how it manifests in your in your world. So that show brought me essentially the rest of my career, and it all came from just saying yes to somebody I had worked with in college, and he’s now on Broadway. He’s originated roles in Once, and he was just in Anastasia and Amalie. Yeah, he’s incredible, and I very much have him to thank for continuing to do the arts even when it was scary.  

    18:07 | Lexi Raines 

    Yeah. So, I feel like that is, like a really positive note, but kind of going from that, what do you have, like, the worst advice you’ve ever received? 

    18:21 | Sisi Garland 

    The worst advice, I mean you always hear the superficial stuff like that, “you have to define your brand” or that you…

    I mean, I graduated in 2009 from college, which probably sounds like a long time ago now. But even still then, when I was young, you were still hearing like things about body shaming and appearance and all of these things that you have to do, which thankfully, I feel like have kind of gone away.

    But it never leaves you if someone has said that thing to you about just your personal being. Something that is not yourself and took it as, and they say it was such authority that you believe them, you know. And so that’s definitely the worst advice, is listening to anybody about who you need to be and what you need to look like to do anything. It’s terrible. It’s hard not to listen to it, but it’s terrible, it’s awful advice. No one should listen. 

    19:40 | Lexi Raines 

    I completely agree. I feel like everybody is their own person. You got to love yourself. So, what’s the best advice you’ve ever received? 

    19:55 | Sisi Garland 

    Again, probably a cliché, but it’s true, and I still think about it all the time. That being brave does not mean being unafraid. It’s being scared and going forward with it anyway. So being nervous about an audition or a show that’s coming up, or anything that you have coming in, or taking the leap into a new career, a new job.

    All of these things are really scary, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t do it, and you can still be brave and go forward with it, even as scary as it is.

    I was terrified when I took this job. I feel like I’m probably still terrified every day in this job, but it’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done, and it feels like the culmination of all of these disparate career paths and skills that I had just been doing that because I love them, for so long. And now they get to come together in my job here as the Executive Director, but it was so, so scary. And if you know I didn’t have people telling me that it can be scary, but you can still do it, then I probably would have been like, no, it the this is telling me something I shouldn’t be doing it if I’m this worried about it. 

    21:21 | Lexi Raines 

    Yeah, I completely agree with that. I just feel like fear is the best motivator you can have, because I feel like it goes along the lines of like, the only way to grow is to get out of your comfort zone and push yourself. So, I think that is like, I agree with you. I think that’s like the number one advice you can give receive anything, because that’s personally helped me a lot too. 

    21:54 | Sisi Garland 

    Yeah. It’s hard to live it, too, though. I mean, I say that, but it’s not like I was the most bravest person, just going out there, throwing myself into things, I still played it fairly safe. I’m still kind of a scaredy cat in that way. But all the good things that I’ve done were when I, like you said, stepped out of my comfort zone, went for that thing that I’d always wanted to do, and I wish I had done even more of that, especially when I was younger, especially when I just like, you know, when things felt a little bit more, not carefree, but possible. You know, when you’re looking ahead into your future and you’re thinking, you can do anything, keep that you can do anything. You can always do anything. So go ahead and do it. 

    22:43 | Lexi Raines 

    That’s awesome. I think that’s really amazing. So, can you walk me through, like a typical work day at Heart? 

    22:55 | Sisi Garland 

    Yeah, we have sort of a dual life here. So, I have my office time on Mondays and Wednesdays, where I’m doing all of the background support work for the organization. But then on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have our artists in the studio, and we have about 25 artists that we see every Tuesday and Thursday, nine to five, and they’re all adults. They’re all our peers and our friends and our creative partners in crime.  

    So, I get to come to work every morning about 8:30 or 9:00, come into the studio and be greeted by everyone and just sort of like, just have that water cooler chat with all of my friends as we come in. And then we first get into sort of a creative but palate cleanser. It’s our daily draw. It jumps starts our day with a little bit of creative thinking, we get an interesting fact for the day from one of our volunteers, and from that, she also creates a drawing prompt that we all work on. So, we do that to kick things off, we get into visual arts, which is now being led by our artistic director, Rae, and that can look all kinds of ways, depending on what we’re working on.

