Finding Your Own Path as a Creative (w/ Cynthia Butare)

In this episode, Cynthia Butare joins us to talk about her journey across employment, freelance work, entrepreneurship and creative strategy, and how each chapter has helped her understand what kind of work she wants to do and how she wants to build her career.We talk about finding your creative identity, following opportunities, building a reputation, making money from your skills and why being employed doesn't translate to failure at entrepreneurship.Cynthia also shares the story behind Imigani, a platform documenting Rwanda's creative industry that has grown from a collection of stories and photographs into a living archive with a cultural calendar, artist directory and community events.We also explore the business and sustainability questions behind building a platform like Imigani, including funding, community building and finding the right people to help take the idea further.This is a conversation about career experimentation, creative identity, sustainability and finding a model that works for you.Timestamps(00:00) Introduction and meeting Cynthia Butare(03:20) Growing up in Geneva and early creative influences(07:27) Studying communication and discovering storytelling(08:01) The creative project that changed Cynthia's direction(09:30) Studying documentary making(18:30) Joining TORI and moving into strategy(25:53) Defining storytelling(37:24) What makes a good story(39:08) What does it mean to be a strategist?(40:00) Why your network matters(41:04) Understanding strategy and finding the common thread(42:41) Knowing your audience and choosing the right channels(43:14) Measuring content performance and turning attention into action(44:23) How do you sell strategy?(45:04) The challenge of selling strategic thinking(51:29) Working on creative campaigns and understanding value(57:27) Building a creative career with limited resources(58:25) Building a portfolio across different creative skills(01:03:27) Managing multiple creative disciplines(01:07:08) Being a multi-hyphenate creative(01:08:20) Why Cynthia doesn't believe in niching down(01:09:05) Adding new skills when opportunities arise(01:10:03) Why context matters when building a creative career(01:12:23) The importance of experience(01:13:51) Turning what you share online into opportunities(01:15:00) Finding the thread that connects everything you do(01:21:00) Business lessons from building a creative career(01:21:15) Learning how to make creative ideas sustainable(01:21:25) The story behind Imigani(01:23:33) Building Imigani Talks(01:25:08) Is there a business side to Imigani?(01:26:39) Making Imigani sustainable(01:28:21) Turning opportunities into career growth(01:29:12) How Cynthia's portfolio created new opportunities(01:30:28) Entrepreneurship, employment and knowing what works for you(01:32:30) Where to find Cynthia and Imigani(01:33:00) OutroFOLLOW CYNTHIA AND IMIGANICynthia on Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/cynthiabutare/Imigani on Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/imigani/Imigani websitehttps://www.imigani.co/📌 Join us as we explore the business side of creativity and share knowledge to help build the next generation of successful African creative entrepreneurs.Connect with Lucreative Africa🎙️ The Lucreative Africa Podcast:⁠https://linktr.ee/lucreativeafrica⁠🌐 Website:⁠www.lucreativeafrica.com⁠📷 Instagram:⁠https://instagram.com/lucreativeafrica⁠💼 LinkedIn:⁠https://linkedin.com/company/lucreativeafrica⁠🎥 YouTube:⁠https://www.youtube.com/@LucreativeAfrica⁠If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow the Lucreative Africa Podcast, leave a rating and review, and share this conversation with another creative who would benefit from these insights.