“Don’t try to do what other people are doing. Do what works for you and your business will flourish.”
Desiree Williams is a licensed esthetician and educator Desiree Williams is turning creative passion into community impact, one lash, lesson, and life at a time.
Interview
Transcript
Emma Plutnicki 00:03
Okay, so to start, what do you do for work and where are you currently working from?
Desiree Williams 00:08
Well, my name is Desiree Williams. I am a licensed esthetician and a licensed esthetics instructor. I do have a suite that I work from, and I perform master extension applications as well as teaching it.
Emma Plutnicki 00:22
Amazing. And how long have you been doing that?
Desiree Williams 00:25
It’s been going on for six years.
Emma Plutnicki 00:30
Okay, a good amount of time. So, what is a typical day? Look like for you?
Desiree Williams 00:36
A typical day for me kind of starts like today. Wake up, do all my good, do all the things I need to do, and then run and go see clients. So, I like to get my clients out of the way at the beginning of the day, so in the evening I can do all of my marketing, all of my mentee calls. I teach a lot on Tiktok. So, I do free lash artist classes on Tiktok every day at 9pm so that’s basically what my day looks like. I start immediately getting into it after I do my gratitude and drink my tea and do everything that I need to do.
Emma Plutnicki 01:14
Yeah, amazing. And so how did you gain the skills to be successful in your career? I would
Desiree Williams 01:20
Say networking as well as reading. One thing that I learned is that if you want information out there it is always in a book, it’s somewhere in a book. I don’t even like Google anymore. I love to find a good book that talks about whatever topic I want to learn. So, I also watch a lot of like Alex hermosi, Grant Cardone, those guys to help me scale and do things like that. So, I feel like just networking and being a student forever has assisted me in getting where I am today.
Emma Plutnicki 01:50
Yeah, for sure. And did you have any fears when you were going into this career?
Desiree Williams 01:54
Oh, yes, plenty. I’m the first business owner in my family. So, it was a learning curve. I don’t even know where to start with my fears. I always was like, oh, well, how am I going to do this to get the inventory or the main thing was capital. So, a lot of times when you don’t have previous experience in business, it’s hard to get capital, especially if you’re not educated on things like the SBA and stuff like that. So, getting started finding a space to work was, you know, kind of hard as well. I started from my home and grew my business and was able to leave my home. So, there were a lot of fears, but thankfully, with faith, I overcame all of that.
Emma Plutnicki 02:35
Yeah, and did you have anybody along the way giving you any advice, any mentors or family members? Do you remember any of the best or worst pieces of advice that you were given?
Desiree Williams 02:44
I’m not gonna lie, like a couple weeks ago, my husband gave me the best pep talk ever, because I was like, I’m just gonna go get me a job. I’m not gonna have to worry about anything. I don’t have to follow up behind people. Just go get a job. So, I would definitely say my husband, he very, very much inspires me, even though, you know, it’s like, oh, it’s your husband. He should do that. No, some days he’s not going with my shenanigans, and other days he is. So, he was a big integral part of growing the business and doing things or learning how to do things the right way. So, some of the best advice I’ve gotten from him was, just do it. Stop overthinking it, just do it. And some of the worst advice I’ve ever gotten was not from him, but just from in general, like listening to social media. Like on social media, people tell you do ABC, you do it, and you don’t get the results that they promised. So, I learned not to use social media as a guy. But as far as the inspiration goes.
Emma Plutnicki 03:42
Yeah, that’s a good point. And have you been able to maintain a healthy work life balance with your work? Is it hard to kind of separate your personal life from your professional life
Desiree Williams 03:54
In the past? Yes, I was at the point where my business was my personality. So, like every time someone sings seeing me, they’ll be like, oh, its flash girl dance, you know? So, over the years, I was actually diagnosed with lupus at the height of my career. So that goes to show that when you first start in your business, create systems that are going to help your business continue to do what it needs to do, even if you’re not behind the chair or you can’t work. So now, after that diagnosis, I have a healthy work life balance. But before I didn’t, I woke up immediately checking emails, immediately doing this, but putting implement in business hours has been a great help to me, and now I feel like once I follow my business hours, the balance is it’s not even balanced. It’s harmony for me, yeah,
Emma Plutnicki 04:40
Perfect. And with a career like this, I’m sure it can be hard to kind of define what success looks like. So, what does success look like for you? Is it a positive review? Is it financial based? How do you define success in your professional career?
Desiree Williams 04:58
Oh, that’s a good one. I. I define success by being able to wake up and actually see my work impacting the lives of others. A lot of times, like in the career that I’m doing as an esthetician, a lot of people go to school, and they get done with school, and they never take their boards, or they learn lash extensions, and they never actually start the business or take clients. So, with me being able to teach over 1500 students, I’ve learned that my success is in helping people change their lives in a real, true way, where you know they’re not worried about what’s happening next, they actually have a plan, a strategy, to get things done. So, I define my success by how many lives I can positively impact, which is, which has been a lot. It’s kind of overwhelming once you think about it, but just being myself and letting them know, like, hey, if I can do it, you can do it too. My success comes from that. Yeah,
Emma Plutnicki 05:53
I love that. And has there been one specific moment that you can remember throughout your career that kind of stands out as having a significant impact on you, whether that’s your greatest success or just something that was kind of the pinnacle of your creativity.
Desiree Williams 06:08
I would say, honestly, my loop is diagnosis. Then the reason I say that is because I had to quickly pivot into not being behind the chair as much to oh my goodness, my hands are numb today. I can’t work today. What? What else can I do to help impact others? That moment where it’s like, I don’t I realize that I don’t physically have to be touching people to impact them. That was very pivotal for me, because social media is huge. You can. You could be in China right now. We’ll be talking like you get what I’m saying. So, um, just understanding that, boom, this is, I don’t know, it’s a lot, it’s a lot, it’s it’s a lot. And I would say, just, excuse me, I’m so sorry. No, you’re so good. Questions over here, like, I can think of multiple moments that’s great talking. I was thinking of another moment like, I was just like, whoa. You don’t realize how much you’re pouring into something till you step back and look at the bigger picture. So just the bigger picture, that’s really it?
Emma Plutnicki 07:17
Yeah, no, for sure, and working in South Carolina has that had any specific impact on you the state as a whole? Have you worked in other places, and does South Carolina specifically have any impact on your work?
Desiree Williams 07:30
Oh, very much. So I’m completing a course with Columbia’s business office. It’s called The Next Level micro entrepreneur, and I’ve never seen something like that in any other state, like just researching like, oh, I want to leave South Carolina. Where am I going to move to? What type of business support would I have? One thing that I will say about South Carolina in whole, is that our bit the business realm of it, those who are in those higher seats, they do want to see smaller micro businesses succeed. And today is, well, tomorrow will be week nine of the course. And I always tell anybody, if you want to run a business, definitely take this course, because it tells you, step by step on how to run your business and what to do, how to find loans with the SBA. This all the resources you think we didn’t have here in South Carolina that we do have, the class is only like $50 so I was just like, whoa, this information. It needs to be more. So South Carolina has definitely impacted my business like that, because it shows me that I have the resources here to do better than do the things that I want to do to impact the community. I don’t really I only work in Columbia, but I do have a lot of people that travel from Charleston. I had a young lady travel from North South Carolina, and I have no idea. I was like, I have no idea where that’s at. But just being born and raised here, it was, it’s great to have run a business here and see how things are changing. And it’s a really great straight state, especially if you want to run a business. So, yeah, I love my city.
Emma Plutnicki 09:02
Yeah, no, amazing. And how is the local working professional community? Is there a lot of support? Is, are there any, like, weekly meetings you go to? Or what kind of support do you receive within South Carolina,
Desiree Williams 09:16
It’s so many to name. They have different things, like, I’ll go on like Facebook and see what they have for meetups, like networking mixers and things like that. I don’t do anything weekly as far as networking. The last 10 weeks, I have been doing that class with the Columbia Business Office, and then just the esthetics community here is very loving, very huge. You know, everyone wants to see each other win, so I love that aspect of running my business here as well.
Emma Plutnicki 09:48
Yeah, amazing. And just as we wrap up, is there anything else that you’d like to add about your job, your career, any advice or anything like that? I’ll
Desiree Williams 09:59
Give some advice. If you are creative, because I’m definitely a creative I love with last extension, application, and just being an esthetician, doing application and things like that, you have to have that type of creativity so each person can have like, their signature look. So if you are creative, I just recommend to stick to it. Don’t try to see, do what other people are doing, do what works for you and your business will flourish.
Emma Plutnicki 10:25
Yeah, I love that. Well. Thank you so much. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us. I know everything that you said will definitely help anybody looking to pursue a similar career. So really appreciate it.
“Especially because right now is a digital world, the world is just an open oyster for creatives so just do it. Otherwise, the dream will just stay in your head.”
Marsh Deane is a filmmaker, photographer, and outdoor educator based in Pawleys Island, SC. Through his business ML & L Media, he captures South Carolina’s hidden stories and landscapes with heart and purpose.
Interview
Transcript
Lexi Raines 00:00
So first, just give a little introduction of yourself. What do you do for work and where are you currently working from?
Marsh Deane 00:09
So, my name is Marsh Deane. I’m a photographer and a filmmaker and an outdoor educator. I’m based out of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, and I own an independent media company called ML & L media.
Lexi Raines 00:26
That’s awesome. So, how long have you been doing this?
Marsh Deane 00:30
I’ve been into photography since I was in middle school. Probably 20 years as a photographer. But as a career, I only started in 2019 when I graduated from Coastal Carolina, so I’m in my sixth year as this career.
Lexi Raines 00:52
Yeah, that’s amazing. So, you said you work out, you work in Pawleys Island. What’s one thing that you love about working as a creative in South Carolina?
Marsh Deane 01:01
Well, for me, it’s definitely the access to nature, the access to the outdoors. Here along the coastline, we have, of course, amazing beaches that everyone knows about, but we also have amazing river systems. We have Cypress forests. We have remote barrier islands. We have a lot of special places that have been conserved and are kind of off the beaten path. And a big mission of mine as a creative is I try to document, and I try to showcase our heritage. I try to showcase the parts of South Carolina that visitors don’t see and really, as an outdoors enthusiast. It’s a playground for me. I’m a boater. I’m a kayaker, and that’s kind of what I’ve become known for.
Lexi Raines 01:53
I would completely agree with that. I think that a lot of people, whenever they think of South Carolina, only think of the super touristy parts. And yeah, we do have that, but we also have a lot of other stuff. So, what do you think South Carolina brings to your work, and what is its unique influence on you compared to being anywhere else?
Marsh Deane 02:15
Well, I’m born and raised here, and a kind of unique part of my story is that, I grew up in historical locations. My parents were antique dealers, and they purchased old plantation properties. So, I was very, very lucky to grow up on 50-acre properties by the river in 150-year-old former plantation houses. And when you grow up in a place like that, on one side, I had the natural beauty, I had access to that which really shaped my development and my interests. And then there also is a negative side to our history, and I learned about that at a young age. We had slave cabins on the plantation that I grew up in, and so I learned about that history, and I learned about, you know, the dark truth of the South Carolina story. And that also shaped my interests, and it shaped the stories that I wanted to tell. And so, for me it’s a very personal journey. As a proud South Carolinian, I hope to tell our story. I hope to share our heritage. Also, in this area, we have a lot of tourism and a lot of development. So, I see a unique opportunity that as this region changes, part of my job is that I can capture moments in time, and I can tell these stories while we have them, because I know that down the road, this area is going to change so much. And I feel a little bit of a weight on my shoulders that as a South Carolinian, I’m trying to preserve some of our heritage for the future generations to enjoy.