    Often, artists are working on some individual piece that they are wanting to finish and see through to its ending. Sometimes we’re doing collaborative larger pieces all together, and sometimes we’re working on a theme towards a specific gallery, but in any case, we’re all creating some form of visual arts there.  

    We have lunch. We’re usually watching something silly or fun or creative or whatever during lunch. A lot of documentaries about animals, because that’s always fun to see. And then in the afternoons, we do performing arts. So, our performing arts Director, Mel, is a music background. She is the musical director for all of our performances, all of our shows. And so generally, we’re working towards whatever our next performance is going to be.  

    So lately, it’s been preparing for that state house performance that didn’t quite happen, but we were also performing at “A Night to Shine: The Prom,” which is sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation. We were asked to perform there at our local prom. We also have some other performances coming up, and then ultimately, we are rehearsing for that original musical that we do each year. So that goes from auditioning, writing, editing, rehearsing the production, rehearsing the musical, putting it all together with a live band, all of that jazz. 

    And then at the end of the day, we sort of have some decompression time. We’ve got our free time where we can chat and socialize. We can finish up projects that didn’t quite get to a good spot along the way during the day or just say hi to everyone who stops in to visit on the way home. 

    26:22 | Lexi Raines 

    That sounds very busy, but it sounds like a lot of fun. That sounds awesome. 

    26:28 | Sisi Garland 

    It is a lot of fun, but I am exhausted at the end of the day on Thursday. 

    26:34 | Lexi Raines 

    So, you mentioned that you still want to always try and include, like acting into your life, even when that’s like, not specifically what you’re doing. So how have you created, like, a work life balance where you’re still able to maintain both your professional and personal creativity? 

    26:59 | Sisi Garland 

    It’s hard. It’s very hard, especially when your career is so closely aligned to what your passion creativity is, and especially lately, since the pandemic, it was very difficult. I’m part of the acting company for the Village Repertory Company, which is over 20 years old now, here in Charleston, but we had to close during the pandemic. And so that avenue of personal creativity was sort of lost to me, and at a very important time in my career as well, because I had just started working here at Heart.  

    And so, this new experience, I didn’t have that sort of old, reliable source of creativity to turn to. So, it is really hard, but I feel like just anything that you’re doing, almost as like a self-care or just to feel good, if it’s creative, even if it’s reading a book, even if it’s going to see a show or a performance, that you’re not a part of. Engaging in art, whatever your favorite kind of art is to you, that is the balance, right?  

    So, it doesn’t always have to be, I feel like sometimes creatives we can put like this burden on ourselves, that we have to complete something, or that we have to show something, we have to have something to put out there for it to count and it doesn’t. It can be whatever you do for yourself, even if that’s like writing one sentence of a novel at the end of the day, and that novel goes nowhere. Who cares, you are expressing yourself. You’re doing something that you care about, and that’s all it ever needs to be. It never needs to see the light of day for it to be important to you. 

    29:15 | Lexi Raines 

    I completely agree with that. I think that, like you’re saying, there is such a push to just keep putting stuff out there, but at the end of the day, you are like a person who needs to have things just for you. So, I think that is an amazing piece of advice. So, do you have any questions that you wish you were asked? 

    29:40 | Sisi Garland 

    Oh gosh, no, I don’t know that I could have come up with any questions better than what you guys already have. 

    29:48 | Lexi Raines 

    Awesome. Yeah, I feel like we kind of put people on the spot without that question. So finally, do you have, this is also not to put you on the spot, but do you have a creative that you’d like to nominate to be interviewed? 

    30:05 | Sisi Garland 

    Oh yes, I spoke with someone at Arts Advocacy. Oh, gosh. Okay, let me, for some reason her Instagram, oh no, I know her name. Her name is Janelle Smalls. 

    30:16 | Lexi Raines 

    Janelle Smalls. Can you spell that for me? 

