Thanks for tuning in to the Switch Pivot or Quit podcast. This week's Listen and Review of the Week comes from Samia Makado. Samia says, I greatly appreciate and enjoy this podcast. Not sure how I stumbled across it.
Yet, I'm glad I did. Lots of information, insight, and honest perspectives from each of the female business owners and creators. Thank you. Thank you, Samia.
Thank you for listening. Thank you for taking time out of your busy and hectic life to leave a review and rate the Switch Pivot or Quit podcast. If you would like an opportunity for your review to be read on this show right here that you're listening to, be sure to head over to iTunes and leave us a review. If you also love what you hear, it helps to spread the word when you leave a review and when you share the episodes that you really like, got value out of, and enjoyed with your friends and with your community.
Are you looking to do a little personal development work this summer to prepare you to succeed this fall? If so, head over to SwitchPivot or Quit.com and download your copy of the Switch Pivot or Quit Planner, which is an audio course filled with prompts, worksheets, and just straight up goodness that you're used to getting from me that will help you on this journey. It is a lifestyle guide to personal change for professional gain. It is that tool and that medium that you've been looking for that's going to help take you from where you are to where you want to be.
So head over to SwitchPivot or Quit.com and enroll in that workshop now. During the Switch Pivot or Quit chat, we talked to women that have successfully navigated through some of the plot twist years of life and are eager to share their stories and what they've learned in the hopes of inspiring, teaching, or making even the slightest impact by candidly owning their truth. Hey girl, hey, and thanks for dropping into the SwitchPivot Quit podcast. Candice Comple for the Girl Needing a Lifestyle Plot Twist when she's deciding if it's time to Switch, Pivot, or Quit.
I'm a Yana Angel and I am your host as well as Chief Encourager and Author. In order for you to hang out with us in this awesome space, all that's required for you to do is sit back, open your mind, and enjoy the show. On today's show, we're chatting with Kristen Turner, AKA Ms. Chris, a Texas-born big-hair creative entrepreneur based in Los Angeles.
She spent a significant amount of time in her early career working in the entertainment industry as a celebrity wardrobe stylist. After an appearance on the Today Show, Ms. Chris quickly became sought after as one of the top DIY lifestyle bloggers, slash YouTube influencer. Being a digital content creator who has worked with brands like Nordstrom Rap, Honda, Target, and more with over 6 million views on YouTube, Ms.
Chris made her mark delivering her own mix of affordable luxury and sass to viewers but has since transitioned to prop styling and creative direction. We're talking about her latest venture with Carpe Creative and digging into industry signs that let her know it was time to pivot. Okay, welcome to the show, Ms. Chris.
Oh, hello. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. Hot towel ready for our conversation.
Oh, nice, nice, nice. Okay, I need to go grab one. I'm just kidding. So let's dive in.
Let's start with your early years. What was your very first job? Do you remember what you were doing and maybe how much you were making? Oh, you mean my first, you have to pay taxes job or you're talking about like first job like when I was younger?
Either or, whichever one you think. My first job where I was given any responsibility I would say was babysitting for this lady down street for me. She had twins. I was like, I'm going to go out sometimes and I would watch the kids.
That was the first time I felt like I was ever left in charge, which is when I realized I like to be in charge. Now cut to my first job at school when I had to pay taxes, I was not in charge. I graduated from college in New Orleans and then I packed at my car and I moved to Los Angeles and I didn't have a job. And I applied, I was on at the time, like the easiest way to find a job was like Craigslist.
Like people were still posting like their decent jobs on Craigslist. I don't know what the Craigslist situation is currently, but I found a job on Craigslist at this PR agency and I was so excited to work there because they had leopard carpet. That was the highlight. Yeah, I went over there and I told my mom, I have to have this job.
They have leopard carpeting. That was the highlight. But that ended up being my first job in the public relations area out here in Los Angeles. Awesome, nice, nice.
And do I remember how much I made? No, but I guarantee you it was like nothing. Right, of course. Any early job in PR is nothing.
Well, quite honestly, any job in PR could be nothing unless you're like owning the PR firm or senior senior management. Oh, yeah. Okay. So as you know, on this podcast, we talk about the Switch Pivot or Quick Experience and you have had your own SPQ experience.
I love for you to start by sharing a bit about your story with our listeners. Well, yeah. So I am from Houston, Texas born and raised and I went to a nice school all my life, very small community. So when I was looking to go to college, a lot of my friends were going to these bigger schools and I died told me that no need to go to a smaller school.
So I ended up at Loyola University in New Orleans, which was great, nice small class sizes. But what that allowed me to do was to just sort of grow and learn and explore. I always say that I was born and raised in Houston, but I grew up in New Orleans. I feel like that was the first place that I really learned, like who I was, what I was into.
I was like, do you think that I own nobody could tell me yes or no? They could. They were like miles away in Houston. So I still was able to make my own decisions.
And that's when I felt like I really first hit this entrepreneurial spirit, which wouldn't revisit itself to me until years later. But a friend of mine, a music business was a big program down there. I was a communications major, but my friend was in the music business department. So she basically opened her own, like, I don't even know what you call it, like music events company and she would do like fashion shows and live entertainment and big down there in New Orleans.