Lexi Raines 04:05
I think that’s definitely an amazing thing to do, for sure. How would you describe your local professional community?
Marsh Deane 04:13
Very giving. I live in Pawleys Island, and we’re a little tourist town, and when I started out, I was with the Georgetown RISE program at Coastal Carolina. And from there, I was connected with the nonprofit world. We have a lot of nonprofits in this region, and I started marketing for the nonprofits. And I found out that this area is just so giving from churches to school groups, to community groups. I mean, there are, I believe now, in Georgetown County, there are 90 different individual nonprofits that you know have community missions. And so, I’m heavily involved with southern hospitality that is alive and well down here. And that can really impact your career, you know, especially as a creative finding ways to share the positive stories and the positive the giving nature of this region.
Lexi Raines 05:12
One thing I’ve noticed is that everyone who moved here from the north, their number one thing they always say is everyone’s just so friendly, so like, I’m glad to hear that it’s the same in the professional community as well. So, how would you define professional or personal success in your creative endeavors?
Marsh Deane 05:29
For me, it’s really about having a tangible impact that you can see in the creative industry. There are different paths you can take. And nowadays we get sidetracked by social media. We get sidetracked by, you know, followers and views and short form media, right? And that gets a lot of attention, you know. So, you can focus on social media, on Instagram, YouTube, and get those high views. And there’s certainly a great career in that of being an influencer, but there’s also other things. For me, it was more getting involved in local communities, creating short films that were, you know, supported initiatives that I’m interested in. So, yeah, as a creative our work is individualized to us. It is an expression of us and our energies and our efforts and our interests. And so, no matter what it is, whether it’s on social media or whether it’s in the local community, there’s so many ways to feel justified and fulfilled in your time spent in this creative industry. And there’s so many different niches. There are so many different things that you can do nowadays, and it’s very rewarding. Once you find that path that’s working out, and you find that that job or that that gig or that niche that satisfies you. It’s just extremely rewarding, in my opinion, more so than any views or really any dollar amount. And it is just the satisfaction of being an artist and knowing that I’ve done something that has created a ripple.
Lexi Raines 07:11
Yeah, I completely agree with that. I feel like long form content has definitely been lost with the rise of social media. So, I feel like it’s awesome that you are still finding beauty in that, because I think there is a lot of value in it. What was your biggest fear when you first decided to pursue the arts professionally?
Marsh Deane 07:33
Definitely the biggest fear is, you know, going out on a limb by yourself, not having a boss, not having a company that you’re working for, and not having a guaranteed paycheck when you start a business as a creative. The great thing about it, is that you can shape it to what you want to do and have not having a boss is great, right? Setting your own schedule is great. But there’s also immense pressure with that, because you realize you are the one responsible for the income. And so, it is taking a leap. It’s taking a leap of faith, if you really commit to it, I think anyone that takes that leap is going to find success, especially because right now, it’s a digital world, and so the world is just an open oyster for a creative you know? And again, whether you’re going to focus on social media or you’re going to focus on the business side of it, there’s just every company, every industry, every business needs marketing, needs to tell their story. And so, there’s just so much out there you might not even know when you take that leap. You might not have a clue what you’ll be doing next year, but you have got to take the leap to find out.
Lexi Raines 08:47
I think that is definitely one of the most important things. I’ve talked to a lot of creatives, and they have all said that you just got to take that leap. I agree that it’s very important. Can you describe a defining moment in your creative journey? Was there a particular project that made a significant impact on you?
Marsh Deane 09:09
I would say probably my internship with the village group started it off for me. I had been doing some Real estate photography, and so I knew that I could make money doing Real Estate photography. I knew that there was some potential there, but it didn’t fulfill a lot of satisfaction. It was a great career to be in. I started my internship with the village group, and I was doing marketing, showcasing what this nonprofit is doing for children in a rural Plantersville community. And through that nonprofit, first I was doing marketing, but then they found out, oh, well, you like the outdoors? Hey, would you like to take our students on an outdoor walk? And then that outdoor walk became, I brought my cameras along, and I let the students use my cameras. Then that became a Media Club, and we got a grant, and we got 20 cameras for the students. It quickly went from a marketing internship to a teaching opportunity, and it was just this eureka moment, because I loved it. I mean, taking these, these kids, out into the woods on a nature trail, giving them cameras, and kind of teaching them photography, and just seeing how just how interested the kids were, it’s a fun class to teach, and so I get the best out of the students. And that was the moment where I was like, I definitely want to do this for the rest of my life, if I could just keep doing this, finding an avenue to, you know, combine my camera the outdoors and people having a good time, and the village group having that internship through the Georgetown RISE program. Had I not done that, I have no clue what I would be doing today.
Lexi Raines 10:58
That’s so special, like, I’m sure you gave special memories for those kids, and that you might have given them something they really love too. So, that’s actually awesome. So, what’s the best and worst advice you’ve ever received?
Marsh Deane 11:15
I guess the best advice I’ve received in many ways over the years, the Nike slogan, just do it. Just do it. It’s so easy. Nowadays we’re surrounded by comfort, and it’s so easy to put things off. It’s so easy in the evening to, you know, sit down and turn on the TV. But if you have any goal, you have to just do it. You have to, sometimes you must give yourself that little kick in the pants to get up and chase that dream, to make that project that you want to make. Otherwise, it’ll just stay in your head. You have to just do it. You know, action, and especially nowadays, I think a lot of my generation and younger, with all these distractions around us. I think a lot of us do struggle with procrastination. And so, really, the best thing is you got to get up and do it. You know, you got to be moving, momentum. The worst advice being opinionated online, I tell students, just to be careful with, you know, online right now, there’s so many different things going on in the world, and we’re all very passionate about many things, and online discourse, as we all know, gets very it’s easy to misunderstand, it’s very easy to misunderstand people, and then it gets negative pretty quickly, right? And so, I’ve learned just that, you put something out there, and you really need to take the time to make sure that your thoughts are understood by the reader in the way you intend. And let’s say, if they’re not understood the way you intend. Don’t take it personally, and don’t get in those comments. And you know, it’s easy to get even a little triggered online. And that goes for all of us, and I admit that. And you know, sometimes you can turn away viewers. You can turn away the audience you’re supposed to reach, just with online misunderstanding. Misunderstandings and bad advice that I’ve received, but I do just that’s I know that that’s advice I try to give my students of things not to do is just take a little slower online when dealing with other people and just understand communication. We’re meant to communicate face to face and see each other and hear each other’s tone, I don’t know if that really answers the question.
Lexi Raines 13:49
It does. I think that is good advice, because I feel like if you don’t listen to that. There is so much that could go wrong in that situation. So, can you walk me through a typical workday, what does your process look like and what’s expected of you on a daily basis?
Marsh Deane 14:07
Well, so the cool thing as a creative and owning my own business is that I am my own boss. So, I get to wake up when I like usually, I’ll wake up between eight or nine, but it depends. Really, you know what’s on the schedule. I have set up my business so that most of the work I like to do after 10am. I like to give myself that extra time in the morning to kind of wake up and have a slower pace. So. usually during the day, after 10am it’s meetings, I’m going out into the community to different locations for photo shoots or video shoot, interviews, and then the afternoons and the evenings are usually set aside for editing time and editing as a creative that’s one thing. Yeah, we work a lot. We work a lot behind the scenes. Often, I’ll be editing until 11 or 12 o’clock at night. And so I’ll tell some people that I work 80 hours a week, but those 80 hours aren’t what you would typically think of as work. You know, because sometimes I’m sitting at the computer, I’m working on a project, but as the computer is rendering, I’m pulling out my phone and on social media, or I’m multitasking, I’m bouncing around. My days are very, a little disjointed, you know, I’ll spend an hour working on something, and then I’ll get up and walk around my yard for a little bit, do some yard work. I’ll go inside, you know, make a meal. So, I don’t really have a set schedule. I don’t have a nine to five, and I love that. But also, again, sometimes it is annoying, you know, when you find yourself at midnight still editing and working on that project. So, for creatives you kind of have the power to be as structured as you want or as unstructured as you want. I’m unstructured by nature. I’m ADHD. But I would definitely say being a creative you do have that power to structure your life whatever way you wish. And I think that’s amazing. I tell many people that I get up when I want to, I go to sleep when I want to, and I schedule work when I want to, but of course, you schedule your work around your client and when they’re available, and so really, on a week to week basis, it changes. I travel a lot for work, which is great, and there’s also a lot of time spent. Though people don’t see this as a photographer or any creative, there’s a lot of time spent packing gear, charging batteries, processing data on the computer. And if for painters or other you can translate that into dealing with, you know, the paint or your canvas, there is a lot of unseen. It’s not as glorious as you think, being a creative there’s a lot of time doing busy work in between to get everything lined up so that you can create.
Lexi Raines 17:09
You have already explained this a little bit, but how do you create a work life balance where you’re able to maintain. Like your professional creativity, your personal creativity, and what are some habits that you have that you think would be beneficial to others wanting to pursue the arts?
Marsh Deane 17:26
For me, having the work life balance there, there really is no, well, it’s unbalanced, but that’s a little bit of a good thing for me, because it is my passion. Every day I’m working on projects. Some days that’s a project for a paid client, so it’s work. But then there are other days where I’m working on a personal project. And those personal projects, it might be a video going out into the swamp and showing people a really cool tree, right? YouTube videos. So, my balance is that I’m balancing the professional work and then the personal, the passion work, right? The work that I want to be known for, the work that I enjoy. I’m not getting paid for it, like the YouTube videos, or the swamp adventure videos. That’s not my career, but I do see it as work, because I see it as my portfolio. I see it as my legacy. And so, for me, it’s having that passion and doing what you love. If I didn’t have the time to do those personal projects that I enjoy, I probably would be miserable. And so, I think, for any creative just make sure that, yes, you’re doing a lot of work for clients that are going to get you paid but make room for the personal work that you want to do. I feel that most creatives are always working on something, and so just be sure that some of that is giving you enjoyment. It’s for you, it’s for your soul, it’s for your satisfaction as an artist, because you can get burnt out really easily. And I certainly got burnt out about a year or two into my journey, because all I was doing was working for money, working for other people’s vision, and I wasn’t doing things for myself.
Lexi Raines 19:19
I think that honestly is really amazing advice, because, as you’re saying, it is so easy to get burnt out as an artist.
“Know your worth and follow your path, and entrust yourself”
Caletta Harris is the founder and owner of Reel to Reel Productions, a video production company that has been transforming stories into powerful visual narratives for nearly 20 years. She is based in South Carolina and works nationally, blending creative passion with purpose-driven storytelling by using media to empower, educate, and amplify voices across South Carolina.
Interview
Transcript
Lexi Raines 00:01
So, what do you do for work, and where are you currently working from? Well, I
Caletta Harris 00:05
Currently I have my own business called Reel to Reel Productions, and we have been there for 19 years, almost 20 years. Next year will be 20 years, and I’m kind of out of everywhere. I’m remote, but I do work all over. So right now, I’ll say South Carolina, awesome.