    30:19 | Sisi Garland 

    I believe it’s Janelle and last name is Smalls. I might have to dig for her contact information to send to you to reach out to her. But she is an artist who is also a K through 12 arts educator and speaking with her at Arts Advocacy this week or last week, she was so passionate and was like, so full of gumption to do something for her students. I think she would be an incredible person to speak with. 

    30:54 | Lexi Raines 

    That’s awesome. Yeah, she sounds amazing. Definitely, definitely, send me her information if you can find that. It was so nice talking with you. I think you had such wonderful advice. And you obviously come from a place where you care so much. 

    31:14 | Sisi Garland 

    I hope so. That’s sometimes the only thing keeping us going is how much we care about it.  

    31:20 | Lexi Raines 

    I completely agree. So, thank you. I hope you have a good rest of your day. Yeah, I’ll be reaching back out to you just for that headshot, and then I can definitely try to email you whenever this goes live to send you the link. 

    31:36 | Sisi Garland 

    Yeah, perfect. And if there’s anything we can do at Heart, any of us to support this project, future projects, everything you all are doing, please, just let us know, and we’re there for you. 

    31:49 | Lexi Raines 

    That’s awesome. Thank you.  

  • Sisi Garland

    Sisi Garland

    “Being brave does not mean being unafraid. It’s being scared and going forward with it anyway.”  

    Sisi Garland is the Executive Director of Heart Inclusive Arts Community, an interdisciplinary art studio in North Charleston, South Carolina, serving adults with disabilities. With a background in stage management and theater, Garland has worked in New York and Charleston and celebrates five years of leadership at Heart. She believes in the power of creativity, community, and courage in the arts. 

    About

    Sisi Garland is the Executive Director of Heart Inclusive Arts Community in North Charleston, South Carolina, where she works from her pink office in the Heart Art studio. She has been with the organization for five years. Heart is a multi-disciplinary art studio for adults with disabilities that offers opportunities in visual and performing arts and other creative outlets. 

    Garland sees South Carolina’s Lowcountry as an inspiring location for artists: “Visually, it’s stunning, especially in this Lowcountry region… there’s also such a rich culture here, and so many different cultures coming together.” She describes the local creative community as not only supportive, but also actively engaged with Heart’s mission. Garland expresses that the local community “will rally their support around us.” 

    Being from a small farming town in Delaware, Garland initially feared she wouldn’t be able to make a sustainable career in the arts. In this small town Sisi wasn’t exposed to what the arts consisted of, “I had no real concept of what being a professional creative could look like. It felt to me at the time like you either had to be a Lister red carpet famous or a sad, struggling wannabe, and that there was not in between.” After moving to Charleston, South Carolina where she attended the College of Charleston, where she learned how to express creativity in the professional world. 

    A turning point came when she accepted her first professional stage management role after college. That production connected her to the theater company she has now worked with for nearly 15 years. The best advice she’s ever received: being brave doesn’t mean being unafraid, it means moving forward despite fear. 

  • Kathryn Lawrie

    Kathryn Lawrie

    “Focus on what you love, focus on what makes you happy. What makes you wake up in the morning?” 

    Kathryn Lawrie is the VP of Marketing at Springs Creative, and their newly spun-out company Springs Digital. She focuses on leads and revenue generation and handles corporate marketing and corporate communication for the company.

    Interview

    Transcript

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    I’m Kathryn Lawrie, and I currently am in Rock Hill, South Carolina, which today is somewhat considered a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina, and I’m originally from South Carolina. I actually was born and raised in between, well, really, starting in Pawleys Island and then Columbia. And then, I’m a Winthrop University graduate. I moved away from Rock Hill and just happened to be back in my alma mater city, so. 

    Haley Hansen   

    That’s really one of the fun things about South Carolina, you ask someone where they’re from and they always have, “here’s where I am now, here’s where I was from originally.” 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    But South Carolina born and raised, I am a Grit and proud of it. 

    Haley Hansen   

    Can you please tell me what you do for work and where you are currently working from? 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    Yes. So, I am currently in Rock Hill, South Carolina, I am the VP of Marketing for, really my focus is on leads and revenue generation, but I handle all the corporate marketing, corporate communications and everything for the company as well. 