So I would help her like canvas and like come up with flyers and go to Berlin. So we would do that some nights in New Orleans. And I think that was my first little bit of owning your first business and sort of having to make these types of decisions back. So after I graduated, I graduated actually the graduating class before Katrina.
So I had a job offer in New Orleans from this place that I was interning at. I wanted to move. I wanted something better. So I got my dad, I drove cross country to Los Angeles and that's where I ended up.
And the first job, like I said, was at this PR agency, a BTR agency and I sort of started there. Okay. And do you feel like that is where you sort of started to tap into your creativity? Because you went from PR agency to then like styling, personal styling and things of that nature, was that sort of like you feeling like, okay, styling is the way I'm going to be creative or PR the way I'm going to be creative at this point?
Well, at my first PR agency, part of my job was to help the stylists come in and do their pulls. So if you don't know anything about the styling world, most of the things that you see celebrities wearing are, you know, a loan or gifted to them. But when the loaning process happens through their PR agency, the stylist has to go into the agency, pull whatever it is they want for their client. And then there's usually some, you know, assistant making $2 an hour.
That would be me writing everything up and batting it up and keeping track of it and letting you know, when will this be back? And like, you know, that whole process. So that was me. I felt like the PR agency was not creative.
I would actually cry all the time at my desk. Really? I just hated it. There was something about PR that I'm not very good at.
I just don't think I have the right personality to be a publicist. You have to be like helpful and you can't take no the first time around in the PR space. And if I called them a pitch historian, somebody was like, they're not interested. I'd be like, okay, cool.
Like I think I'm not interested. You know, but that's not, that does not make a good publicist. So I was happy or doing like interacting with the stylist and, you know, finding out products that are going on, helping them put clothes together for their clients. So I would feel like that was more like where I was, I wasn't only using my creative juices, but that was probably more of my alley.
And I realized that. And for my first PR agency, I went to another PR agency and did the same thing with better clients, more interesting clients and a better sort of like coworker or work environment. So I think I had work on there, but I still wasn't fully tapped into my creative juices until I left and started working full time for one of the stylists that I would do write up for and started working with her on her products. Right.
Okay. Nice. So I'm going to transition into going from working in the YouTube space, styling then YouTube space and now you're more doing creative direction. Tell us about that journey and sort of like the evolution from influencer, youtuber to creative director.
How did that sort of come about? Okay. Well, everybody, let's put the GPS on. Okay.
Just a little bit of a trip. Like, I'll wait, what I pivoted like a million times. Right. The other day my aunt left a comment on something I wrote on Facebook congratulating me on my ability to always reinvent myself.
I didn't know how to take that. I was a little bit of a, just a little bit. But I do, you know, you pivoted to where you're going to be. Where you find where you're supposed to be, you know, keeping in mind that every way along the journey, it's valuable in some kind of way.
You may not know exactly why then, but it'll show up later. Right. So I left the PR agency and I started working for the stylist and we were doing the great things we worked with the celebrity. We worked with Slina Gomez.
You know, we would do great advertising things. I worked, you know, I was freelance. I worked with a couple of stylists. I won stylists that, you know, was my soleo stylist that we did all of my celebrity stuff.
And another stylist that I would freelance with an assistant should do like a lot of advertising. So I really just ran the gambit in that space. Like I worked on every single advertising commercial, you know, CD shoe, like just great, great stuff. And while I was styling though, because I did need to tap into my creative juices, that's when I started my blog back that was called Blitter and Glue.
And it was a DIY like craft lifestyle blog. So I was posting on there and not only thinking anybody was reading it because I'd asked my mom if she saw something I posted and she said no. So I was like, well, my mom's not reading it. Like nobody's reading it.
And so one day I started getting like outreach from press asking me part of like these DIY roundups. It's kind of at the beginning of the DIY craze. So anytime there was a roundup, it was like myself and like five or six of the same girls sort of included. So I started getting good like press and detraction.
I was on the Today Show. I did some stuff at Market Steward. Like just a great traction right off the bat. So probably about a year or two years and to still like wardrobe styling and doing my blog, I decided that I would give this influencer thing full time a go.
And so that's when I really started focusing on that and not to my sort of adding a lot of YouTube into my programming over there. And that YouTube really took off. And I was doing great collaborations with great brands that I was interested in into. And that's how I was like making my living and living life and life was good.
So what would you say the skills were that you picked up maybe from your PR and your styling days that helped to serve you now in more of the creative direction kind of space? Oh, that's a good question. Because like I said, everything along the way, you know, prepares you for ultimately what you're doing. And sometimes you don't really know until you sit back and you say, oh, that's, you know, until you're in the moment, you're like, oh, I have that experience.
I think from now the PR perspective as everything is changing, like just everything in like what my PR experience has helped me do on my new creative agency is know how to approach publicist. I work with a lot of publicist now in regards to like new business stuff and getting the clients and working with their clients. And now since I know that game, I know where I can step in as the creative director and help like really boost and benefit their job by providing great visual assets for their clients. So that's been helpful there.