Lexi Raines 00:26
And so, what is your official job title, being the creator of realtor. I am the owner. And what is one thing that you love about working as a creative in South Carolina?
Caletta Harris 00:37
Well, I love the rich history in South Carolina, and to have that creative freedom being a creative there’s a lot of stories to be told. A lot of rich history here, and just the people connecting with some great, like minded individuals, is always a plus.
Lexi Raines 00:55
I completely agree. So first, just tell us a little bit about reel to reel.
Caletta Harris 00:59
So, reel to reel is my baby. My production company is a full service video production company. So we basically do everything from commercial marketing all the way to documentaries. I am the videographer, the editor, all of the above, the marketer, all of that. So we basically do a lot of branding for companies. So we are going on our 20th year, next year.
Lexi Raines 01:25
Awesome. That’s so cool. So what does South Carolina bring to reel to reel, and what is its unique influences on you compared to anywhere else I can
Caletta Harris 01:33
Say, South Carolina has brought me a lot of diverse clients, like my projects totally different. And when I was starting the business, people always would say, you need to get, like, a portfolio that’s vast. You can’t just do one thing, and then expect people to say, Oh, well, you can do it, but they have to see it. I’m like, This has definitely given me an opportunity to have different type of clients, different type of genres. And I just love it. I love just creating people’s vision that
Lexi Raines 02:03
Awesome. I feel like South Carolina is definitely a very diverse community. And saying that, like, how would you describe your local professional community? Local
Caletta Harris 02:11
Professional community? They are wonderful. They’re very interesting. They’re very talented. And, you know, they bring opportunities with them. So it’s not like, this is just mine. They see where people can fit in. And then once I start talking, you know this, the wheels start spinning, and it’s like, oh, well, maybe we can fit you here. And then my wheels start turning. Say, oh, maybe I can connect you with so is a good connecting hub? I like, yes,
Lexi Raines 02:38
That’s actually something I’ve heard a lot throughout, like almost all of my interviews, is that South Carolina really is such a good community where people want to like be able to lean on each other, which I think it achieves pretty well. How do you define professional or personal success in your creative endeavors? Well,
Caletta Harris 02:57
I would define personal professional success is retention rate. I can say my longest client has been 15 years, and then the next one has been 11. So I can say that I have a great rent retention rate with a lot of my clients. And then from there it’s still, you know, multiple years, and then even the new client is like, we don’t want to just stop here. We want to keep that show’s success. To me, that I must be doing something right, and then just personally, it’s kind of the same thing. Sometimes I’d intertwines, but just building relationships personally, because it’s not always professionalism with my clients. So we build that relationship. Yes,
Lexi Raines 03:38
That’s awesome. And sometimes that’s the base you need to work on. So that’s really great. What was your biggest fear when you first decided to pursue the arts professionally? Can
Caletta Harris 03:47
I be self-sustainable? I think that’s a lot of people fear. Can you do this long term? So I was smart with it, because I held on to a job until I said I can do this long term. It kind of worked out. And then when I got my first office space, I just took off from there, because people want to see that to make it real for them, right? So that I just didn’t have to go back doing anything else for anybody else.
Lexi Raines 04:15
And that is awesome. I know a lot of the creatives that I’ve interviewed so far like they are kind of working on their projects, and then they have, like, a day job, and so that seems like difficult to juggle. So it’s awesome that, like, you aren’t having to do that. Okay, so can you describe, for me, like, a defining moment in your creative journey? Like, did you have a particular project that made a significant impact on you
Caletta Harris 04:40
Absolutely! back in 2013 I started a journey while in my office downtown, I read it in the newspaper that city council wanted to do something about their homeless issue, and I was called by what the options were. So I was like, I want to do something about. It. I already have a production company. Let me just start filming and talking to people and seeing what’s going on around me. And it became a full feature documentary. It’s called no address. It’s a documentary series featuring Columbia, South Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia.
So it talks about, you know, the criminalization of homelessness, what’s going on as well as practical solutions, because we can’t keep talking about the problems without the solutions. And that has had the biggest impact on my life. I the first one came out. Columbia came out in 2020 and Atlanta came out in 2022 so we hit the whole film festival market, and now it’s on Tubi, Amazon. I’m about, I’m thinking, I’m on about 10 streaming platforms now, so it has made a huge impact. I’ve spoken to a lot of colleges, even middle school and high schoolers, and they’re excited about doing something in their own community. So this has been one of my biggest passion projects, and I continue to expand with it, because I want to be a part of the solution now, yes,
Lexi Raines 06:01
That is, like, actually so amazing and so meaningful that is, and being on so many streaming sites like, that’s so cool, that’s actually awesome. So what is the best and worst advice you’ve ever received on your career path? That
Caletta Harris 06:19
Was a struggle, because I can’t really think of the worst advice, because I really block out a lot of that negative energy, right? The best advice, I would say, is when you know someone told me just going through this is to trust yourself, follow your own path, because had a lot of challenges at the beginning, me being a woman owned business, so that was a challenge in itself, and people taking you seriously. So that I that was the best advice was to say, you know you know your worth and follow your path, and you know you know and trust yourself. So but the I could say something generalized, like the worst advice would be something like, it doesn’t matter, everybody’s doing it, so go ahead and do it. And I’m not that tight. If you say go right, I’m gonna go left. Open your mind and think creatively, yes, so that I don’t say that. Yeah,
Lexi Raines 07:16
I think that is, like, really good advice to, like, stay true to what you want to do, not what everybody else is doing. So that’s awesome. Can you walk me through like a typical work day for you, what does your process look like and what’s expected of you on a daily basis?
Caletta Harris 07:32
So normally, I wake up, I stretch, I meditate, then I go drink some coffee or tea, and then I either edit or film, depending on the day. So every day is different. I usually work until like seven, unless it’s a long shoot or something, but I kind of cut it off at seven, and then I have me time. I relax and do whatever, and then I try to go to bed by 10 o’clock, because rest is so important to me, because I use my brain so much, and sometimes I’m juggling two or three projects simultaneously. So it’s like shifting gears here and there all the time, somebody else talking about something totally different. So it’s like your mind is always going so I’m like, shut it down at 10 o’clock and then, and then I just start the day, just to rejuvenate and start the day. So that’s kind of my routine. And then I don’t I try not to talk business after seven.
Lexi Raines 08:28
I think that is super smart, like, and a good practice to have, because I think so many times people don’t know where the line, like, the line kind of blurs between, like, work life and personal life. So I think that’s really, really good advice. Actually,
Caletta Harris 08:44
Being entrepreneurs, we people don’t know how to cut it off. It emailed at 2am from people in that one time, and then I said, You know what? This isn’t healthy, because you’re going to burn out at some point. So it’s like, every day is a new day, and I’m ready to conquer it. You know, along
Lexi Raines 09:01
Kind of with that, I know you’ve explained some of them trying to get to bed early. What are some habits that you think would be beneficial for others wanting to do what you do? I
Caletta Harris 09:10
Would say, you know, just find your peace. Whatever it is at times, just take breaks and find your peace. I’m a nature person, so I go out in nature and, you know, just soak it in vitamin D, go out to the farm, you know, things like that, just to digress, and then you can kind of recharge yourself and get back into because you don’t realize, once you do that, how much information can come in and Creativity can come in when always thinking about everything else. So take that time, even if it’s five minutes, whatever it takes, just go out, walk, do something, stretch or just be silent, you know. And a lot of times that really can make a huge difference, subtle, but it can make a big difference.
Lexi Raines 09:57
Yes, I completely agree, just for. My personal experience, I feel like just those few moments that you take to like, ground yourself, super, super important.
“The money will come and go, but the impact you make on people’s lives that’s the real success.”
Jenny Powers is a Myrtle Beach-based music marketing strategist and founder of Blue Avenue Music Group, empowering independent musicians to thrive on their own terms.
Interview
Transcript
Emma Plutnicki
Okay, so to start, what do you do for work and where are you currently working from?
Jenny Powers
So I live in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. My husband is the men’s tennis coach at Coastal and I am here in my office. And I own Blue Avenue Music Group, which is a music marketing and management company, and so I work a lot with artists and musicians from everyone from ground up to Grammy nominated artists
Emma Plutnicki
Cool, and how long have you been doing? That for?
Jenny Powers
I’ve had my company for seven years, and then I’ve been managing a tree house the local reggae rock band for about 15 years.
Emma Plutnicki
Amazing. So what does a typical day look like for you? What kind of responsibilities are expected of you, and what do you get into?
Jenny Powers
Oh, well, it varies from artist to artist. So right now, with Treehouse, we have a new song that will be coming out in a few weeks, and so we’ve been working on their content plans and their tour and making sure everything is uploaded and ready for those releases
Emma Plutnicki
cool and so how do you manage kind of like having a work life balance, because I’m sure, like creativity strikes at different times of day and things like that. So how are you able to kind of manage that?
Jenny Powers
Oh, that’s a good one. Definitely set boundaries. I mean, my clients are on tour, so they are up at all times of the day and night, and so for me, it was really about setting those boundaries that I am available between eight in the morning and five o’clock in the evening, unless there’s an absolute emergency that cannot be taken care of. So definitely setting those work boundaries, especially because I work from home, so making sure that I allocate the necessary time to spend with my family and do the things I love to do like I even like I don’t respond on weekends either. So those are, those are my times, and those are times that I think everyone should be be bound to, yeah, for sure, 40 hours, yeah, and working from home.
Emma Plutnicki
Is it sometimes hard to separate work life from personal life? Or have you been able to kind of overcome that?
Jenny Powers
Oh, I have, even in my family life, it’s, you know, eight o’clock until five o’clock here at home, and if my door is closed, I’m in meetings or I’m actively working on something, but if my door is open, then my kids are always welcome to just come on in and see, see what I’m doing and what’s what we’re what’s going on.
Emma Plutnicki
Yeah, for sure. And so living in Myrtle Beach, does South Carolina play any role in your work? Does it influence your work in any way? Or have you lived in other places where you notice that living in South Carolina kind of has a different influence on what you do?
Jenny Powers
So that’s that’s a really great question. I was born and raised here. I graduated from the academy of arts, science and technology in entertainment technology, my sister is one of the first graduating students from the Governor’s School in Greenville for music and arts, and she went on to found the longest running Girls Rock and Roll camp, and now we have our our nonprofit in Nashville. So South Carolina’s definitely given me and my family a lot of opportunities. My brother’s been a touring musician for 17 years. My sister was a touring musician for 10 years, and and I’ve been doing this for a long time too, and so we’ve always had that philosophy of bloom, where you’re planted. And we’ve, we’ve done so well.
Emma Plutnicki
Yeah, amazing. So coming from such a musical family, have you been given any advice along the way from family members or mentors that kind of helped you in this career path?
Jenny Powers
No, no, no, because think about think about it like the major hubs for music are New York, Nashville and. And LA with Austin having its own central like Texas is like its own music world. Honestly, there’s artists that only tour Texas and never leave it. So being in South Carolina that wasn’t a music hub. I had to learn those things. And I was very lucky to meet Ari Herston, who is, you know, the go to guy for independent music. And what I learned from there, I was able to bring and work with my artists and really elevate them from where they are and take them to where they want to go.
Emma Plutnicki
Yeah, for sure. Did you have any fears when you started in this career?