    Haley Hansen   

    And the name of the company is… 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    Springs Creative, Springs Creative. But interestingly enough, we just spun out a separate company. So Springs Creative is a very robust moniker with a very long history in textiles. The Springs name has been around for more than 120 years. And it’s still a family owned and run business. There’s many divisions underneath that Springs Creative moniker, and just recently, we spun out one of those divisions into a totally separate company. So now I’m really kind of straddling two separate companies, if you will, and that includes Springs Creative and Springs Digital. And you could almost talk about one of our divisions, the Baxter Mill Archive Design Center as a separate company as well. So it’s kind of an umbrella of brands, if you will. 

    Haley Hansen   

    Yeah, I saw on your guys’s website that you were started in like, the 1800s by Samuel Elliott White, I think it was? 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    Right. 

    Haley Hansen   

    I remember reading about him in my history class. 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    Really? 

    Haley Hansen   

    Yeah. 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    Very cool. Yeah, we are, we are right here in cotton country on the textile track, no doubt. 

    Haley Hansen   

    How long have you been working there? 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    So in one seat or another, one hat or another, about 18 years. I actually started with a different division that was a subsidiary of Springs, it was called Scene Weaver. And it was a textile business, but very, very much based on like, gift and specialty independent accounts. So we sold to, like, 5000 mom and pop shops, like Main Street stores, gift stores and boutiques around the US, and did some private label development for some of the major outdoor companies like Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s, Gander Mountain and Tractor Supply and those guys. So that’s really where I began my career in textiles, in product development and in marketing. And over the years, that business was slowly consolidated into Springs as the parent company, and then I’ve assumed multiple roles and kind of gone up, down, and sideways across the ladder over those years. 

    Haley Hansen   

    How did you end up in that field? You said that was where you started in textiles, how did you get there? 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    So that’s an interesting story. I actually studied art at Winthrop. And I had a double minor in art history and psychology, I was very interested in pursuing a career in art therapy during the time that I was in school. But when I got out of college with that student loan debt, it was quickly time to go to work. So when I moved away from Rock Hill I went back to Columbia, and was kind of working some different jobs here and there, I was in a jewelry business for quite a while, which I really loved because I loved the customer interaction of just, you know, being customer facing. But there was also a full time jeweler at this particular retailer, and so I was really able to learn a lot from him and bring some of my skills from college to that opportunity. 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    I realized that I liked working with my hands and liked that creative practice and almost wanted to sit in the jeweler seat more than I wanted to be on the sales floor. So I just decided that I wasn’t really using my degree to its full potential and that there was something else out there for me and I walked away from the jewelry job. And, to be quite honest, for a couple of months there I was walking around town handing out my resume to every art gallery and museum and graphic design contact that I could make and basically saying, “I have a degree in unemployment. Can you help me?” Because I wasn’t sure where I was going next. And I wasn’t sure what my niche was really going to be. And I just happened to meet a fabulous graphic designer who was running her own studio and she said “well I don’t need any help right now, but I’ve actually got someone that I’m doing some work for who may be interested.” 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    And that’s how I got connected at Scene Weaver, I started in the graphics department and was really focused on the metadata and tagging of all of the graphics files, and how to resize and rescale things and just maintaining that graphics archive. And slowly but but surely, I got more involved and ingrained and like the graphics aspect of it. And that kind of came to developing logos and branding and packaging. And along the way, I really honed my skills in Adobe Photoshop and the Adobe Suite. And yeah, that just kind of like, set the trajectory for my career. So I mentioned I’ve kind of climbed the ladder, the old American Dream way, and just started in product development. But then that evolved into this packaging and more of a marketing role. And then I established a marketing department for that small company. And that gave me the experience of building e-commerce websites, both B2B and D2C, and then what those marketing strategies looked like, and with my hands still on the pulse of product and product development, I was able to take multiple trips to China and visit factories, and it’s been a very lucrative and fulfilling career for me. And I never knew this was where I would be, nor that it would bring me back to Rock Hill, South Carolina, but I couldn’t be happier to be here. 