And then with regards to the styling, you know, I make stuff look pretty, like all day, you know, and part of styling was anything stuff look pretty, but also knowing where to go. Like I feel like I'm the go to girl. Like if one of my friends needs to get X, Y, and Z, they call me and I'm like, oh, you got to go here. Oh, I got to go here, you know.
So that part of having those relationships and figuring that out definitely helps in my art directing, my creative drafting for sure. What do you think would have been useful to know before embarking on your current career? Well, business having to do with money, planning, financial planning, business and plans, taxes, like all of the things that I used to literally be petrified of, I would not check my bank account for like weeks because I didn't want to see the number that was in there. And like a lot of people have that fear, you know, like money can be petrified.
But when you own your own business, and especially when you're working on producing other people's projects and they've entrusted you with their money, well, you might want to check your bank account several times a day, you know. Yeah. And so that's definitely been a process to learn. But I think I'm getting better at it.
Things are constantly like evolving and in this content creation space and influencer space. What made you feel like it was time for you to sort of make this pivot into more of the creative direction? Well, you know, I don't know if they told you, but blogging is dead. Yeah, I got the memo.
No, it's not dead. It's not dead. It's not dead. Like I always say that.
Like I joke with people, I'm like, blogging is dead. Like you should be dead. Like influencer space is dead. But it's not.
And it works for some people still and it's great. But I will say this. I will say that I felt like it was oversaturated. I felt that the way I wanted to produce content and what I wanted to create, I was like stuck in some boxes.
It's like the weirdest thing ever because I'm a creative, right? I always prided myself on being just that creative. And I felt like I wasn't allowed to be a creative when I was doing my creative stuff, you know. You have to sort of produce things, content, you know, you have to promote stuff and present it to like the audience in order for these brands to like pick up, you know.
And then you get a brand deal and I really felt like I was, you know, a paid, it was a paid advertisement, which is actually what it was. But, you know, I was so lucky. I literally only worked with brands that I liked, you know. Like I was never one of those girls.
You would never see me doing something. Like one time I got pitched to do something with makeup, like makeup brushes and makeup jewels. And when I tell you I own like three pieces of makeup and I put everything all in my finger. I was like, this is great money.
But I was like this. It just doesn't work for me. So I was lucky in that regard, but I still felt very contrite. And I still felt honestly like sad and depressed, like my lifestyle.
It wasn't making me happy to be doing what I'm doing. And for all intents and purposes, I could go back to my PR job and cry every day at work, you know, not saying no crying every day. It's a little dramatic doing my influencer stuff. I'm just saying I didn't feel like I was living my past life, you know.
So I realized that I need to make change. And this was the personal thing I was making, a personal decision I was making. So when I say vlogging is that it's not that it's working for some girls and some girls. I'm not following my grand day out there killing it.
And Bravo. And I hope that continues as long as it can for them. But I was able to see the writing on the wall, how the industry had changed, how brands were approaching things differently, how the ask were becoming bigger, the money was becoming less, and also how I as Kristin Turner, an individual, wanted to live my life. And I didn't want to live my life tied to my phone and my Instagram and the algorithm and you know, clocking how many views or when was the right time to pose.
Like honestly, I could care less. So I had to make that realization with myself. Like if you could care less about keeping up with the stuff that I had to be kept up with in order to be the best influencer, maybe you shouldn't be. So do you feel like something changed in you from a personal aspect that made you say, you know what, the things that I value maybe aren't in line with the kind of work that I'm producing in this influencer space?
Like changed as in like all of a sudden I'm enlightened and I'm some different, better person than I was when I was doing it. No, I wouldn't say that. But changed in the way that like I realized like, okay, do I want to be doing what I'm doing now is setting myself up for the type of person that's like I would have 10, 15 years from now, what I'm doing now, a, the type of person I want to be doing and be like what I'm doing is that actually setting me up. And the answer was no on both of those.
Like I said, I didn't want to have to personally be the head of a company that worked for me to get a check. I had to put on my eyelashes and my extensions and go out there and do my dance, you know. And then from a business perspective, I just didn't see how that, how being like the one person brand face was something that I wanted to turn into a scalable business. Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm.
You know, that's important to recognize and sort of understand and act off of when you start to recognize those feelings. Why do you think so many people have a hard time honoring signs or the writing on the wall or the personal pushes to sort of pivot? Why do they delay on pulling the trigger? And I'm not asking you in the sense that I think you have the answer as the spokespersons for the people of the world.
But we know and you and I have had these conversations. We know that sometimes people have a really hard time pulling the trigger, even if they see the writing on the wall, that maybe they need to start to pivot or they need to start considering other things to do. Why do you think people have a hard time with that? Especially in this influencer space or bloggers space or, you know, the social space.
Right. I think it's kind of a multilayered answer and I think every person is different just based on who they are, what they have going on in their life. I will say I see sometimes that people are afraid to like fail and just because, I mean, not people are afraid to fail. I think that's common denominator for most of us.