Jenny Powers
No, no. Like, I didn’t have a choice. Yeah, my brother called me up, and he was like, I need a manager. And I was like, I have no idea how to manage you in your music career. Yeah, we’ll find out. And once I found out, made a plan. We’ve been trucking along ever since.
Emma Plutnicki
So yeah, amazing. So throughout your entire career, have you had one specific project you worked on, or one specific person that you’ve worked with that has really kind of had a significant impact on you, and you kind of see as maybe, like the pinnacle of your career, just something that stands out in in your career so far.
Jenny Powers
I mean, every day is kind of magical, because I love that you never know what’s going to come your way. So I mean, I’ve had some really great people in this industry that I really do lean on. So Ari. Ari was one of them. And I have all kinds of great friends that I lean on, but I think I forgot your question.
Emma Plutnicki
No, it’s okay. How is, how is the local working community in South Carolina? Is there a network that you rely on in South Carolina specifically, or are you kind of just a lone wolf out here?
Jenny Powers
I am probably the lone wolf of South Carolina in the way that I work with artists, and the amount of artists I’ve worked with and the impact that I’ve actually made in the music industry. So one of my other positions is the VP of community of artist hub, which is a music marketing company. And we’ve, you know, we actually changed how you market music. So through those, those deep links, we’ve, you know, revolutionized how you market your music. And right now we’re working on building direct distribution through the blockchain. So that is going to be, you know, taking the way things are right now and looking into the future of how the whole industry is going to be moving forward.
Emma Plutnicki
Yeah, makes sense. And so to succeed in this career, you know, in creative fields, it can be kind of hard to figure out what success looks like, because it’s different. So how would you define success in your career? Is it financial? Is it projects you’ve worked on reaching success? Like, how do you kind of gage your success and your professional life?
Jenny Powers
Well, okay, that’s a that’s a good one. I mean, yeah, it’s hard. That is a hard one because I have been able to literally take everyone else’s platforms that they’re working on and help them succeed, and by helping them succeed, that is my success. So the money will come and go, but the help and the impact that you make on people’s lives is what really is my driving force?
Emma Plutnicki
Yeah, I love that. And what kind of skills do you need to have in your career to find success? Like, what are, what are important qualities to have for someone in your position,
Jenny Powers
One, knowing the ins and outs of how the industry works. So one of the big things in our industry right now is the independent music voice was about 40% of streaming revenue, and they were doing it so well that the major labels but. Up all the independent distributions, and that was a big scary thing for me, because I’ve seen where the major labels would actually use independent artists and take them off of platforms to negotiate with like Tiktok and things like that, so the artist who thought they were independent really weren’t independent. And so now artists have almost no true autonomy over their careers without new independent sectors coming in and giving them that opportunity that they had before. So that’s really where I am, is making sure that, you know, all these artists that I love back here have the ability to have full control over their music business. You know who’s managing their catalogs and who is managing their publishing administration and where they’re just distributing their music on these platforms, because if they don’t know up the chain who owns those they could be giving their rights away without knowing it. That’s my, my biggest concern.
Emma Plutnicki
Yeah, and how were you able to learn those ins and out ins and outs? How were you able to kind of establish your knowledge within that?
Jenny Powers
Oh, definitely. I mean, I read, read a book, not much about the structure of your businesses, like the music business itself has changed, but being able to use the new ways that are implemented to your advantage is really, you know, staying ahead of the curve while everyone is talking about things I’ve been doing for the last year and a half, they’re just now like, this is what you should be doing. And I started doing those things because you can see those trends if you’re paying attention.
Emma Plutnicki
Yeah, makes sense. Amazing. So just as we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to add, any advice you’d like to give, or anything else you’d like to add about your career?
Jenny Powers
Oh, wow, yeah, if you’re going into you know, if you’re going to be a musician that wants to tour and distribute your music and have, like, a real business and that be your livelihood, then make sure you know the ins and outs of what that means, the contracts, the the everything, because you have all of these rights. And with every step of the way, everyone wants a cut of it. And so by maintaining your rights, gives you the power to have that autonomy over your career. Amazing.
Emma Plutnicki
That’s great advice. Well, thank you so much. I’m going to stop the recording. Okay, bye.
“You should love what you do, because even if you love it, there are still days that feel a little mundane.”
Kelley McDonnell is a content manager at Visit Myrtle Beach. She channels her passion for storytelling into promoting her hometown’s creative spirit.
Interview
Transcript
Emma Plutnicki 00:02
So to start, what do you do for work, and where are you currently working from?
Speaker 1 00:09
I live in South Carolina. I’m in York, up in the northwestern area, not far from Charlotte. I started work in the creative field. Anyway. As an author, my first published book was in 2005, and I’ve been publishing it ever since. I mostly write paranormal and contemporary romance, but I do have a horror persona as well, who writes horror books, light horror. And in 2023 I started my own small press publishing company called Rowan pros publishing, also based out of York. And right now, we’ve got a little over 5050 authors, amazing.
Emma Plutnicki 00:57
And so how long have you been doing each author you said since 2005 and publishing since 2023
Speaker 1 01:05
correct? So, I want to say 2005 was my first published book. That sounds about right. But really, in essence, I’ve been writing since kindergarten. I always wanted to be an author, but I didn’t always know that’s what it was. You know, I get these ideas in my head, like I want to be the president, or I want to be a US gymnast or whatever, and I realized it was more the story I was interested in, then, you know, the actual job title. So always had a creative mind. You know, other people sit and watch movies or do things, and 10 ideas for a new book pops up in my head, though my first published book was 2005 and then I can’t tell you how many titles I went to, like 2530 titles I have right now, and I’ve been traditionally published with Berkeley Penguin, larger publishers and tangle Kensington, and then I’m all I’m what they call a hybrid author. So, I also independently published my own work. I have foreign translation rights in seven different countries, and I learned a lot about marketing and, you know, design and other things on my own. And so, then it was that that kind of persuaded me to start roam publishing, because I would get a lot of authors who would ask for advice. And when the indie boom happened way back in, you know, you know, the early to mid, 2000s you know, it created a lot of havoc within the publishing world. But on the flip side of that, authors are now able to publish their own stuff. They don’t have to wait for a publisher. So, we’re getting a whole different side of publishing and writing and things like that that never would have seen before. But with that comes the marketing aspect. Do you have to get your eyes on the book or is nobody going to read it? Yeah, nobody’s going to know about it. And that makes things really difficult, especially if you don’t know your way around. And so, you know, with all my experience and editing, marketing, design, you know, stuff like that. I thought about starting conferences and other things like that to help writers, but I think what they really needed more than anything was an alternative to what large publishing houses are doing. So, you know, you got the Big Five who are publishing what they want to publish, what, what sounds good, what, what’s trending. But a lot of them are not taking the word I’m looking for. They’re not taking a chance on the smaller authors who are the debut authors who are just starting out. They’re not wanting to put and this is kind of insulting to them, so I don’t really necessarily mean it that way, but they don’t want to put a lot of time and effort into helping an author build a career or working really hard on, you know, developing a book to the best of its ability. You know, yes, there’s an editing process and everything else. But you know, if a story is good and has great bones, but it doesn’t have, if it has pacing issues or other things like that, you know, they don’t necessarily want to jump on that. They want to, you know, get their editors to work, put some covers on it, and let their marketing team go from there. But, you know, unless, unless you’re a big name, a lot of publishers, even with agents, aren’t accepting new and debut authors. And I just, I had a lot of people coming to me saying, you know, you know, for edit projects or for me to design one of their covers, but then they have no idea how to upload, you know, how to market. From there, one. It is uploaded for sale. So, I got into conversations with an author, and I’ve been friends with him for a very long time, and, you know, we were discussing, how can, how can we do this? And it was, it was a big undertaking, a huge undertaking, but we’re showcasing a lot of authors that you would not see on shelves elsewhere. You know, you would never have heard about great, amazing, wonderful stories that bigger publishers don’t just want to take a chance on. And because we were by authors for authors, we wanted to make sure we were not only showcasing new talent but using new and innovative marketing techniques that some other publishers don’t, don’t do either. You know, we give our authors a lot more freedom than some other publishers would, and, you know, things like that. So, it was a big undertaking, but I’m really glad we did it. We have some really, really amazing talent, amazing
Emma Plutnicki 06:03
and is the is the talent that you work with? Are a lot of them from South Carolina? Or is there any influence of South Carolina within your work, whether that be the clientele or any influence that the state has on your writing?
Speaker 1 06:19
In my own personal writing. Yes, I have, in my, fact, I’m writing out of southern romcom series right now that’s been contracted with Germany for foreign translation, as for Rome prose. Yes, and no, we’ve, we’ve had some really great output from independent, uh, bookstores and libraries. Um, to date, we, I don’t think we have a South Carolina author right now. We have a few that are close by, but none that are in South Carolina, the state of South Carolina, not necessarily, because when you think about it, publishing is mostly a virtual entity. I’m based in South Carolina, and thus the LLC and the company is but as for everything else, you know, we’ve gotten some great community support, and, you know, like I said, the independent booksellers. But as for the state of South Carolina, not so much. What I would love to see is more, um, more of the colleges and whatnot, like what you guys are doing, showcasing how to properly, you know, do this. And just, you know, I mean, there are so many young adults who were me once, who are like, you know, I want to do this. I want to do but they don’t know the right way. And then he wastes, you know, 1520, years of your life wondering, how do I do this? And it can be very dejecting, and, you know, demoralizing. And it’s, it’s, I wouldn’t want that for anybody. That’s another reason why one, one of our authors, in fact, she’s based out of Louisiana, is only 20. She’s in college right now. Wrote her first book while she was, I think, at home on like, Christmas break or during COVID or something, and sent it, sent it to me, and we were like, Ooh, it’s a really good fantasy So, yeah,
Emma Plutnicki 08:02
amazing. And within a creative career, I mean, it can be very difficult to figure out what your niche is and also how to find success. So how would you define professional success? Is it the number of books you sell, or is it kind of just something within you, of like bringing your words to the page. What? What does success look like for you, both personally and professionally?