    Haley Hansen   

    It sounds like a really good mix of the customer facing stuff and the hands-on art stuff you said you enjoyed. 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    Absolutely, absolutely. I found my happy balance. 

    Haley Hansen   

    That’s awesome. What was the biggest adjustment or challenge that you faced in starting your current role? 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    Current role, like present day, I would say it’s probably just the, you know, as I described this company earlier, it’s somewhat segmented. I don’t really want to say fragmented, but definitely segmented. And so there’s a lot for me to, there’s a lot going on in the company, for me to really keep my hand on the pulse and make sure that, you know, as my role in Shared Services, that I am connecting the dots between the divisions and keeping everyone engaged in communication and keeping our communication flowing to all of those respective teams, versus having these very siloed departments. So I would say that that’s probably my greatest opportunity in the seat I’m in today. 

    Haley Hansen   

    Making sure no one’s wandering off on their own. 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    That’s right. 

    Haley Hansen   

    Can you please walk me through, like, your typical workday? Like what you did yesterday, maybe? 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    I don’t know if I even remember what I did yesterday! I think half of my to do list from yesterday moved over to today. So it’s been one of those weeks. Let’s see, this week, we have been focused on relaunching our websites. So if you went to springscreative.com, you should definitely check out springs-digital.com. 

    Haley Hansen   

    That was the one that you emailed us? 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    Yes, I think so. 

    Haley Hansen   

    Yeah, I checked that. 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    We just launched that one last week, just in time for really follow up to High Point Market and our team going to the Interwoven Market, which they just returned from today. And then simultaneously, been running kind of parallel path, have had a team in the digital division working on that website build. And we also have a team working on the Springs Creative rebuild, because now that Digital is a separate company, we’re really able to clean up and get much more intentional about our communications and messaging on each one of those platforms. So that has been the bulk of my work this week, I would say. It was just working with my content development teams, building our go to market strategy, working with the other stakeholders in the company, in terms of what content and call to actions are most important for those websites and what events we want to feature and how we’re building community and in some cases, reestablishing or re-engaging community now that we’re splitting that into multiple directions. So that has been quite consuming this week. 

    Haley Hansen   

    Sounds like it. Do you have a defining moment in your creative journey, such as a particular project that made a significant impact on you, or something you produce that really showcased your creativity? 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    I would say that over the past 10 to 12 years, I’ve had the opportunity to really be the lead and creative director on a number of videos. And those are in some cases like product release videos, but they were filmed almost like a commercial, an advertisement that we used in our trade shows and in our permanent showrooms as well as shared them with retailers. Oftentimes, it was to showcase, you know, the functions and the features of a product, but there’s a little more storytelling that goes into it than that. So I’ve really enjoyed being that creative director behind the scenes in terms of the videography work that we’ve done across the different business units. And that storytelling journey is something that I’m very passionate about. So I think that would be a highlight. 

    Haley Hansen   

    That’s also really cool. That’s even different from the graphic design stuff, that’s awesome. Do you have any cinematography training? Or did you kind of figure that out as you went along? 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    Kind of figured it out as I went along. So as I kind of molded into that marketing role, with Scene Weaver, I was actually working with some contract photographers. And so I was overseeing, you know, still shots, lifestyle shots, contracting models, doing the set staging, and that sort of thing. And I think that having that one on one with professional photographers, and just being on set really opened my eyes to opportunity of, you know, how to, how to better showcase a product detail, or how to get the warm and fuzzy from this baby picture. And, you know, engaging with the talent as well as with the product was something that I really loved. And the more I got involved in the photography aspect of it, I did more and more with like the full catalog layout and design. And, so from there, I started doing the photography myself, I just read about it, studied about it, and started doing all of the product flat shots, but was still calling in external help for videography, because there’s only so many hours in the day. Just you know, getting to I guess, interview different videographers look at their portfolios and understand, you know, kind of their style. And what style fit the message that we were trying to utilize in our campaign was always a good process, a fun process that I enjoy just finding the right match. And still to this day, that’s really how I work through videography. 