And sometimes I think especially when you've been living a life that's been so visible outwardly, you know, stopping, switching, making a major pivot could be seen to others as failure and that doesn't feel good. You know, it ain't going to look good. You know, how do you spend that? How do you position that?
Like, you know, that's probably like the last thing. So, you know, if you're feeling like, oh, yeah, I need to make you start thinking about, you know, my next plan, my next pivot, you're afraid of what it's going to look like to the outside, you know, people looking when the truth is like what you could be leaving behind to go and do could be your next big success. You know, so I think a lot of that sort of plays into people's minds when they start having these conversations with themselves. And then secondly, I think it's like a real, you want to be a real adult to say this isn't working, I need to step away or I need to go to the left or go to the right.
It's a lot easier in life to just stay doing. It's me. Like, you got your rhythm down, like, you know, be happy, but like, you know, sort of how this is going to work and how this is going to play out. And I've never been that person, like probably why I'm, you know, still single because I start feeling like it's not working from here.
I need to grow or I need to change. Like, that's exactly what I do. But some people, you know, it doesn't work for them like that, you know. Right.
Like it takes a moment sometimes when people get there and realize like, okay, like a short and I need to be on the path that makes the most sense for me, for anybody else, these are feels. Mm hmm. Now you've made your pivot with Carpe creative. If someone else were listening right now and they were entertaining making a pivot and they know that they're in a space right now where it's not serving them.
It's not the best. Maybe they're not even getting the best out of themselves. What advice would you give to them? What would you say to that person?
I think it's two things. I think you have to decide, okay, look, am I, you have to know your person now, okay? You have to know. Am I just?
I want to live life and make money, okay? I want to live life and make money and just be, you know, happy and comfortable. Then that's what you need to think about pivoting towards doing. You know, there's like those types of jobs.
Like if you're doing something that is not really so feeling, but like it's checking off all the other boxes for you, you know, like you can go on vacation, you can pay all your bills and I would say just keep doing that. You know, maybe pick up a hobby or find another way to be filled. But when it comes to this job stuff and people talking about making pivots and going and being like an entrepreneur or doing your own thing, like I really say, you know, you have to love doing this, you know, literally want to wake up every night or every morning. Hopefully you can find some sleep during the night.
Like it's a makeup every morning wanting to do this. And for me, my pivot was very natural. I liked being on set. I loved doing like my YouTube videos.
But what I loved most about them was putting the look together. That's my cat here. And they meet Davis Jr. This is not your time.
So on my sets, like I worked with speaking of cat, I did this great collaboration with Shiba one time, I did the Steve party. The best part for me was not being in front of the camera. It was literally when they gave me an hour to set up my tea party and we had tea cups hanging from the ceiling and swirls all over the place and just like this crazy Alice in Wonderland thing tea party. And I went to the producer and I said, okay, I'm done.
And literally everybody from like all the producers, like all the camera guys came back in to set and everybody's mouth was on the floor. They were all like, oh, and they were like taking their little phones out. It was like a room full guys, taking their phones out like snap in these pictures. That made me so happy, you know.
I knew, okay, you like, miss me with the influence or stuff. Even though it seems cool and whatever, what I really love is this art direction, creative direction and producing thing. And that is what drove me to make my pivot. And that's what gets me going every day, you know.
And any entrepreneur will say that you work 10 times longer and harder for yourself than you do for any boss you've ever had. And that is true. There are some days when I want to cry. There are some days when I think it's the best day of my entire life, you know.
But I love doing what I do so much. And I feel like it's so much like what I'm supposed to be doing that I roll with it, you know. Days I roll with it, the good days I roll with it. And that's my suggestion.
Like if you don't have the passion about whatever it is you're doing or thinking about doing like that, then you just stay doing what you're doing. Okay. They do it. Same as normal safety.
Safe route. Yes. Health insurance and being able to pay your bills and not waking up in the building. I think it'll call it a bit you.
Like those are all good things to have. Okay. Right. That's sort of my advice.
You know, when people ask about like doing their own thing or making their pivot like, you know, no shade at all. If you're just like, I'm going to stay in F is company and rise, you know, rise up the ladder and do whatever. Like I get it. Yeah.
You know, right. Before making your SPQ, did you have any fears? Oh, all the fears. Like, but all the fears in a good way.
I feel like because I was so, I was so terrified really. And because I thought this may be my last opportunity to switch pivot or quit, you know, I spent time really researching, putting together my plan, knowing my business backwards and forward, you know, and I've never really done that before with anything else. So yes, I was, I was nervous, but I also felt very prepared. Nice.
Nice. What would you say you value now out of all the spaces that you've been in your career and the things that you've seen and done. It seems like you've really tapped into self more. So what would you say that you valued now?
I would say the biggest probably self growth that I've had was finding out, let me see how I phrase this, how to let go essentially. I am a Leo. I am the first born. I got a lot of control issues.
Let's just say that. Okay. And as much as like the universe has a plan for you and what you should be doing and where you should be going, I thought it was like my job to dictate and to guide. And you know, I have an idea in my head of what purpose was going to look like.