Speaker 1 08:27
I think, to be honest with you, success is all dependent on what every single individual’s definition is. You know, some people, I have several of my authors who are like, I would just love to see my book in a library, and they will be happy for the rest of their life. You know, some, some, you know, want New York Times and USA Today. Some want to be Stephen King or Nora Roberts and be a household name. You know, for each individual person. You know, you have to define what that goal is for you, because it’s going to be different for everybody, for me, you know, of course, you know, I wanted a good reader, following a dedicated reader, following who were interested in, you know, they liked one of my books, so then they want to read all of them they wanted. I loved the foreign translation contract, because to be honest with you, I wouldn’t have had that kind of market anywhere else. Market anywhere else. It’s a little weird because my foreign translation contract started in Germany and just happened to be read by some editor while she was on a train to a book event, and then contacted my publisher, and that’s how it started. And I’m actually a household name over in Germany now, and it just it blows my mind. And when I was starting early in my career, that never would have been something I would have thought of. I would have thought I wanted to be on every bookstore shelf. I want, you know, I want to be in libraries. I want to read the New York Times. But success to me. Personally, has always been those readers who, you know, send an email like you made me ugly cry, or I laughed out loud, or, you know this, this really touched me. A lot of my personal books have social or economic or physical disabilities. You know, a hero who’s deaf or another who has social anxiety, you know, things like that. I I always tend to have some kind of element, and I did it accidentally, but, you know, so I get a lot of readers who connect with that, because you don’t tend to see a lot of that in fiction writing, especially romance. Um, so for me, I learned that that was my goal. As I as I got into this, you know longer, but the best way to go about it, and there’s two levels of this too. So my best advice is, you know, if you are wanting to become an author, or you are wanting to become an editor, or, you know, if you want to be in the book world and the publishing world in some way, I would highly suggest getting into either an Associates, a two year associates program or a four year college program for an English degree. And I say this, not because it’s what society tells you should do, but because, when you go into even the small presses all the way up to the Big Five, like, you know, Simon and Schuster, one of the best things that you can do is learn the industry and earn a paycheck while you’re doing it. So, you know, get that, get that degree, or that associate associates degree, and you know, work as an editor, and that way you learn the background and the business, and you make connections. Because to be honest with you, it’s really difficult to get your foot in the door. That way. Otherwise. Now, if you’re strictly, you know, 2022, years old, getting ready to, you know, step out of college with a completely different degree, and say, economics, do your job, do your career, do what you love. You can love more than one thing. And then, you know, right at night, when you’re not at your day job, and again, find out what your personal individual goals are. You know, if you want to be on every bookshelf in every Barnes and Noble, then I would suggest, you know, research agents in your genre. And you know, following their guidelines, because the only way to get into the big five publishers and all of their individual divisions is to have an agent. I know some of the smaller publishers, you know, and Kensington is still considered. They’re one of the one of the bigger five, but they’re not technically a big five. They don’t require an agent, but they’re one of the only big ones that don’t, you know. And then you get all the smaller presses that step down from there. My personal experience has been better with small presses than it has been with the bigger publishers. You get the advancements with big publishing or the big five. You get the bigger marketing team you get, you know, often the mass market contracts where you’re in every library and every bookstore. But the thing is, especially with your first second or even your third book, a lot of the readers don’t know you. The booksellers don’t know you. They’re going to throw you on an obscure shelf and whatever genre you’re in, but small press has more to lose. They know your name; they know your story. They can help you build a reader base. And that’s why I honestly started Rowan pearls publishing to help read, to help new authors build their base, give them a really good, positive first publishing experience, and, you know, to help them go on from there, so then they can get their agent or stay with us for the whole career, whichever. But to me, big contracts are only going to get you so far, because let’s face it, we’re not all Stephen King, so
Emma Plutnicki 14:15
yeah, no, it makes sense. Did you have any fears when you were starting as an author, or any fears when you started your publishing company,
Speaker 1 14:23
oh my gosh, yes, and I still due to this day. I’ve been in this business for 20 years, and I still have, I wake up every morning. A lot of it now is fear for my authors, like I remember getting, you know, that first bad review, or, you know, I often. I still do, on average, 10 to 20 times a week, get hate mail, you know, because I have LGBTQ characters in in secondary character role, some of my books have what they call you. Uh, heat level. So, you know, it’s not like fading to black or closing door. So, you know, I get a lot of, you know, religious people who are like, going to hell. So, it is what it is. Having somebody navigate that with you when you’re first starting out makes all the difference. You know, it’s kind of like hand holding. You know what this is? Okay? Not every, not every reader, picks up the same book. I mean, let’s, let’s take To Kill a Mockingbird, for instance. You know, one of the best classics ever to be written. You know, it’s the path that it’s time with, with civil rights movements and other such things, right? No two people read that same book. One person is going to rape about it, the next is going to be like, Yeah, you know, it’s no two people read the same book. One of the best things you can learn is they always say to grow a backbone. But in my opinion, if you grow a backbone, you lose a lot of that emotional edge that you can put into your writing. So you know what? Cry about the bad review. Drink a glass of wine and start again. That’s all you can do. I mean, one of the funniest things I like to tell my authors is, if you look up on Google reviews for Stonehenge there, and it’s got, like, an average 2.5 at least right now, a 2.5 to a three-star review, don’t henge, not enough. Rocks, that was, that was one of the reviews. So, look at it that way. There’s going to be people out there who are going to hate and all you can do is keep going, because for everyone that does, there’s 10 that don’t. So it’s easy to say, to grow a backbone, sometimes you get a little bit more maybe lax, you get a tougher skin out of it. But that’s, that’s what always scared me was, you know, getting getting people who who would hate the book, or worse, yet, nobody would read. And I think about that every day, and I think about all my, my new video authors, who we have and how they’re going through that right now. And I tell them the same thing, you’re, you’re going to get bad reviews, it’s going to happen, but you’re going to get great ones, and you’re going to build great readers too. That’s, that’s what I feared the most. And I think a lot of what they fear the most. You know, rejection and failure, but, you know, failure is just like success. What are your goals? Yeah, you know, I’ve got hundreds of awards behind me, you know, and I have wonderful readers. And I look at where I am now, and I think of the me that I was at 20 years old, and there’s no way I would have thought this. So look, look at it that way, and just keep going.
Emma Plutnicki 17:43
Yeah, that must be pretty cool to look back on. But has there been a significant project that you’ve worked on throughout your career that really stands out as kind of the pinnacle of your creativity, or just one project that has had a significant impact on your life? I
Speaker 1 18:02
don’t know if there’s one project in particular, because especially for an author, it’s the little things like, oh my goodness, USA Today reviewed me, or I just won this award, or I’m a finalist in this one, or you collaborate with other authors sometimes to write a compilation and anthology. Do technology, I don’t, I don’t think there’s one particular project in particular, you know, in particular I go around, on average, it’s usually about twice a year, once a year now to those math, math author book signings that are usually hosted by bloggers or event companies, and you made some really great authors and publishing professionals at those writing conferences, depending on your genre, like romance. Has the Romance Writers of America, The Mystery Writers of America, have malice domestic I can’t think of all of them right now, but you know, the horror Writers of America, or the horror Writers Association, there’s a ton of them out there. As a matter of fact, one of my other really big pieces of advice is to join a writer’s group, because they have publishing professionals, editing professionals, cover design professionals, indie authors, traditional authors. And you’ll learn a lot by going to conferences. And some of them are virtual. Some of them are in person. I remember, I think, probably my most pivotal moment that I can think of is I had written and published two or three books with some small press before this happened, and I had written this book, and it was very emotional, it kind of bordered, bordered on romance and women’s fiction, but it was a romance, and one of my author friends who I met at a conference, um. I had said a virtual conference, I had said, you know, why don’t you try submitting it to my agent? I’m like, I don’t know. Okay, let me try. Because, you know, I had hit up hundreds of agents before in some of these previous books, and I didn’t have the reader following. I didn’t have the experience. Most of them didn’t pick me up. You know, good, positive, you know, responses, but not, not anybody willing to take that. So, I did. I submitted it to her agent. She loved it, and that was my first math market contract. That was my first I’m in every bookstore, and that was with Berkeley slash penguin. And that, that to me, I think, was my most to date, eye opening and pivotal experience that I had, because not only did I get a mass market contract and these books were everywhere, it was a two-book deal, but these books were everywhere. I learned a lot of marketing from them, you know, little, little things. And so to be honest with you, I think my other books outsold those two books 10 to one, which I find incredibly funny, but I met some really great people, and then from there, that happened to be the same that was in 2015 that happened to be the same year that our wa was having their big conference In Manhattan, and I had never been to New York, and here I was with these advancements and this awesome opportunity. And so I went, and it was I met hundreds more people that I never would have met otherwise. And I still have people to say, like, I remember, I remember we were, you know, doing this, or, I mean, you meet a lot of great people doing that. But for me, I think that was my pivotal moment. Because to me, that was my, I made it moment. You know, I have got an agent. I’m on bookstore shelves. To me, that was my, I made it moment. So that would probably be the one that stands out the most.
Emma Plutnicki 21:57
Yeah, that’s pretty special. So now, a typical day, what does that look like for you? Do you spend a certain amount of time in your day writing? Are you more on the publishing side? What does a typical day look like?
Speaker 1 22:10
It depends on what contracts I have for my writing. At the time, roam pros, eats most of my time, and I’m happy to do it. I mean, I love what I do, but to be honest with you, the commute from my bedroom to the coffee pot to my first-floor office and the house is horrible. I like to, I like to tease my fiancé all the time that you know, yeah, yeah, you have to go out to work, but my commute is horrible, yeah, I have to be honest with you, right? We do have two dogs, so there is traffic. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. I mean, it’s all joking aside, I’m literally living my dream. I wake up when I feel like it, though it’s usually at six o’clock in the morning. I check on my authors, I check on our social media. I post but it’s a big balance, because, you know, here I have all of these responsibilities, and I don’t want to let my authors down. So, there’s, there’s that, and then I have my own books to make sure I maintain my readers, and I’m still following that dream, and I do still have many foreign translation contracts that I fulfill every year. So what I, what I like to do is start out with, you know, something slow in the morning, I always do our social media accounts, make sure we’re posting, doing things, checking email, and then from there, I like to get into whatever edits we have, sitting and waiting for our authors. Make sure everybody’s doing okay. We’re ahead of schedule, and I’ll usually do two to three hours of writing in the late afternoon before. You know, everybody gets home from school and work and everything else, but sometimes when my deadline supersede that, we have two interns who are amazing, who helped me out when we get backed up, and two other editors besides me, though, and one of them an author, the other one’s a blogger. So, I mean, they’re all in business. They get it. We try to make sure that we have a balance between work and whatnot, but it’s hard, you know, like yesterday, we just had a family party, our first one since Christmas, and I was like, oh my gosh, I have so much to do. But yeah, sure you’re Yeah, you have to make sure
Emma Plutnicki 24:25
We maintain that, because I’m sure working from home doesn’t make it easy to separate the work from just your normal day-to-day life, and I’m sure creativity strikes at different times of day and night. So how are you able to kind of have time for your work, and then also have time for yourself. It’s
Speaker 1 24:43
really difficult. You have to be very detail oriented, you know, I have a number of my writers who have day jobs, and then they write, you know, at night, which is what I used to do. And for me, I. I’ve always been obsessively organized, would probably be a good way to put it. So, I have schedules. My schedules have scheduled, and those have posted notes that have their own post it notes. So, I follow a schedule, and I make myself follow a schedule, because if I can’t do that, then things go cray. Cray. So I definitely, I definitely follow its schedule. It’s very difficult. My well and my kids are all three boys. I have teenagers, and they, they have known since they were little that, you know, when mommies in her office, she’s working, yeah, you know, distractions are very common, especially when you’re working from home. So, but there you just, you just have to set boundaries and stick to them and a schedule and stick to it, especially if you’re working a full-time job away from, away from your writing career or your, you know, publishing aspirations. A lot of a lot of people feel really bad because they go to three days without writing or typing something on a page, but you can’t fix a blank page, so always try to, I mean, even if it’s getting up a half hour early before your day job and just typing a few sentences, what I used to do when I worked outside of the home with I would, I had this notebook that I took with me, and I shoved it in my purse. But whenever I had an idea in the middle of the day, I would write it down, or during my lunch, I would write, you know, bring your laptop and type some things out, or things like that. And, you know, sticking to a schedule like that, like, say, nine to five, and then you get home, you eat dinner with your family, or whatever it is you normally do, set aside one hour and do that one hour, and then keep the rest of that for your family, you know, or you have a three day weekend. It’s a really hard balance, right? I mean, writers probably have one of the best and toughest jobs, because we’re not often taken seriously, like, oh, I should write someday. Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2 27:06
Yeah, it’s hard. Yeah, no, I’m
Speaker 1 27:10
sure. And then I mean, what the other thing too is, what other job out there, unless you’re they and, you know, an actor or a journalist, what other job is there where, where your day is done, and every single person in the world can leave a review about you on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. I mean, it’s, it’s cutthroat. I mean, imagine going into your job at, let’s say you’re a mechanic, right? Imagine going to the shop every day and you’re changing brakes and oil and transmission work, and then every person whose car you fixed then went on to the largest platform on the planet, which is the Amazon and says, One star. Yeah, I didn’t like his overalls. Yeah. It happens that’s
28:03
so, think. Yeah,
Emma Plutnicki 28:05
I can imagine you must have to have tough skin to, you know, brave those reviews develop
Speaker 1 28:12
it. But, you know, a dream is a dream, and that’s just one of the things that a lot of people need to take into consideration. Yeah, yeah. A lot of authors don’t even read their reviews. For that reason. They don’t even look at one of them. I will, on occasion, pop onto Goodreads or Amazon booktuber, but I try not to anymore. It’s just not
Emma Plutnicki 28:35
working. Oh man, oh my gosh, yeah. I don’t know if I could, uh, restrain myself from not reading them. But, um, perfect. Well, just as we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to add about your career advice or anything like that?
