Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ciara Dominique. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ciara, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I knew I had to go down a creative/artistic path when I couldn’t see myself doing the same thing everyday. That’s not to knock those who find security in consistency – I just knew myself well enough to know that it would feel more restricting than freeing. I feel as if everyone has their own internal compass pointing them towards their purpose and while the unraveling of mine has felt like a lot of side quests more than main missions – I’m lucky to have stumbled into various artistic ventures that all allow me to tend to different parts of myself.

Ciara, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a self taught artist through and through. From Executive Producing my own radio shows and podcasts, self-publishing zines, teaching myself how to DJ, and now full on event curating – I’ve always been someone with more ideas than direct guidance. I studied creatives who used their affinity for world building to push the envelope of what could be and I applied that to my own life.

I’ve exorcised the need for perfection and replaced that with acting on my intuition. Even if things don’t go as expected the first time around I trust in myself to bounce back and find what works. I used to think I had to have it all figured out so I could act on an idea but then I learned the only thing worse than having your labor exploited is having your creative concepts shelved. Fortunately I’m a quick learner and even better at pivoting so I’m thankful my lessons have pointed me back to trusting myself because in a span of 4 years I’ve developed a body of work that speaks to my abilities and love for bringing ideas to life.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

As someone with a deep reverence for stories, my own but especially others, I understand not everyone digests information in the same way so pushing myself to think creatively enough to communicate these valuable remnants of life is the north star for me. For fellow readers I use music journalism to share stories of artists I admire, for the visual format lovers I use documentaries & podcasts to work with others to share their stories, but with djing & event curating for The Silent Disco it’s my way of sharing the music I hold dear to me.

I think of how language differs in articulating the human experience so where one dialect falls short, another one can swoop on in and string together the right sentiment. I feel this way about working with various mediums and while each one allows for exploring, my only goal for creating is acting on what I feel, what I see, and pushing others to see their world in a more expansive way than before.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The symbiotic relationship between expression and responsibility feels like the most rewarding aspect of being a creative. On one side of the coin is the selfish need to feel, create, and communicate the ways I see the world but the other side of the coin tells the importance of the seemingly “useless” and selfish desire. I think of everyone in the world being tuned into a certain frequency where the details of their life tether them to others. Even if specificities aren’t shared the common thread could be anything from shared music taste to a very particular kind of loneliness and if the goal of life isn’t to live forever but live meaningfully, I assume the small tethers are ways to reconnect us to those tuned in the ways we are.

On the topic of responsibility, I think of times like now where more than 5 active cases of genocide are being documented from cell phones just like ours and Nina Simone’s words are more prevalent than ever because an artist’s duty really is to reflect the times. Using art to educate, bringing reprieve from devastation, and making an impact through abstract and material means are all ways artists can honor the gift of being a creative because the world depends on it and those who will never have the opportunity to create again deserve it.

Contact Info:

• Website: Ciaradominique.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ciaraaathisbeatis/?hl=en
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBKaaDeaPF8&t=5s

Image Credits
Nashelle Brown Ashalyn Garner