And it took, you know, doing some work on myself and a little bit of life to realize that what's perfect for me may not necessarily be what I had imagined. And that at a certain point, you just can't control everything. And you just kind of got to let go and listen to your heart. And as long as you feel good about it.
And that's what you do. And you're going to get to where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there. Mm. Mm hmm.
Absolutely true. So like you said, you mentioned going back to that real quick, you had to do some personal work to sort of develop into this space and how you show up now. What can you share anything that you did personally to develop yourself, to move yourself further along in this journey and growth as being like the best person that you can show up to be? Yeah.
I mean, I put myself first and not like in a crazy way of like, you know, I don't know whatever that means when the people say it in cliche. Like I literally put myself first. Like I stopped feeling obligated to do stuff across the board in business and personal. Like if I didn't have any money in my account and really need to stay at home and like have a self care, like get in the bathtub, like kind of day to day, but get my friend was like, let's go day drinking.
Like I grew up and realized that it was fine to say no girl, I need to stay at home and like work on myself, you know. Mm hmm. I definitely learned to put myself first. And then, you know, I believe that therapy is a good thing.
Yeah. If the meditation is a good thing. There is a great thing. Like it handles is a beautiful thing.
You know, I just have to learn how to like mellow out, you know, like I'm such a control freak and I literally think I can control everything. Like even my own story, which, you know, I mean, I can tell you how many times I've had to rewrite that, you know, to have it, you know. Right. The universe said just kidding.
Exactly. So, you know, when you learn to sort of be like, okay, well then maybe I'll just be. Yeah. Then things work out.
Yeah. What's been the most useful piece of advice that you've received thus far in your career? Well, you know, I could give you something that's like heartfelt and meaningful, but the true thing that literally has helped me, especially now that I'm, you know, really only my own business and having to work with clients is when I was at my, my, my second PR agency, my boss emailed me at like 11 o'clock at night and I responded like a good eager, you know, assistant and the next morning I get to be office and she's like, thanks so much for responding. I'm almost sure now that anytime I email you at 11 o'clock at night, you will respond.
And it's like, no, I just happen to be laying in bed and like whatever. And she was like, then you shouldn't have responded because now you've said an expectation and our entire job here is to manage our client's expectation. And that has always stuck in my head, especially now that, you know, I'm working with clients and I always try and be the best for my clients, for people, my, you know, my friends, my family, but the truth is you have to be real with people. You have to be honest with people.
You have to, you know, manage their expectations. Like you can't promise something and then not deliver because it was an impossibility to begin with, you know. So I think about that all the time. I just try and be really honest and open and real with my clients.
And I think that's worked for me because in an industry where a lot of people will say they can do something and then don't deliver and then people wasted money and, you know, a lot of bad blood comes in that way. Like I just keep it 100 with everybody all the time, you know. Yeah. Yeah.
That's a good way to be. Wow. That's a, that is a really, really good one. And I think that's something that people should really pay attention to in terms of managing people's expectations and learning how you show up and how that can set an expectation for other people without you even realizing.
It's like almost unspoken. Just said to somebody everything that they think they need to know. So again, that creates a harder situation for you to win. Let's say there is a night at 11 o'clock at night that your manager emails you and you're not available and they really want you to be available because it's emergency and now that tone has been set and now you have a tip with your manager over something that could have been avoided.
I like that. Thank you for. Right. Well, yeah, of course, but I also think it's like deeper than that.
I also think like two things it leads to this story that we have about the glorification of busy, you know, like, oh, I was up to 11 o'clock answering emails and then we're just us in our life with our life work balance. Like something that important like her email that she sent was nothing I could have entered out the next day of office. No problem. It was nothing pressing.
You know? So it also was a great lesson to me in just like setting up boundaries and structure and realizing that I'm a human, I'm an individual and yes I may be an entrepreneur and yes I may work 80 hours a week but like I still have to make time for me. Yeah. Yeah.
And 11 o'clock at night is it. Okay. Me time right? Me time yes.
Yes. Yes. So circling back to just industry and sort of knowing how to navigate in your industry. How important do you think it is to pay attention to your industry trends?
And especially with relation to the social space and the social side of things because the work that you're doing now, it's not void of social. You know, it's very intertwined with social but the fact that you've decided to put yourself sort of on the other side of things, do you think that that was you paying attention to trends and tapping into understanding what's going on in a bigger picture? And so how important is it to do that as an individual to pay attention to the trends in your industry? I think the quote is and by I think I could totally be wrong.
What? I think it's defense, I believe the quote is defense when football games. I believe I'm from Texas and I wasn't sure later even collegiately I really should know this. I think it's defense when football games.
Well, I'm going to say that my quote is offense when football games which saying that I hear my mouth, I believe that's wrong. But for all intents and purposes, offense when football games. Okay. If you are making the moves, studying your industry, being aware of what's going on and you can be proactive about your next move, I think that is what's going to get you ahead.