    Haley Hansen   

    Can you recommend any specific skills or skill set that someone aspiring to your position should acquire, if they want to land a role in your field? 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    I think soft skills are essential, and I think they’re harder and harder to come by today. Because it’s not really something that we can train ourselves on, or that we study in school. But I think just to be your authentic self is so important. And especially when you’re storytelling, or you’re looking to be in a marketing field or a branding field, I am very passionate about defining the why behind the what. I always want to know what the purpose is, and I look for a greater good or a greater reason to come to work than just for a paycheck. So I would say just honing those skills in the areas that you enjoy, like, do what do what is fun to you. Because if you’re having fun, then you’re not really working a day in your life, right? 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    And for me, that looks like a lot of different roles and responsibilities, which I love about my current job, because I am kind of all over the place. But when it’s time to focus, you know, I can sit down and focus in those areas that I have strengthened and know that I can sit down and get the job done versus hiring out other help, you know? So I would say that, you know, just focus on focus on what you love. Focus on what makes you happy, like you know what makes you wake up in the morning and hone those skills. And then, just be true to yourself and be true to the people you encounter. And that will help you get a long ways in a career. 

    Haley Hansen   

    All right. Sounds like great advice. Are there any organizations or programs or events that you would recommend for young people interested in your field in South Carolina? 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    Absolutely. I don’t know if you’ve spoken to anyone from South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance, but it would be great to tap in there and I’d be happy to make an introduction because, the video clip that I sent you? I don’t know if you noticed, but that was actually sponsored by the SCMA and the South Carolina Arts Commission. And they are starting a new website. I don’t know the exact name but it’s something along the lines of Future Creative Workforce. And their mission is really to share with middle school, high school and college level students that there are creative jobs in South Carolina, and when you drive past a manufacturing plant, don’t just think about the folks that are running the machinery and working on the manufacturing line. There are designers, graphic designers, illustrators, all types of creative brains within those manufacturing roles. So I would say that that would be a good connection for you and they do a lot of events and things as well. And I know that there’s going to be, you know, a big push with their new website and other videos of other creative companies that they have interviewed around South Carolina. I think they may still be in the process of that. 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    Additionally, I would say that Springs Creative is always open to internships. And so anyone that’s in a creative field, you know, could definitely contact us with their resume and portfolio. And we could discuss opportunities for interning here at Springs. And we are getting ready to relocate, in Rock Hill still, literally just across the street from where we’re sitting today. We are moving our 1 million piece textile archive and our offices. So we will have a new headquarters not far from where we’re sitting today, but in a much more creative building, it’s going to truly be a world class facility, and a great place to just be inspired to look at the history of textiles, dating back to the 1800s and see how our teams scan those original vintage textiles and then recreate them by re-coloring or changing the scale and motif. And then we digitally print textiles today that mimic that original from, you know, 1819 or whatever the year may be. So there will be several release parties and opening celebrations. We’re not doing a huge grand opening, but there will be multiple opportunities on the horizon for students to come through to tour and we actually do student guided, er, we do designer guided tours through the archives today for student groups, especially those that are in the study or practice of like interior design and product design. 

    Haley Hansen   

    Final question: do you have any advice for current students or young adults who are pursuing a career in the creative world? 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    Go for it. Don’t let people shy you away from it. Right? Like, that whole younger me walking around saying “I have a degree in unemployment. Can you help me?” It’s so not true. Don’t ever feel that way. Don’t think that. It’s okay to be an aspiring artist. There are ways to make money, there are ways to utilize your skills and your talent and find a lucrative career. Especially in the state of South Carolina with all of the manufacturing that’s coming to the state. So I would say just go for it, you know? Don’t don’t feel like you’re going to be a starving artist, because that’s a cliche term. Like there are numerous ways to make money as a young professional with a creative talent. 

    Haley Hansen   

    Is there anything else you think that you should share while you’re here? 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    Come see the Baxter Mill Archive, whenever you can! Come be inspired! 

    Haley Hansen   

    All right! Well, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. 

    Kathryn Lawrie   

    Thank you.