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

Hi Katharina, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I lived across the street from the theater school Cours Florent while studying business and journalism in Paris CELSA Sorbonne and enrolled in their evening classes after starting to meet all the actors walking my dog. I was a big reader as a little girl, and here I was once again under a tree reading theater books all day and rediscovering the power of the written word.  I love writing and published my thesis  “Prime time for Science” a few years ago. I also realized quickly that storytelling and creativity are a driving force in business. I started producing and directing.

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?

As a director and producer I’ve worked on commercials and content for brands like Mercedes-Benz, Vogue and Swarovski. I also worked as a Creative Director and CMO and advise brands and start-ups now with my agency House of Baron.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Many non-creatives think they need to fit in a box by focusing on one thing, or by doing something for their CV. You can reinvent yourself. You can feel free to create for yourself and not for someone else. What people don’t understand is that being free and choosing who you work with is often more important than what you do. I think if you are creative you can express that through different avenues: writing, directing, acting, creating collections or consulting brands. I work with people I love and it doesn’t feel like work. I just think you really have to commit to whatever project  you do 100%. But I definitely got some bad advice when I was younger. When my first short film premiered at European film festivals, my German acting agent told me to stop directing. A lot of people have a problem when they can’t fit you into one box. I don’t care about labels or traditional career paths; they limit you. I do what I love.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think it is so rewarding to allow your creativity to come out organically, without even considering the term ‘creative’. Creativity is a way of being. I honestly didn’t know I wanted to be a director, it was just natural for me to express myself via this medium and I found it through tv journalism, and later working with fashion brands or fashion magazines. Somehow I feel very at home when I am directing and I have a sense of peace on set. It all comes together naturally and instinctively and I just see the world through a lens. It is like a natural extension of me. I want to share how I see the world and I need that filter of directing to express it. Lately, I have come back more to the source of it, to storytelling and writing. I just finished a novel and it was such a beautiful process to be patient and do things for your own self-expression, really be able to find your own voice. I think this is very powerful.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.katharinabaron.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katharina.baron/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katharinabaronofficial/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katharinabaron/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Katharina_Baron
• Other: www.houseofbaron.com

Image Credits
Katharina Baron @katharina.baron Photography by Daniella Hehmann @daniellahehmann Photo Editing Peter Buckingham @peterbuckingham Clothing by Paumé Los Angeles @paumelosangeles Wearing Vintage @versace @chanel