If you're always on the defense waiting for a girl to make a move, you know, sort of lay back from the club to see where she's going and then you go and see exactly go that way. That's a real disadvantage. I mean, when you a football game, it's definitely not going to win you in this game of like business, you know? You have to be an innovator and in order to do that, you have to be reading the TV to people.
You got to be out there. And I felt like over the past like year and a half, year and a half is my really focus on being knowledgeable about what was going on in business, you know? Seeing who was doing what? Even it wasn't directly in alignment to what I was doing.
Even if it was like somewhere out in the peripheral of what I was doing, I was paying attention because at some point that was going to back to me, you know? Right. I read about now how, you know, when I got into the YouTube game, like businesses didn't really know like what was this all about, you know? And they had sort of all these agencies sort of saying, well, hey, come spend your big money with us and look at all these creators we have.
And these companies become in and just dump thousands and hundreds and thousands and millions in some cases of dollars. And that's just not the case anymore. And I probably picked up on that like months ago, you know? So I had to make the decision whether I was going to like pivot my YouTube business or, you know, ask myself real questions if these were the games I wanted to play, you know?
But that came from me just being aware. Right, right, right, right. So in terms of YouTube, how do you sort of feel like you want to, how do you want to show up in the video space? And the reason that I asked that question is because now we have IGTV, right?
So we have IGTV, a lot of people, the jury is out in terms of how they are going to use IGTV and you being a YouTuber in your former life. What are your thoughts on how to approach this video space and maybe even specifically with relation to IGTV? Well, let me start by saying for me personally, like I feel like I'm a little tired of creating personal content. I'm just honestly, and this is like a very honest moment, like I'm just a little burnt out and you may look at my channel and realize I haven't posted in the last six months and be like, how can you be burnt out?
But I don't know how long it's going to take before I get excited to create like, you know, personal content for myself again. But personally, I'm just tired. Yeah. There's all the things.
There's the YouTube and there's the Instagram and then what do you do for Pinterest and then Twitter and then what about your Facebook? Oh, now there's IGTV. Like there is a lot in order to be a really great influencer. Like, yes, IG believe that like you find your strengths in the social platforms and you do what you do well.
But I also believe that like you kind of got to be covering all the basics, you know? So what do you do? And especially if you're one person show like I was, you know, you don't have like an editorial team or whatever. Like how do you manage all that stuff, you know?
My suggestion for people and what I suggest to, you know, my clients and people that I work with is to diversify. So if you, you know, are on IG and you just claimed your IGTV account, like don't put up the same stuff I can see in your stories, you know? And don't repurpose a YouTube video. I mean, I can tell and that's happened too.
Right. Like you don't have to post on there every day. Like maybe use that to like tell a personal story, like a personal, personal side of yourself or another angle of your business or something else, you know, that you haven't done on any of these other platforms. Like for instance, like me, like if I had a shoe company, for instance, and they were like, well, how are we going to tackle, you know, our IGTV?
You know, maybe we do a weekly series with like one of the shoemakers, you know, like in show what's going on or like, you know, 60 seconds inside the studio. You know what I mean? Give the viewers like an in-depth inside look into what's going on in the factory and we just leave that for IGTV, you know, that's a really serious there and boom, done, you know, but like this, this need to sort of, and it's all their fault, really. Like, like, I'm trying to, you guys trying to do that.
They want to dominate all of our time. They do, but like, can I have any other life besides trying to figure out what to post on your platform? Yeah. You know?
And I think that's giving a lot of people unnecessary anxiety because now most people do know Instagram TV was coming, IGTV was coming. So now they're in this big tizzy, like, what am I supposed to do with this? You know, and it feels like, and this goes back to what you were saying before, you know, you have to really be passionate about this work that you're doing. If you want to call it work and you want to, you know, thrive in the space and everything.
And it starts to feel like at a certain point, someone else is dictating the output that you should have for what you're doing. But at a certain point, you have to pull it, grab those reins, pull it back in and take control just because IGTV has launched doesn't mean that you have to have something to add to that space, especially if you feel like it's not a strength for you. That's just kind of how I'm looking at it. Amen.
I appreciate that commentary, you know, just because it's there. Yeah. You have to use it. Right.
They're giving it to you as an option, but you don't have to participate, you know? Right. So do you have any routines that you feel like help you prepare to operate at maybe like your maximum capacity? So let's say like, you know, you have these stressful long days where you're going to be doing a shoot or something like that.
Do you have anything that you do to prepare yourself for those days where you know it's going to be like intense? Mm-hmm. Well, let me tell you my bubbleback game is legit. I love it.
It is so legit. Okay. So I had, you know, being a girl that's still very crafty and has DIY spirit in her. I saw these cute curtains that I could not afford with these white curtains with these little black home home on them.
And I went and got me some curtains for Target Honey and went to the seamstress guy who basically told me never to come back in his shop because I had those little black bumps all around the edges. These curtains. I ran back to my bathroom. I put them up there and I'm obsessed with like lavender.
So I have my lavender bubble bath and my lavender bath salts that go into every single one of my bubble bath situations. I love to get fresh eucalyptus. I live down the street from the flower marks, but eucalyptus is pretty easy to find. But I get fresh eucalyptus and I hang it up so that like it looks like I'm about to dry it and I put that over my shower.
