We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marta Kaczorowska a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Marta, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is a project still in progress.

A year ago, I decided to pursue a project called “We are the change” it’s a series of interviews with women who are entrepreneurs or running small businesses and are “on the way to the top” (or maybe not even dream about being on the top, they want to live the life on their terms). Whether working moms or helping their community after hours, they have the emotional strength to pursue their dreams.

The idea for the project sparked in me when I started my journey as a videographer and quickly realized that there is not a lot of attention put on women who are “in progress” with their careers. There is such pressure to have a solid social media presence that it seems they are undervalued, despite having a lot to say about their journey. The number of followers equals your worth as a business owner.

I want those stories to inspire other people to follow their hearts and show that you don’t have to be “on the top” to be successful and happy as long as you follow your bliss, and also that being an entrepreneur or small business owner is not easy as it looks like, on social media, you are not alone with your doubts.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Marta. I am Polish. I have lived in Los Angeles for almost five years now.

I am a self-learned, very passionate video creator & producer; I love making short videos for people and about people.​

I began making videos as a hobby, a creative outlet to take away from the challenges of everyday life as a newcomer in the city. (I had moved to LA from Warsaw a few years ago)

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After months of envisioning the creative project’s direction, I’ve decided to launch as a creator who helps female business owners create video content for them and about them. Behind the scenes and About the founder are two types of videos I am invested in. I believe that those are the core types of videos when it comes to the presence of your brand/company on social media. It helps potential clients get familiar with you and get to know you better.

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I also like collaborating with female filmmakers, helping each other elevate, build a resume, and support our journey in a male-driven video production industry.
I believe that only by genuinely supporting other women and putting light on them we can change the world for a better, kinder place. We have a lot of intelligent things to say, and women often underestimate themselves. My mission is to change that.

​A year ago I started my passion project called “We are the change,” which is an inspirational series of interviews with girls in the middle or at the beginning of their journey of building their careers as entrepreneurs or small business owners. My intention behind it is to inspire and give strength to other girls to follow their dreams despite circumstances. To show them they’re not alone and that it’s not an easy journey but fulfilling.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Be authentic on social media. This is the best advice I can give to those just starting to build social media presence. What I discovered is that you don’t need to have a lot of followers and likes to find a client for your business, but if you are authentic and on social media, meaning genuinely want to connect with people/potential clients, it will pay off, and everyone will feel and see how valuable you are. Right people for you will come to you.

So instead of jumping on random accounts and leaving comments that have no meaning, try to truly engage and support those who are interesting to you ( it’s also the only way not to burn out so quickly and not get bored), those who you would really like to work with or even be a friend with in real life.

Simultaneously show your true self in your business on your feed, talk about stuff that bothers you, beliefs and hopes, so they can see if you are someone, they would like to support too.

When you show up on someone’s account and try to connect and build a relationship, that person will remember you, and you will never know when they will reach out to hire you.

Remember, quality over quantity. Social media can be time-consuming; focusing on five people instead of 20 to get the results and have time to grow your business is crucial here.

It works for me, and it will work for you too!

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think the best what society can do to support artists and creatives is to realize that they need to pay them for their work full price.

Often I see how there is still resentfulness toward paying artists the full price for their work, and it is tough for me to understand where it comes from?

Creative work is needed, and the service the artists provide might look like an easy job, but it often takes years of studying and money spent on tools to get to the point where the artist can create something beautiful and fulfilling almost seamlessly.

Some people have no problem spending hundreds of dollars on meaningless things, but the same people think you should take photos, design their website or make a video for them for free or less than what they spend on lunch with a friend.

Value the artist and creatives more; don’t argue with their price; it’s rude and disrespectful.

Ask the question:
Why do you think the artist/creative should give you the time of their life for free? Are you really so much more important?

Contact Info:

• Website: www.martasmolen.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/videobymarta/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marta-smolen-03b58aa1/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbn9rR8X7vwYMvvdmOt2FHQ
• Other: Check out my Vimeo account : https://vimeo.com/user16330903

Image Credits
personal photo by Patricia Pena