We were lucky to catch up with Caterina Clayton recently and have shared our conversation below.

Caterina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Embarking on my various endeavors always began with a simple yet powerful decision—I was curious about it, so I pursued it. In today’s era, the abundance of free or inexpensive resources facilitates exploration of interests. For instance, my coding journey started with LaunchCode, a nonprofit organization. Modeling came about when I responded to a fellow military spouse’s Facebook post, ultimately collaborating on a creative concept. While I’ve been involved in school theater since childhood, my foray into on-camera acting began with responding to an audition ad. The key, in my experience, is showing up, embracing feedback, and returning with increased skill—a foundational approach for anyone starting something new.

Yet, the path to achieving work I was genuinely proud of proved more challenging. Although seizing opportunities is crucial early on, not every opportunity holds equal value. As I grew, I realized the importance of turning down certain opportunities while actively pursuing others that pushed me to upskill and aligned with my aspirations.

In retrospect, developing discernment earlier would have been beneficial. Seeking a mentor could have expedited this process, but my initial fear of not being “good enough” hindered me from reaching out to those farther along in their journeys. I failed to recognize that many potential mentors likely shared similar doubts at some point. In the creative realm, where vulnerabilities can be exploited, seeking guidance is essential to avoid legal complications or even danger. Acknowledging the commonality of these fears and reaching out for mentorship could have spared me unnecessary challenges and setbacks.

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

Hello, I’m Caterina Clayton—a girl in the Midwest juggling roles as an actress, singer, model, and software engineer. From my early days, creation and self-expression have fueled my journey. As a child, I’d sing all day and craft “sculptures” from knick-knacks I’d secretly collect from around the house, much to my parents’ entertainment and chagrin. Even as an adult, a lack of mental stimulation can lead to bouts of moodiness and mischief.

Years of trial by fire have led me to a pocket of passions that keep my life interesting and robust. Indie films let me dive into unique narratives, improv comedy lets me challenge myself in a safe environment, belting out tunes lets me connect emotionally, and modeling allows me to paint with visuals. These things take care of the little me that spent her days idolizing Britney Spears and Barbara Streisand.

Simultaneously, I navigate the tech world as a software engineer, treating each coding challenge as a piece of life’s vast puzzle. I do my best to craft solutions that matter. Streamlining processes, enhancing user experiences, and tackling real-world problems. This sates my love for never-ending puzzles and conquerable setbacks. A worldview birthed from a fusion of art and tech is what I aim to foster within myself. I hope that this blending of worlds allows me to appreciate the important interplay of logic and creativity when completing any kind of project.

For clients, followers, and potential collaborators: My work is me—a soul navigating life’s intricate puzzle with humor, professionalism, and a touch of philosophy. Join me on this journey where I’m just trying to figure things out, one improv act, one song, and one line of code at a time. Let’s share some laughs and insights along the way!

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

I find great satisfaction in unraveling the intricacies of my own mind by expressing thoughts, emotions, and ideas in various forms. The act of creation becomes a mirror reflecting my internal perspectives, allowing me to explore the depths of my imagination. Life can be fast-paced and there are so many things out there that drown out the awareness I have of my inner world. Creating things helps me reconnect with myself in an invaluable way and ground me in reality. I can’t argue with the knowledge gleaned from what comes out of me. Deep breathing may be great for calming down, but it’s not necessarily useful for providing the 411 on how my childhood traumas affected my sense of humor. Keeping track of the jokes I make during an improv exercise is much more enlightening, on the other hand,

Additionally, the dynamic between my interpretation of my work and how others perceive it is a fascinating and enriching aspect of this kind of processing. It reminds me of what’s possible. An image captured of me might make me cringe and recoil- but someone else may find it inspiring and striking. It’s not my place to inform the other person that their perspective is flawed (even when I think their eyes might need to be checked). Instead, it’s my place to take that opportunity to see myself from a new angle. If I’m able to do that, who knows what that perspective can extend to? Creating, whether it’s through sound, video, digital image, or code allows me to experiment with my mind and the world around me. Keeping it all locked away would rob me of that intense and educational experience!

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

There have been various points in my work that I have needed to unite people from different disciplines and experience levels. There have been more points where I was a member of a team- especially given my current roles. I’ve found that oftentimes high individual performers are given managerial positions. It mostly makes sense. They are proficient and talented at whatever it is they’re doing. They also tend to make poor managers initially and the slightly lower performers with more soft skills may have objectively been a better person for the role.

To be individually successful you need discipline. You need to outshine the competition. You need to take radical ownership of yourself and own up to every failure to grow quickly. However…if you as the manager of a team tell people “You need more discipline. You need to outshine your teammates. You need to own up and grow up!” You’ll soon find yourself overseeing a hostile, burnt-out, and conflict-ridden team. My advice is to treat people working for you with the respect, compassion, and honesty that your inner child likely needed as you were rising the ranks. I would also suggest having clear and consistent boundaries pre-defined. While people are working and trying to shine like you did, they are going to feel just as hungry for success at points. But your job is to now make sure everyone on the team has room and support to contribute to the final product(s) being made. The health of business operations and the health of your collaborators are now your focus. Exploiting their desire for status and working the same handful of people to the bone when you have a whole team at your disposal is wasteful. It also sets you up for a greater loss when some of those few high achievers inevitably move on. Having the trust of your team and building an environment of helpfulness is on your shoulders first and foremost. Use it well.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamthecaterinaclayton
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caterina-clayton-1a9182180/

Image Credits
David Byrd, Andra Lynn Grant, Avik Chakraborty, Kim Ackerman, Ryan Stanley, Hal Masover