So the steam from the bubble bath permeates the eucalyptus and I'm smelling like lavender eucalyptus. Okay. Lavender eucalyptus. I got candles.
I mean, I think like my bath time. It's like my time, you know, some people go to the gym, some people meditate. I try to both those. But like the one thing I know I'm getting in at least once a day is this quality time I'm spending in the bath.
Right. So I really try and just make that like my sanctuary and my fireplace. Like I am there. I put my, you know, my music on maybe a little elf.
It's general or rep half, you know, whatever I'm feeling that day. And I just like zone out and like try to think about nothing. I love that. I love that.
Of your strengths, which one or ones have significantly helped you to get to where you are today? I would probably just say maybe my tenacity, you know, I just kind of like keep going. Unless it's PR and somebody like told me no, they're not interested in writing a thing. I just kind of keep going, you know, which is why when I answered that she appreciated me reinventing myself, I kind of had to not take it as a disc or like some slight or anything and just be like, yeah, that's actually what I do.
Like I just keep going, finding a way until I get to where I'm supposed to be. That's definitely been, you know, personality of my best work. And now one that has not worked or one that I've had to learn how to curb is, you know, to shut up sometimes and listen. You know, that's been my biggest thing.
I do pride myself on knowing a lot. Right. But I don't know at all, you know, and only can you learn something from somebody when you don't go in a conversation like waiting for your time to speak, but you literally just like, listen, you know, what advice you have for me or even if I didn't ask for advice, but it's like somebody I trust, you know, and I just want to give their opinion. You know, not saying I'll do it, but I learned to sort of be like, okay, you know what, I'm a listener, you know, and I may not always be right.
So let me hear what they got to say. What types of things do you find yourself doing, if any at all, to actively expand your comfort zone? Oh, you know, for me, you know, because I told you all about my bubble bath situation, and I got set up over here, okay, and don't even get me started on my pajama game, okay. My friends calls them Blanche Devereaux, you know, Blanche Devereaux.
Yeah. Yeah. And I'm always going to flow in back like I got a collection of Blanche Devereaux, okay. So, you know, leaving my house for me is like, but why, you know, the app's not able to bring the food to you, the app's not where you can watch anything on TV.
Like I literally could probably live the rest of my life in my apartment. That does not go well for business. Right. So I have really had to push myself to go to these networking cocktail events.
Like that has really had to step it up and realize that that's something that I wasn't doing a good job at, and I need to better at that, you know? You can only do so many things in your circle until you meet like somebody else to add into your circle and, you know, unless they're coming to my front door to live in my food, like it just isn't going to happen at home, you know? Right, right. I absolutely agree.
What role do you think having a vision for your life plays in your professional life or your personal life, and it just sort of going in the direction that you may want it to go? Because like you said, you know, you love control and everything like that, but we know that things sometimes happen outside of our control, but what role do you think having that vision there at least to tap into what role does that play? Right. Well, I think for me it stops me from settling, you know?
And I mean, a personal perspective, you know? Like, I think as you get older, you know, you expect things in your lifetime line to have happened, you know, but you may be over here building empire one, two and three, you know? I'm not specifically talking about it. I think having a vision just for the type of life I want, type of lifestyle, the type of person I want to share my life with, like it's allowed me to sort of A, not settle and like B, not get distracted just because I feel any sort of pressure, you know?
And just sort of live in the faith that like, you know, what's meant for me and the time it's meant for me will be. And you know, I just sort of stay focused with what my vision is and let the chips fall where they met. What would you say to someone who is dealing with trying to find their happy? Oh, I know.
Oh my God. You have to put in the work that you just have to, you know? Everybody wants to be happy. Okay.
And we live in a time where happiness is not guaranteed, you know? You have to put in the work. You got to take the time. If there are some things in your past that, you know, you need to clean up, then you got to clean those up.
Like I said, therapy is not something that should be shunned upon. Even if you go for three sessions, you know, four sessions a month of therapy, it clears some things up, it puts you on the right path, you know, being quiet, listening to yourself like all of these things going to the gym, you know, even look, I'm a perfect girl. Always be a perfect girl. I just don't think I look good skinny.
Okay. So, but just to go to the gym and like welcome to treadmill for 20 minutes, like and take care of my health, you know, like putting myself for those types of things that for me led to happiness. And I'll tell you it's a game changer. Being the Christian, the Miss Chris that I am today versus the one I was and I thought I had it going on just from a clear like happiness perspective, I would never want to go back to her, you know?
Interesting. Very interesting. And you've been candid before talking about, you know, anxiety and things of that nature, how have you navigated that in this whole influencer space, social space and all of that? Because like you said, this digital world, things move so fast that it's easy to start getting, you know, even the smallest amount of anxiety feeling like you're being left behind over, you know, things like that, because things are just always moving rapidly and there's this this pressure to sort of keep up.
