We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kristen Meyers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kristen below.
Kristen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
It has been a journey to get where I am today, earning all of my money doing what I love. And to not only earn that money in order to survive but to thrive on what I do best, which is music and working with the voice. Moving from the US directly after finishing my Masters of Music in 2016 to Berlin, Germany was quite a trip. I visited for three months and knew immediately, “this is where I want to live.” So I packed my bags, sold everything I had, and flew with my two cats across the ocean. It took me 3 years on a work visa teaching children’s music and English for me to feel safe enough to venture into the unknown territory of “Artist Visa”. And even then it was a slow and gradual process. Everyone told me to dive in and go for it, but my fear of losing everything including my residency in a foreign country had me in a stressful place of working full-time in a kindergarten and curating and performing at events in the evenings. The only gray hairs I have are from this time in my life. But the clock was ticking. I was in my mid-20’s feeling already old to be a “rockstar” which had always been my dream. And at the same time tinnitus was creeping in from an overly stressful work life that wasn’t feeding my soul. I knew I hadn’t come to Berlin to teach children English and music…so I kept growing and exploring outside of my 40-hour work week, going to jam sessions, hosting events, performing my own music as it was pouring out of me in my bedroom. Until finally my body said “ENOUGH”. I was getting sick every month. My anxiety was through the roof and the ringing in my ears had me wearing earplugs at work. I quit my full-time job and decided to go for the life of a freelance artist. That was 4 years ago and only half the story. But I stand here today traveling the world, playing my own music live in different collaborative settings. From retreats to workshops to intimate, creative spaces, I get to do what I love while also supporting myself all along the way.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Put simply, I am a Vocal Alchemist and an Artist. I wear many different hats and I shape-shift through the work that I do. There are two threads that interweave when it comes to my craft and my business.
One thread is working with people and their voices. The work on the surface may sound like vocal coaching or voice training, but underneath it is life-transforming remembrance work. The voice is simply the path I use to inform the work of direct revelation. With my 1:1 clients we also work with tools of Shamanism, Emotional Release, Breathwork, and Ancestral Veneration. Each 1:1 journey is unique depending on each person’s lived experiences and desires. I work mainly online with my 1:1 clients, but occasionally, if we are in the same place in the world, I do hold in-person sessions.
The second thread is the more creative and artistic piece of being a musician and artist under the name “Kreatress”. I play live around the world in collaborative spaces known as “temple” spaces (body and sex positive spaces that are without drugs or alcohol). I also create live, ethereal sound carpets for events, retreats, and even my own projects. Creating soundscapes for facilitators, coaches, and other people who desire curated music for their events or meditations that will not be heard anywhere else in the world is a really special part of the work I do. It is something a bit more eclectic than putting on a Spotify playlist.
Over the past 2 years, I have witnessed how impactful it is to have live music at such sensual events and I see how it impacts the entire experience. It is through these experiences that I have come to realize that everything is energy, vibrating at different frequencies. And even deeper than that…everything is sound. So when I come into a space bringing my live music, I see how it directly influences and adds to these creative, juicy, sometimes emotional and sensitive spaces. It is why I do it. Playing live music for me is more than a concert where people are standing and consuming the music. Playing live music is a co-created dance between my Higher Self, the facilitator(s), and the participants. It is where I shine through the freedom of expression and collaboration.
Another side of my inner performance witch is the collaborate art piece I am currently part of titled “Æffective Choreography” by André Uerba, which premiered in 2022 and will be continue to be performed across Europe and potentially South America in 2024 and 2025. Since working on this piece, my own curiosity into creating ritual performances with the intention to bring animism, elemental wisdom, ancestral veneration, and shamanism into the mainstream performing arts world has flourished. There is a passion and deep inner calling for this work to come alive and to witness how it will blend into my 1:1 work with clients. I am inspired by the indigenous ways of cultures around the world and I hear the Earth calling. Some call it an awakening. I call it a remembrance.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I grew up learning and believing that I had to work long and hard every day of my life to make money and to be successful And since I decided to go fully for my dreams, I realized this could not be further from the truth. My parents are Baby Boomers who lived most of their lives in the US. Growing up the only thing I knew was that if I didn’t work hard, I wouldn’t get anywhere in life. And because we only had enough money for food and simple pleasures (our few vacations were camping or going to the beach 1 hour away), I got a job as soon as I could. I witnessed both of my parents struggle and work their butts off their entire lives to be lower-middle-class Americans. So this is what I knew : I must work hard and, even then, I will probably struggle my entire life with money and never, ever make that much, especially if I’m an artist. As I started really going for my dreams, I realized along the way that I had massive money wounds. I could make money but not a lot. I thought money was bad. I thought anyone who had a lot of money was unkind and selfish. I thought that I had to live a super stressful life in order to make a name for myself and to make a lot of money. I started to see my own glass ceilings and decided it was time to work with them, to break myself out of this false idea of what it means to work “hard” and make a lot of money. One big lesson was that it’s not about working HARD. It’s about working SMART. And with that, how to surrender to a process bigger than myself. I learned how to align my energy with my work and how to not stress about launching a new program but rather to allow what is alive to do its thing while maintaining consistency and showing up for what I am passionate about. I am still on this journey but in 2 years I have learned to trust that money comes and goes with flow. I have learned to enjoy spending money and paying bills. I have leaned into money as a beneficial tool that supports me to share the magic that I have to share in a way that is not stressful or hard but easeful and abundant.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The freedom to create and express myself in all my strange and weird ways and that being put into art or music or ritual performances is simply so rewarding. To give space for the visions I have to come to life whether it be on a stage, in a piece of music, or simply through me painting in my bedroom – there is a depth and fulfillment that cannot be put into words. And with that, the way the creative act touches and moves others. To witness someone being inspired by the art that comes through you is like nothing else in this world.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://stan.store/kreatress
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kreatress_music
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kreatress
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgVbXykWTnH0i-HZrt2A-Tg
- Other: Linktree: https://linktr.ee/kreatress
Image Credits
Jaqueline Louan, Alicija Hoppel, Merlin Noack