Speaker 1 28:51
Follow your dream? I mean, it’s, it’s the cheesiest, most cliche thing out there on the planet. But it’s true, my dog, but, you know, learn your craft, join some writer groups, meet a couple of writer friends, and they don’t have to be in your area. I mean, in this day and age, you know, zoom, or, you know, Facebook chat or whatever. You know, learn your craft. Meet, meet some other authors. Learn, learn how it’s done. Because we do get a lot of authors who don’t even bother reading our submission page before they send it to us, and I’m sorry, but if you can’t take the time to at least think about what we need from you to submit, then that tells me you’re not going to, you know, be open to the other things that need to be done later on. So, you know, when you’re submitting to agents and publishers, you know, follow their guidelines, because every single one is going to have something different. Take the time, you know, breathe. Think about what your goals are. You know, it doesn’t hurt if you’re just starting. Out in college, or coming out of high school, going into college. If this is something that you want to do, you know, definitely think about the degree that you are earning and how you can get into that world, earning a paycheck while you’re working on your book, while you’re working on submitting and any of things like that. That would be my best advice. But don’t, don’t give up. I mean, I had, I want to say it was something like 8182 agent rejection before I got mine. And yeah, and I’ve had a number of small presses all the way up to big five rejections, and most of those came from the series that got me the Spiegel bestseller in Germany, and lots and lots of money afterwards. So, you know, it’s Do it, do what’s right for you. Don’t give up, you know. And it’s, you know. I mean, think about it. Stephen King threw his first manuscript in the garbage, and his wife pulled it out. Look where he is. Don’t give up, you know. And when you’re stuck, move on to something else. We’re authors, we’ve always got something going on in our heads. Move on to something else. Don’t feel dejected, because this is one of the toughest markets to break into, but you have many other options, you know, and follow, follow those dreams and keep going, because, again, a reader can’t read a blank page, so you can do it.
Emma Plutnicki 31:37
That’s great advice. Thank you so much. I really appreciate the time and words of wisdom. I’m sure this will definitely help some people who want to become authors in the future. So, I really appreciate it. Thank you. Bye.
“Try to get as many different kinds of experiences as possible. I think a wealth of experiences is really valuable.”
Theresa Marchi was the Director of Strategic Marketing at the charity United Way of Greenville County. She takes a holistic approach to marketing, working to engage the community in different ways.
Interview
Transcript
Theresa Marchi My name is Theresa Marchi, originally from Connecticut.
Emma Plutnicki Perfect. And can you tell us what you do for work, and where you’re currently working from?
Theresa Marchi Yeah, I am the Director of Strategic Marketing here at United Way of Greenville County. So located in the upstate of South Carolina, Greenville.
Emma Plutnicki Perfect! How long have you been working there?
Theresa Marchi Yeah. I’ve been here two years.
Emma Plutnicki Okay. And your official job title is…
Theresa Marchi Director of Strategic Marketing.
Emma Plutnicki Perfect. Well, how did you end up in the job that you have today?
Theresa Marchi
Yeah, so I got my degree from Coastal [Carolina University] in graphic design, in 2017. And then from there, I had been working at an ad agency in Myrtle Beach, which was a fantastic opportunity. But at the time, my dream job was to create college athletic spaces. And there was a company in Greenville, South Carolina that was doing that, and I was just obsessed. And so at the time, that was my dream job. And I wanted to go into that field, because it kind of blew my mind that there are designers that design beyond this flat surface of logos and videography and pieces like that, elements of advertising like that. And they really are almost like engineers and architects where they design a whole facility, and they help tell a brand’s story, an athletic’s story about what makes their space special, and why athletes should be part of their program and the history and the legacy that they get to be a part of. And so that was really intriguing to me, that kind of storytelling.
Theresa Marchi
And I had moved up to Greenville to accept a role there as a designer and learned a lot. What helped me at the time was, the Athenaeum Press program at Coastal Carolina had, I had been part of helping develop a museum exhibit. And so this company in Greenville, they’re called Jack Porter, they saw that on my resume, and they were like, “you already have, like some of these skills that a lot of students don’t.” So that really helped me start thinking about design differently and storytelling, a lot different than, I think, a lot of other designers at the time. And from there, I just got really interested in marketing as a whole, how we’re telling stories and this holistic piece of the journey that people learn about a brand and get engaged in it. And so I had an opportunity to work at United Way of Greenville County, I started as a graphic designer here, and just asked a lot of questions, and then kind of seeing that potential and that, like, quality in me, and poking holes in things and trying to understand and build something really meaningful and intentional with our community, they asked me to take this role, which is, takes a holistic approach to that to our marketing efforts. And we just figure out how to engage the community in different ways. So kind of how I got to this role.
Emma Plutnicki
Nice, amazing. So nowadays, what do your day to days look like? What are you responsible for? And what are you working on?
Theresa Marchi
Yeah, so, day to day looks a lot different than it did when I first started. So as a designer, I used to be in the art aspect of things and making sure that the art pieces kind of resonate and tell the story that way. And now my role is a lot more different, and it’s a lot more planning, and it’s fighting for the whole year of all of these touchpoints that we’re going to have with community members, special segments, doing a lot of data interpretation. So collecting all the data, what’s reaching our donors, what’s, what’s not, what’s reaching our community, what’s not. Figuring out what’s working, a lot of A/B testing, and just trying to figure out the best messaging positioning for different groups to try to engage them in the work. And a lot of the times we see that there’s a very high alignment that community members have with our work, they just don’t know it, they just don’t know we do. And so part of my role is really figuring out what’s the best avenue to reach them, and to get them plugged into our work.
Emma Plutnicki
Nice, that’s awesome. So you mentioned the project at the Atheneum Press. And is there any other like defining moment in your journey so far, whether it’s at your job now, or just a project that you’ve worked on, that kind of sticks with you as something like meaningful to you?
Theresa Marchi
Yeah, I think there are a lot. I work in a nonprofit space. And so, truly, what’s been special is seeing pieces come to life and see– it sounds cheesy, but the lives that are being changed because of it. So one of the projects that we have here at United Way is this event called School Tools. And it’s hundreds of people lined up starting at four in the morning, and they will line up and get a backpack full of school supplies. And it’s not just school supplies that are just from all over the place. We work with Greenville County schools to make sure that these backpacks are full of items that the students are actually going to need. They’re organized by elementary school, high school, middle school and families who come and get backpacks they need. And I think you know, there are a lot of really great pieces of my job, but the moments where I get to go to School Tools and see the work really play out and people that have been waiting there since 4am to get a backpack and the lives that are changed and the other resources that they’re connected to, that has been really special and really fulfilling in my work. Because when I was growing up and realizing I sucked at biology, I just was like, “What am I going to do with my life? I want to make something matter in our community, in this world, I want to have a purpose. And I’m good at art. And so, how does that translate into the work?” And I think I’ve really found that here working in the nonprofit space and using the skills that I do have to help change lives. So that’s been really special to me.
Emma Plutnicki
Amazing. So working in the nonprofit, is it challenging? Like, what challenges do you face that you might not see in other areas?
Theresa Marchi
Yeah, I think what’s so challenging being in marketing in a nonprofit space, compared to the for-profit, is usually there’s a product in the for-profit. You are selling, you know, a better experience or something. And in the nonprofit space, what we’re selling is not tangible. So it’s really laying into the storytelling, the impact, the strategy of how we’re doing this work that is most important in this space. Whereas with the for-profit side, you can use a lot of different marketing tactics to sell a product, and its physical, and someone’s going to get it. And then the other side of it in the nonprofit space is, it’s just a lot more complex, and trying to find these allies and cheerleaders for your work, and really figure out how to engage them, it just really feels like a completely different ballgame. You use different kinds of tools. Some things are very similar from a marketing perspective, but I think it’s, to me a lot more challenging, in a good way.
Emma Plutnicki
Yeah, that makes sense. So you also mentioned that one reason that kind of helped you in the job process was having that real world experience. Are there any other skills that an applicant should have that would increase their chances of getting a job in a field similar to yours?
Theresa Marchi
Yeah, I think, you know, in the marketing field, one of the skills, traits, that I find most valuable, especially where I’m at in my career is curiosity. And it sounds, I think, overused, but truly, when you’re in marketing, I really feel that everything needs to have a reason, especially in the nonprofit space, when you’re having to utilize resources very intentionally, I think curiosity, trying to understand why we’re doing these things that we’re doing, how is it going to further the mission, what is that experience that people are going to get when they interact with our brand, with our work? That is something that is really hard to find in others, in candidates? And if you really want to be a standout, for me, it’s it’s that attitude, that, you know, always striving for more. Asking questions. And I think as you get into adulthood, and the space is is different from college, it’s not as like, safe, still keeping curious. And asking the questions and trying to make the work better, is really something that I second guessed a lot early in my career that I just at this point, I just am who I am. I’m going to ask the questions. And that’s how I think you can make the most difference in your your work.
Emma Plutnicki
Yeah, perfect. And within South Carolina, have there been any programs or organizations or events that you’ve gone to that have helped like progress your career, either that’s like through making connections, through specific clubs or groups or organizations? Can you think of any events like that?
Theresa Marchi
Yeah, I think there are a lot. So to begin with, rotary was a very pivotal organization that I was involved with in college and transitioned into, you know, my adulthood and real girl career. And that had really helped me network with a lot of people that got me into the rooms where I had a lot more options than I probably normally would have. And I just think taking the leadership opportunities in rotary helped me work through managerial challenges and working with others that kind of helped push my work forward some more. Another one is the association, or American Marketers Association, that one is full of resources and tools that has really helped me and kind of shaped my strategy process and what those materials look like, and the training opportunities. That’s been huge. And then, recently, I’ve started working on my MBA, and that’s kind of furthered a lot of my thinking, as far as marketing goes, and kind of the business end of things. So those are a few areas that have worked really well for me. I’m a big learner. So I’m game for all of it.