How have you sort of navigated that space of dealing with anxiety being in this creative space in this social space, all of that? Yeah. I mean, for those of you that don't know how to diagnose a couple of years with depression and anxiety and the more you talk about it, the more you realize, I'm not the only one. It's very common.
A lot of people have it and I do attribute it to sort of the life we've been now. And that maybe, not maybe, that was definitely like one of the factors when deciding how I wanted to live the rest of my, you know, the next chapter of my adult life. I have no desire to keep up, you know? I just, and I guess that's like a, you know, all my growth in my happiness talking.
Like I just don't. I absolutely would have like five, six, you know, ten years ago even. Like I remember those nights, not being able to see those, those, you know, YouTube and hold or Instagram hold. I would go down that then would spiral me out of control and then I'd be up for days, like with anxiety and then I'd want to sleep for the next like four days that I was depressed and I had no direction, I couldn't figure it out when the truth is like all of this stuff like has no blueprint, right.
So like we shouldn't think that we have to follow this next girl in order to get it right. Even though that's what we do, you know? So like it's a very dangerous place, my personal opinion. It can be a dangerous place for mental health.
I think a lot of us are suffering and I think in order for us to be a little bit kinder to ourselves and to each other, like we got to let go of some of this, you know, fomoish sort of mentality that we live by now, you know? It's so deep just because I personally, you know, have just struggled and really gone through the whole journey and it's like, that's all I want for everybody is to find like their true self and like, you know, to dig deep and put in that work and to find true happiness. And like, I'm not happy every day. I definitely have my days where I look to my left and like, I see something that upsets me or depresses me or makes me anxious, but I am a hell of a lot better off than I was.
And learning to let go of a lot of this has been a game changer for me. That's awesome. That's awesome. And I can really appreciate and I'm commending for the candor with which you talk about the struggles that you've had because a lot of people feel the need to put on this perfect persona in public and inside they're things that are eating at them.
And then that just makes it 10 times harder because at what point are you able to be real with yourself even about the things that you're dealing with. And then that just adds a whole other layer to any potential issues or, you know, things that you might be dealing with. So, right. Well, and you know when you really get out here in these streets, okay?
And you get to hearing about all the food gazzy and going on the social. You know, it's not going to get me one day. Well, why am I over here depressed and sad and anxious and trying to figure out how I way when it's all just real fake around here, you know? It's all a lot of fakeness.
So I have to come to terms with like, okay, we're not going to sit over here and keep up no Joneses. It's just that's not how you're going to look like. Yeah. Yeah.
And that's a common saying for a reason, you know, keeping up with the Joneses because everyone knows that's not the way that you should operate in life, yet we all fall victim to it at times. It's good to have that perspective that says, wait a minute, stop yourself, sit down for a second. This is not the way. You know, so yeah, it's good to have that internal spot that can help you sort of check yourself.
So at this point in life right now, because I know these types of things are ever evolving and changing, what does success mean or look like for you? Oh, you know, it's so funny because when I was 25, if you would have asked me what I wanted to be. I wanted to have my own TV show. I always thought that I would.
I thought I was Oprah. I thought I was at least the next Oprah. I just thought I was going to move to LA and find my way into this entertainment industry and I was going to be dipping into it. Now that I've worked in that industry and I've had a lot of friends that have had that type of success, I may go sit back and say, oh, that's not what I want for my life.
The dictating of, you know, who relights your show and what you got to wear and what you got to look like and with all of the things, you know, that I realized was not something that I wanted to do. Right. You know, for me success is literally being able to live my life to the fullest as I see it, you know. Being able to pay my bills, I have money to invest in my retirement, right.
Being able to cultivate an office and employees and a business that brings something to this world and no, we're not over here carrying cancer, but, you know, I like, they're saying that, like that bother me about imagery, like a lack of diversity, you know, and so I create a business that I make sure that's part of the platform and all the clients we work for you know, we see whether it's race or, you know, size or any of that type of thing, you know, so creating sort of a business that can give back to the world a little bit is good, you know, spending time with like my family and my friends. Like, these are the things now that like that I measure success up to. So I don't really know what I was thinking when I thought I was going to be over a star and I'm probably would pull a card. But I'm a lot happier with this game plan.
Yeah, I love that. I love that. So before we go, make sure to let everyone know where they can find you, where they can tune into more of what you have coming up in the future and learn all things Miss Chris. Well, you can follow me on Instagram at miss in my SS Chris K R I S to Graham T A G R A M.
Follow me there. I feel like like I just said, there's so many things that are out there and I just now kind of consolidated to one. And so follow me on Instagram. That'll be the first place to hear any late breaking news.
You can also keep up on what's going on at my agency, Carpe Creative on Instagram and that's what we'll be and yeah, come hang out and have fun. Okay, Kristen, this has been such a good chat. I feel like we really dug into some things that aren't the norm for us. So I'm so happy that you were able to bring us to that space and have that good kind of conversation with us.
Thank you so much for spending time with us and taking time out of your schedule. Your head to creative schedule to share with us. Well, thank you for having me and I just have the best time. Yeah, I love it.
I love it. As always you guys keep killing it.