We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Katrina Lee a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Katrina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
The most meaningful project I have worked on has been my very first self published guided journals, 100 Shades of You. Along with a recent project I released, Self Portrait Journal Series.
I have always had a passion for writing; whether it were fiction, journaling, poetry, short stories… anything! It was the easier way for me to express things I’d gone through and grown through.
100 Shades of You came along while I was going through a tough time in life. I didn’t know what I wanted to do in life, who I was, what made me happy nor did I think of turning my passion into a business. With 100 Shades of You, I channeled my pain, pleasures, secrets and more. Not fully recognizing the positive impact my story and journey would have on others that could relate.
Of course, at the time, I knew little about the publishing industry or the work you’d need to put in to create your brand. I wouldn’t necessarily count my sales or exposure as a failure. It did exceptional in my heart. My only goal at the time was for young women to know that they aren’t alone in transitioning into womanhood and self discovery. 100 Shades of You will always be near and dear to me due to the lessons I’ve learned, the impact I did make to those that did support it, the potential I discovered about myself and the growth it provided me.
I didn’t settle there though. I became hungry for more! Not financially, but the feeling I felt from knowing I could be one of the ones that could be a relatable example of finding yourself, being yourself and following your passion no matter how “odd” it may be.
My Self Portrait series was none other than a dedication to those whom are close to me that need healing, even as adults. This series is similar to the Burn After You Write book, however you’re not burning anything except your pen across those pages. This go around; I plan to utilize every resource, social media platform and dollar I have access to for this to grow greater.
Self Portrait has a unique set. Self Portrait: Pink Edition, Self Portrait: Black Men Heal Too and Self Portrait: Pride Edition. These books can be found only on Amazon, for now.
I actually have my very own copy to go along with my supporters. Healing is definitely a process and you’re almost never healed completely! These projects simply reflect the challenges I’ve overcome, the decisions and transformations I’ve made over the years of becoming a woman and will continue to doing so.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am know as Katrina Lee, the writer. I simply came into the creative industry, in 2018, head first. I knew nothing about the business aspect, I only knew my talent and I knew I had an audience.
Over time, I’ve networked with many and learned so much along the way. I am almost at the beginning of entering a new phase in my career. Last time, I introduced 4 Tha Culture Art District, a nonprofit gallery bookstore, which is still in the works.
Building and perfecting my business plan has been a true piece of work. However, the vision behind 4 Tha Culture is to provide creatives a safe space, a place of opportunity, freedom and providing never ending knowledge to those that seek it but are less fortunate.
I feel that this idea will indeed be bigger than I envision it to be. We have obtained our 501c3 just yet, I want to save that for the future once everything is set in stone. In the meantime, I have been working out the kinks of building my own publishing company as well as a few other projects that I’d rather keep to myself until they are finished.
As a writer I do want to expand my personal brand into ghost writing, script writing and ultimately branching off into filmmaking and so much more. I truly aspire to be the female Tyler Perry someday. I am just extremely proud of how far I’ve come and will go as long as I remain persistent and committed to my dreams and goals.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is knowing that I inspire others to just go for it. I love being recognized as a role model, in a sense. I love making people feel heard, happy and loved.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
What can society do best to support artists and creatives in a thriving creative ecosystem? Great question!
I think that everyone has their own definitions of “support”. Support to me looks FREE. Speak my name into rooms, even when I’m not there, that could take me and my gifts to the next level. Share my content with someone you know would be interested. Comment a congratulations or simply react to the content with a simple like.
I personally think that society can take the free route. Almost everyone often thinks support means spending. We support major creatives by spending and we don’t even realize it, but that’s another story for another time.
If an artist or creative opens up and expresses their passions and talents to the world through social media platforms; it costs nothing to like, engage on or share the content. I have thousands of followers between each platform, if we were to combine the numbers, but my exposure is limited. So, I have to weed out the ones that are just there and provide little to no engagement from those that are right there engaging as soon as I drop a post.
As a creative I don’t expect sales to sky rocket immediately, however, I am a firm believer that the more exposure you receive then the closer you are to finding your niche’s market. Which is the mind frame I feel that everyone should have no matter what their business or brand is.
Society can also provide FREE constructive criticism or feedback. Of course, if your opinion isn’t kind then keep it to yourself and continue to scroll through content. Criticism helps me grow and I’m certain it helps everyone else in the industry as well so long as you are open to it.
I feel that creatives in society, in general should also be open to more collaborations, being resourceful without taking advantage of one another and just exude confidence in their talent.
It’s rocky, trust me. There’s always a breakthrough in the end that you will never see coming, though.
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