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

Alright, Kirsten thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Honestly, the project I’m working on right now – it’s a single called Fool Me Twice that comes out very soon. It’s the first song I’m releasing from my EP. The entire ep is about losing control, and not knowing how to get some semblance of it back in my life. I wrote Fool Me Twice with this sort of forced perspective – the song is just me convincing myself that I am still in charge of my life and my actions, even if I can’t always stop other people’s actions from affecting me. Everyone on the project is either female or non-binary; I still perform it live with various bands that include men, but all recording artists, the vocal engineers, the mixers and the mastering engineer, they’re all individuals who were raised and socialized as women, which was really important to me.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am an artist manager and audio engineer! I got into both of theirs when I started college where I study both of those (music production & audio engineering and music business) – I have engineered for a few bands that I manage through my agency, Ki Talent Collective, as well as for friends’ personal projects. I got into audio engineering because it seemed like the perfect way to combine music and stem. I got into management almost by accident – after managing my own band, some friends asked for help booking around Boston, I charged 10% net of whatever they made on any gigs I booked for them, and eventually made an email account. This summer I got a few assistants, and a website will be live (kitalentcollective.org) very soon! I think that one of the things that sets me apart as a manager is the thing that causes most people to underestimate me – I’m a student. Because of this, I can connect with a lot of my clients who are in a similar age group as well as stage in life. They feel comfortable letting me know how they’re doing and what is on their plate so I can do my best to make their lives easier. There’s a level of trust achieved that is necessary between a manager and artist that I am very proud of.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I learned a lesson early on, not from anyone telling me directly, but from watching tv and reading biographies for kids and listening to my favorite celebrities’ interviews, and that was that for a woman to succeed, she can’t rely on anyone but herself. I spent so much of my life terrified that if I made a mistake or just couldn’t do something, I was letting down women or not being a feminist or relying too much on the patriarchal system that I so vocally and publicly condemn. I’ve been trying to unlearn that it is weak to ask for help since I was fourteen, and I think working with other musicians in an industry where collaboration is not only necessary for success but also mental health has really forced me to step out of my comfort zone and start asking for what I need.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Being in music I feel like I almost don’t experience this a lot, because generally everything is so up in the air, it’s hard to nail down a plan enough to require a pivot. There was one house show that we played (house shows are essentially just house parties with bands) where the hosts were very new to hosting shows, so we arrived with a drum kit and guitar amp, as discussed, and they didn’t have any sort of PA system. Luckily we had a friend who has a vocal amp, and he let us borrow it, but it was super stressful for about an hour. Another time we had a band drop out of a show we were playing in another state about 5 days before, so trying to replace them while also in the midst of finals week was pretty brutal.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kirstenkirk.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/kirsten_kirk101
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kirstenkirk101?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsten-kirk-09a82b176
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@KirstenKirk?si=cgQYAsPYAZejOWjt

Image Credits
Smrithi Kalyan Ana Schon Beckett Kaylynn LaGuardia Caroline Rose