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

Calliope, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Crazy stuff happening is almost as certain as death and taxes – it’s technically “unexpected” but something unexpected happening is to be expected and so can you share a crazy story with our readers

Honestly, nature seems to have a flair for drama whenever I plan a client content shoot in Mexico. One of the wildest moments started in the jungles of Tulum, during what was supposed to be a jungle vibes content day. Out of nowhere, the sky cracked open. A torrential downpour hit, the area cleared out, and instead of running for shelter, we ran deeper into the jungle. We ended up exploring caves, ancient ruins, and even a pyramid-shaped cemetery where hundreds of candles were still burning despite hours of rain. It felt like we’d stepped into another realm. The shoot turned into a soul retrieval. No camera needed.

Then, exactly a year later, another shoot in Mexico got hijacked—this time by Hurricane Milton. My client and I had to evacuate together and reroute the entire plan while tracking weather updates. We ended up getting some of the most incredible photos and videos despite this unexpected detour.

At this point, it’s kind of a running joke that if you book a shoot with me in Mexico, expect magic AND mayhem.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Calliope, the founder of MUSE by Calliope, and I am a creative director, marketing muse, and content coach. I support creatives, coaches, and founders who are ready to be seen in their full expression — visually, energetically, strategically, and emotionally. I work with people who are in seasons of evolution, reinvention, or reclamation, and I help them build personal brands that reflect who they truly are… not just what they’ve been selling.

I’ve been doing this kind of work for over a decade. My background is in film and photography. I used to run a production company and taught screenwriting and directing. But I kept getting pulled into the deeper layers of identity—why people show up the way they do, what they’re afraid to say, how they want to be known but don’t know how to express it. That’s when MUSE started to take shape.

My signature framework is the MUSE Method—Moving Messaging, Utilizing Content, Staying Top of Mind, and Embodying Results. I help people clarify their voice, develop magnetic content, and get visible online in ways that feel powerful, natural, and fully expressed. I offer 1:1 coaching, personal brand consulting, creative direction, photoshoot experiences, and classes. I work virtually and in person with my clients.

What sets me apart is that I don’t offer cookie-cutter strategies or surface-level aesthetics. I go deep. I hold emotional and energetic space while also delivering high-level strategy and execution. I’m not just helping people grow online: I’m helping them become who they were always meant to be and giving them the visuals to build a business that reflects their beauty and genius. The brand becomes the embodiment of their healing, their leadership, their art.

What I’m most proud of is the way my clients walk away feeling seen, not just branded. That’s what MUSE is about. It’s a space to remember who you are, and then make the internet know, too.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I built my audience by accident. In 2017, I posted something raw and channeled to my personal Instagram. It was the first time I had ever shared a caption that felt like it came straight from my soul. I was sitting in a rundown Hometown Buffet with a guy I was dating at the time, typing furiously into my notes app while he rolled his eyes and went for seconds. I had this overwhelming sense of urgency. The message just poured out of me and I knew I had to share it.

At the time, I had just left my whole life behind in San Francisco. I moved to a rainy hippie town outside Portland with nothing but a red wig, a Vegas t-shirt, and a tarot deck. I was going through it. No money. No clarity. Sleeping on a twin mattress in a house full of strangers. I was cracked open and completely undone. But in the middle of all that chaos, I found my voice. That Instagram post—shared from rock bottom—jumped my following overnight. It was the first time people really felt me online. I didn’t have a strategy. I just had something real to say.

Since then, I’ve been posting almost daily. Not because I have to, but because I genuinely love it. It’s how I process. It’s how I connect. Over time, I created what is now the MUSE Method. It’s the approach I use and teach to help others build a magnetic personal brand that actually reflects who they are. It stands for Moving Messaging, Utilizing Content, Staying Top of Mind, and Embodying Results.

1. MOVING MESSAGE
Have a message people feel so deeply it moves them. Something emotionally charged. Something that is remembered because it hits.

2. UTILIZE CONTENT
Use your content to show the full scope of your brand: your values, your vibe, your expertise, your offers. Let it work as your voice when you’re not in the room.

3. STAY TOP OF MIND
You want to be the person they think of first when they’re ready to buy. That means being visible, consistent, and memorable.

4. EMBODY RESULTS
Be the walking billboard for what you sell. Your energy, your presence, your lifestyle: let that speak louder than any pitch. People are influenced by what they feel from you before they ever read a sales page.

That’s how I built my brand. That’s how I help others do it, too.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Last year I moved to Las Vegas completely alone—no friends, no credit, no license, nothing lined up. Just me following a desire I’d written about for years but kept ignoring. I kept saying I was following my heart in other places, but the truth was I was avoiding the one thing I actually wanted.

So I got here, went sober, and everything I thought I’d already healed came up—grief, rage, limiting beliefs. I kept calling it my “desert era” because it felt like an initiation. One day, in the middle of a record-breaking heatwave, I was crying on the floor, sweating, raging through a Kali meditation, saying out loud that I was done carrying old patterns and pain. I wrote in my journal, “It’s raining outside.”

And then it actually started pouring. In July. In the desert.

That moment reminded me who I am. I’m someone who listens to her intuition, who feels it all, who alchemizes it into power. That’s resilience to me: not bypassing the breakdown, but moving through it and letting it become the transformation.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://musebycalliope.com
• Instagram: @muse.bycalliope
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563815511003

Image Credits

shot by Calliope