Emma Plutnicki
Yeah. Perfect. So just as we wrap up, do you have any advice for people who are trying to get into your field?
Theresa Marchi
Yeah, I think try to get as many different kinds of experiences as possible. I think, you know, one thing that, silly in hindsight, that has actually helped me a lot because it was just a different experience, was I spent the summer working for Chant 411 [the university’s information desk] on campus. And it was an opportunity where I learned all about customer service and, that you don’t use the words “I don’t know” you just kind of use other language to kind of work through it. And I think I use that all the time. And I think about that training and really just kind of diversifying your experience in that way is really helpful. Because then when you step into a situation, especially a work situation, you can see different perspectives and new things that you wouldn’t have brought to the table, had you just solely focused on one thing. So I think a wealth of experiences is really valuable.
Emma Plutnicki
That’s great advice. And is there just anything else you’d like to add about anything?
Robert Taylor is a graphic designer for RallyUp, a tech platform supporting nonprofit fundraising. With over a decade of experience, he blends technical skill with emotional storytelling to design brands and campaigns that inspire.
Interview
Transcript
Robert Taylor
I actually am lucky enough to work from home. So I’m a remote worker, I am a graphic designer for a company that provides fundraising software for nonprofits, 501 C organizations, and things of that matter. So it’s a really cool job to design for a company that actually works towards helping a community.
Sara Sobota
Absolutely. Great. How long have you been working there? And what is your official job title?
Robert Taylor
So my official job title is Graphic Designer. I’m one of two designers on the team. I handle more of the marketing side designs and the other designer does the app side of the designs. And in two months, I will officially be working there for three years.
Sara Sobota
Wow, that’s great, congratulations.
Robert Taylor
Thank you.
Sara Sobota
And it’s been remote the whole time?
Robert Taylor
It has been remote the whole time, actually, yes. They used to be based out of Arizon, and then, it actually happened just before COVID hit, they decided to go remote. And I actually have co-workers that are not just all over the country, but actually all over the world. The other designer is in China. I have co-workers in Canada, my actual boss, he was previously in the UK traveling around. So it’s really cool to actually be working with people that are just all over. Different perspectives, different insights. It’s really cool.
Sara Sobota
That sounds amazing. How did you end up in this field? And how did you hear about it?
Robert Taylor
So I always liked art as a kid. But I knew that when I was in high school, I wanted to go for art, but I also wanted to be smart, and go for something that I knew was a little more secure. And I was kind of a techie kid, I actually grew up when MySpace was a thing. And I would actually use HTML code and edit my MySpace, not knowing that that was actually a job in of itself. I thought it was just something fun that I was editing my profile. And through doing that, I ended up picking graphic design as my career. CCU [Coastal Carolina University] had actually just created that as a design program, one year before I started, so I was the second graduating class for graphic design, which was pretty cool. But I basically kind of picked that, because I knew that it would be a little more secure. And again, it was more techie. I really, at the time, thought the website design was kind of cool and different, so that piqued my interest.
Sara Sobota
Yeah, that’s awesome. I don’t think I asked where you are from originally.
Robert Taylor
Um, so actually, I’m from Conway, South Carolina. So CCU has been a big part of my life, not just for me, going there, but actually my mom went to school there, I actually got to see her graduate and walk across the stage. And then she actually, eventually started to work there. She’s been working there for 18 years now. And so she’s an alumni, and then I decided to go to school there. I actually, soon after graduating, worked there as well. I worked at CCU as a student worker in the Student Accounts Office all four years, graduated and continued to work there for a few more years. So I actually ended up working at Coastal for eight years. It was really great, as well, to kind of be so involved. And then I eventually did leave to start working in the field that I got my degree in.
Sara Sobota
Do you live in Conway now?
Robert Taylor
No, actually, I live in Wilmington, North Carolina. So just about an hour and a half north, and not too far.
Sara Sobota
Yeah, that’s awesome. Okay, great. What does a typical workday look like for you? Can you walk us through one, if there is a typical day?
Robert Taylor
Yeah, it’s fairly typical. So I actually, I’m working in our guest bedroom right now, is where I have my desk so that I’ve got a bit of privacy. So you know, normally I wake up, I pour my iced coffee, I take a minute to sit on our balcony and just kind of relax and have some separation before jumping into my workday. Working from home is really convenient, but you do have to kind of make sure that you have a little bit of separation. There was a point where I was just waking up and coming straight to my desk and sitting down, not the healthiest of habits. So I’m making sure that I have that break in the morning. Then after I get my iced coffee, I sit down and then I firstly just go through my daily work emails. I actually do freelance on the side as well as my full time job with RallyUp. So I just take about 30 minutes in the morning to go through my emails and plan my day. Depending on the day I will have calls with my direct supervisor. I’m technically part of the marketing and communications department, how we’re structured, so we’ll have a few meetings throughout the day where we’re talking about what emails are going to be going out, what new web pages I need to create, any other large marketing campaigns. And then also depending on which clients are using our platform, I will sometimes also create graphics for them, to make sure that their fundraisers are successful, and just kind of stand out and really any other promotional materials they may need.
Robert Taylor
So really, my morning is just setting up for whatever I need to kind of do that day. And it can just be an array of those different things, which is really nice, because as a designer, myself, I like to dabble in a bit of it all. So sometimes I might design a one pager print material. So I’m designing that specifically in Photoshop or Illustrator or InDesign, because I know it needs to be in a print format, CMYK for printers, and then other times, I’ll be designing a web page. And I use a program called Figma for that, which is just specifically digital only, and it works in pixels, and I can relay that to our developers really easily. So yes, I get to work through a whole range of projects, which is nice.
Sara Sobota
Yeah, yeah. And then this goes back a minute, but was RallyUp a startup? Did it begin when you were hired?
Robert Taylor
It didn’t begin, but it was a startup. So they had been in action for six years? Previously, whenever I came on, so it’s still, in a way considered a startup, I would say.
Sara Sobota
Yeah, yeah. Okay. Was it challenging for you to find this career path or figure out how to apply your background to this task?
Robert Taylor
I wouldn’t say my specific job, because luckily, I’ve had other design jobs previously. So to be honest, I feel like where I’m at in my career, I’ve stair stepped each time I’ve moved from job to job, which is good. I mean, that’s everyone’s goal in life, I believe. But also, as a designer, I’m always looking to learn and have things to take away with each job that I’m at. Whenever I left my career at Coastal, you know, that was not doing something in the design realm, I was collecting tuition payments, which was far from it. And the first job I took after that was actually for a marketing agency in Surfside, and they had a big range of different clients as well. So I was doing similar things where, you know, social media ads, or Google ads, or print materials and stuff, but whenever I left that job, I think the one thereafter was actually my most pivotal career change.
Robert Taylor
I ended up taking a job at a branding agency, which is slightly different than a marketing agency in how they approach their clients and what their services are, they’re a little more, I’m gonna say picky, but specific in the clients they take on because I have found out that a lot of marketing agencies, it’s fast paced, which means you’re just turning around designs a lot. Whereas the brand agency, you are focusing a lot more on what you’re providing, which I think any designer actually would almost prefer because no matter how you work, I think that you put a lot of yourself into your designs that you’re creating. So it’s more personal. And so you want to make sure that when you’re giving that to a client, they’re appreciating that enough and understand the work that’s put into it.
Robert Taylor
So I ended up moving to the mountains, just below Asheville, I was in a small town called Hendersonville working for a branding agency there. And I learned a lot in that job role. And I can give them credit. Now that company was called WE•DO, WE•DO Worldwide, a brand agency. And that is actually where I learned how to fully build websites. When I was a student at Coastal, I learned a little bit about the HTML process, but a lot has changed in tech over the years. And while hand coding is still, you should still know HTML, most websites aren’t built from pure scratch anymore like they used to be. And so that is where I learned how to build websites through different builder platforms. And that completely changed my knowledge and my abilities. And to this day, I’m still using that knowledge because most of my freelance on the side is building websites and had I not switched careers, or well, switched jobs, I should say, I wouldn’t have learned that. So again, not saying switching jobs always makes you learn more things. But it was kind of a stair step to getting to where I’m at now.
Sara Sobota
So, what prompted you to move from WE•DO to RallyUp?
Robert Taylor
So, that was very interesting. I would have stayed with WE•DO as long as I could have, because I really loved the community. I was one of five other designers. So the job that I had right out of Coastal, for Banton Media, I was the only designer, which wasn’t bad, but I didn’t realize how much I missed working with other designers. So even when I was in classes, having the critiques was stressful as a student, but looking back was really needed. You get to see feedback and other people’s perspectives and stuff and I learned that it’s not just about being worried that someone’s going to tear your art apart, it needs to be constructive. And that’s usually what it always was, I think students do tend to worry a little bit too much about it. But again, that’s a learning and growing process.
Robert Taylor
But when I went over to WE•DO, I was, again, one of five other designers. So we would sit all the time and talk, like, if one person was working on a website for a client, and they felt stuck, they’d be like, hey, I need input. And we would all gather around, look at it and give insights. And again, it was such a learning process, which was really, really amazing. It’s, it’s kind of hard to get that out of, like, out of college, to be honest. If you’re getting a job where you’re the only designer, you feel like that’s all on you. And you have to kind of like self learn. So, but the interesting thing about WE•DO is that they merged with one of the clients that they had, actually one of their larger clients, and, which wasn’t a bad thing, it was the first ever time I’ve experienced a merger. And it was good, actually, it was a growing process. But the merged company was actually one that was a business, it was a startup that was trying to provide resources, local resources, for entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Robert Taylor
So that was my first experience, a, like, direct experience with a company that was trying to help individuals, help businesses. So, they were grant funded. And all of that happened during COVID. And so unfortunately, some of the grant funding was eventually running out. So they de-merged. And I went with the other company, so I was no longer with the branding agency, which was totally okay. And then, and then they, they eventually were running out of the grant funding. They were grant funded through, actually, all of the universities in western North Carolina, because apparently, a lot of universities have Small Business Resource Centers, which I had never heard of. I didn’t know that. Which was part of their, the reason they were starting their business was so many people didn’t know that the resources were out there. So they were trying to spread and share that knowledge.
Robert Taylor
And so my role, then, I became a single designer again, and that company was called Supportedly. And so, I became the Director of Design, there, fancy title, but I was the main designer, but I still had a lot a lot to do, I ran their CRM manager where I basically managed all of the 40,000 plus contacts that we would be emailing and making sure that our email campaigns would go out properly and not say the wrong names to the wrong group of people. So because it was the entirety of western North Carolina, so we had all the different groups that we would be emailing like Cleveland County, Catawba, just all the different ranges that were out there. And so it was really nice, actually, transitioning, while I still would have loved to work at WE•DO, because again, I would be on various projects versus just one company, it helped knowing that the purpose that that was driving that company was to help people. So anytime I was designing something, it wasn’t just to market a sale, they weren’t trying to sell and make money that way. Again, they were they were grant funded, they were just there trying to help. And so I really, really enjoyed that. And they luckily gave us a big enough heads up a few months out saying, “Hey, we are trying to get more grant funds, but we will, if we don’t, we’ll run out at a certain time.” And so I started, of course, unfortunately, hunting for jobs.
Robert Taylor
But since they gave us enough of a heads up, I was able, in this scenario, not many people can but in this scenario to be a bit more specific and picky where I was trying to apply. I know how the job market is right now, most people are just trying to get a job as they can. That is just a reality. But luckily, I was just trying to be a little more specific, especially in my, at my point in my career, I knew that I wanted to stair step up again. And then be more specific in finding a company that had a culture that I really enjoyed It’s really important, again, I know it’s not easy to find a company that’s like that. But the place that I work at now, they really, really strived hard and it shows to make a company culture where everyone is happy, everyone is appreciated. There’s no negativity and so, which not saying that’s the reason why I’ve been here as long as I have, but I wanted to find a company where I could stay for a while and just grow myself as well. I would have done that with WE•DO but again with the partnership and split, it just was a reality. And it was a big learning experience for me. And so, but, I was able to luckily find a company that really cared about that and I can tell in the interview process. They wanted to find someone first that fit, versus someone that could just do the job. And I’ve learned through different companies in the past that I’ve worked at, knowing in interviews that they ask certain things, what they actually mean and what they’re looking for. And vice versa, you know, me asking them to make sure that I’m going to work somewhere that I’m going to enjoy. And it’s not just a job. Sorry. Yeah.
Sara Sobota
Right. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. That’s amazing. Wow. Okay, great. It sounds like your career’s really had an arc that is in a good direction. Yeah. That’s great. Can you recommend any specific skills that an aspiring applicant should have to increase their chances of landing a role in your field?
Robert Taylor
I think, to be honest, what’s helped me the most, that I’ve noticed in my journey, is actually knowing a bit about coding and websites. But that was for my current job that I have, that actually was not even a requirement. It helped, but they use a developer to actually build them. There’s pages that I’ve worked on, when he’s been busy, that has helped. But knowing that understanding, I think, even if it doesn’t need to be applied, can help, because I can relay information to the developer or when I’m designing the pages, I have an understanding of what’s more doable. I mean, most things can still be created, but it might be really difficult, or it might take too long. And so understanding more of the reality of that.
Sara Sobota
Yes.
Robert Taylor
But I feel like most design can be learned in general. And so from my own experience, if I don’t know it, I can tend to YouTube it or find a Skillshare, or an online class that can kind of teach me. Most of the principles that are learned in school, I’ve been able to still just apply, you know, there’s basic principles of design. But at the same time, even those principles, I’m not saying they can be broken, but design is so subjective, that things change, I could want a design to be one way, but that doesn’t mean that it has to be that way to succeed or work in its role. And that’s, that would be one other thing that I guess would be a good mindset to understand is that internally, as a designer, working for a company, you know your company, and you know what you want the end user or customer to do. But when, I guess this, this technically would be a skill, it’s a learned skill to understand, really just putting yourself in their shoes, the customer or the users’ shoes to make sure it’s working. To make sure they understand it, because you might know how your application works. But someone that’s never used, it might not have a clue, they might not know that they can do all these different things. And so your role as a designer is not just to make something look pretty, sometimes it is, but most of the time, it’s actually serving a purpose.
Robert Taylor
And so understanding what the purpose is first, before you started design, I think is a good skill. Really, it’s an eternal, it’s a brain skill, it’s a mind skill, not necessarily a physical one. But that would be something that I think would be really good for designers to understand, jumping into a role. And this is more of a reflection point of view. But I think artists and designers, we compare ourselves to other people, a lot, other designers a lot, impostor syndrome, it happens no matter who you are.
Robert Taylor
But I, from a personal standpoint, have talked with other people that are trying to break into the design realm, and haven’t had a bunch of classes and/or gone to school for it. And they feel like they can’t be a designer because of that. And I, if anyone is watching these videos and think that I want to let them know that that’s not true. You can be a designer without having all these different courses. You don’t have to take a website design course to learn, and know, website design. I mean, you’ve got to find it from somewhere. But you don’t have to have gone to like college and specifically taken web design 101, 102, 105 to get to get all the way there. I’ll say this now. I mean, when I’m building websites, I sometimes forget how to do things. And I go right to Google. And I think a lot of people don’t realize that web designers, developers, we will do that. We’ll be like, “what is the code for that again? I completely forgot.” And Google comes in for the win, or YouTube, there’s, there’s resources out there. And so I really think that if anyone is trying to break into the design realm, they should try and use those resources because I’m going to say that back when I was in school, those resources were not necessarily there. I mean, YouTube was still brand new, where you would sit and if you had to upload a video it would take like five hours and and most of the videos on there were not help videos. They were just random things that people put out there, or music videos, and that’s how we would listen to music. But there’s so much information at our fingertips now that you can learn something, I mean, designers, you have to have not a natural eye for things, but that does help. But most of what graphic design is, is learning how to use tools to get the end goal and all of that can be learned for sure.
Sara Sobota
Yeah, that’s right. That makes sense. Okay, okay, great. Are there any local organ– first of all, I don’t know if I covered this before, what year did you graduate from Coastal?
Robert Taylor
2013
Sara Sobota
2013. Okay, I think that was something I overlooked. Are there any local organizations or programs that you recommend for aspiring creatives? Associations or professional groups or any events?
Robert Taylor
There are professional groups in Myrtle Beach. I’m not going to get the correct acronym, but I know that it’s like a youth in business, young business leaders, I think? Is one of the– now that one’s not specifically just for designers. But that is an overall one that would help, that is one that helps network people in the local area, which networking is always a good thing to do. And I have learned that over the years as well. The whole phrase, it’s not what you do, it’s who you know. I think it’s how that phrase goes, or at least that’s how I say it. And it’s very, very true. And in my career, that’s actually been something that’s helped with my freelance. I knew someone that works heavily with the Murrells Inlet marshwalk, that group of eight of the restaurants that’s right on the inlet, and I do their marketing and designs now. So I redid their website, they are about to do Fourth of July event coming up, and I do their posters and banners. And that’s been an ongoing thing. And so knowing that networked person has just helped with my career, because that’s just a steady stream of design work that I can have that I don’t have to like, go out and look for. That’s kind of just been something that’s come up in that. it’s come to me. Yeah.
Sara Sobota
That’s great.
Robert Taylor
And then on campus, I actually, I am hoping it’s still in play. But there was a club called SAS, Student Artists Society. And it had started the year before I was there. And then I became a member, its first year, or well, I guess, second year. And then I was the treasurer one year, vice president, and then president for I think two years or one year. And so that was a, just a student led organization in the art department where we would have various artists come in and speak and do like kind of smaller, like seminars and conferences, and then we would do also philanthropic things like bake sales, art, art building, and we also did a pumpkin painting or carving or designing contests, we would do that every year, and faculty and staff would actually come and buy those pumpkins. And so we would raise money for local organizations. We would also do, I believe we called it Empty Bowls.
Sara Sobota
Oh, my gosh, that’s still going on. Yeah.
Robert Taylor
Is it still going on? Good. Okay, so we, so I have to give credit to one of the professors, they came up with the idea. But we would do that every year. And then we would donate the profits to local food pantries, or there was an organization in Myrtle Beach, I’m trying to think of the name, street…
Sara Sobota
Oh, Street Reach?
Robert Taylor
Street Reach! Yeah, and we would donate money for that as well to help with the homeless. And we actually got to tour their facility one time where they showed us how they bring people in and not just have them for the night, they actually help with like the rehabilitation process and help them get jobs and things like that, and help them get on their feet or get like means of transportation and stuff like that. But that was, that was something that helped make more bonds outside of the classroom. Because you don’t, you’ll see other art majors in the hallways, but you don’t always have classes with them. And so that was a way to actually kind of get to meet other people that were in those classes. And same thing with that club. It was people that were in different levels, like different grades. So most of the time, when you’re in your art classes, you’re in with the same group that you’re going to graduate with, versus being in that club, you were in a range. So you know, when I was a senior we had freshmen that were coming in, and so it was great for them to like kind of learn, and mingle with someone that’s had more of the, more classes and things like that. It’s just great perspective. So that’s one that is very localized because it’s right there on campus, that they can join.
Sara Sobota
Yeah, good. Okay. I have like three or four empty bowls because I always go buy one.
Robert Taylor
Awesome.
Sara Sobota
Okay. Do you have any advice for current college students or pre professional young adults who are pursuing a career in the creative world?
Robert Taylor
Oh boy. I mean, I know I touched on some of that in previous questions because I know I just kind of like rattle on with with knowledge and stuff. But I think one of the biggest things, this is gonna sound so typical, but it’s just being confident. We’re our own worst critic. And starting out, it’s inevitable that starting out your your first and early designs are not going to be your best. But that does not mean that that’s where you’re going to stay. You’re going to grow. I mean, just the other day, I was redoing my online portfolio. And I went back and looked at some of my earliest designs, and I’m just like, wow, that was just horrible. But that’s okay. Because that’s where I started out. And if I hadn’t have started that I wouldn’t be where I am now. I wouldn’t have grown.
Robert Taylor
And I kind of, in a way, whenever I left Coastal, I took a leap of faith is what I’m going to call it with leaving a job that was comfortable, where I knew I could just keep doing it, doing it. But it wasn’t what I went to school for. And not just that, it was not what I enjoyed or had a passion for. And so if you’re a young designer, and you have a passion, go for it. It might not be easy, and it probably won’t be. But that’s not the point. The point is not easy. The point is to do the things that make you happy. And luckily enough, I have gotten to a point where, in my career, I am doing that. Now, yes, it is still a job. But I get to be creative in my field. And that is, I mean, that’s something that makes me happy. With, with projects that I have, even though there’s an end goal, I can still have kind of like free range of design, and how it should look.
Robert Taylor
So yeah, so like young designers starting out as well, try different things. You might think that you like one thing, and you actually find out that you don’t, or something else is a little more fun that you never knew. I mean, I still took regular art classes that weren’t design classes whenever I was there. And I ended up really loving watercolor. And that was something that was not something that I knew that I was going to pursue as a career. But it was something that helped me relax. So that’s always something good to find, too is something that you can separate from a work life kind of balance type situation, something that you can still find enjoyment in, that is not your every day to day tasks.
Robert Taylor
And this is another kind of random thing. It is still design related. That whenever I first started out, I had a teacher that loved type. And at the time as a student, I could care less about type. I was like, “Okay, it’s a word that’s nice.” And then something happened my senior year, I had him again. And we had a project where we had to create booklets, actual 3d printed booklets. And it was, I did mine on the Gestalt principles. And when type originated, I don’t know why I picked that one, I just did for some reason. And then during that project, it just, a light bulb just popped in my head. And I was like, “I get it now I understand type.” And I just started to really enjoy it. And had I not taken his class and had that project and really kind of like, tried to understand it, that wouldn’t have opened up and then that really became large for me because soon after I ended up taking a job, in the in the midst of graduating Coastal, I had some interesting back and forth where I did actually take a few jobs and then come back to Coastal a time or two. That was too difficult for me to explain, but I did ping pong a bunch. And luckily, I was able to come back each time to the exact same job in the exact same office. And it just worked out. They just had an opening and I was like, “Oh, I’m thinking about moving back.” But I did actually end up taking a job for a magazine. It was a golf magazine out of Hilton Head, South Carolina. And I had all of the knowledge now on typography and layout design and such from that course that I was able to get that job. And so yeah, if you’re a new designer, just take different classes, find out what you do and don’t like because you really might think you like one thing and then find out you like something better. So just try different things. Try new things.
“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.
