We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Christina Setliff a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Christina , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?
My goal is to leave a legacy of change within DC nightlife, culture and our electronic music scene. I want to be more than just a brand or the face of our community, I want to be able to say that I’ve made a real, systematic change. There are plenty of ways that I would love to see progress, and safety is one of them. I’ve even began wondering what it would be like getting into the politics of it all, which is something you would have never caught me saying a few years ago, but now, it’s something I’ve really grown to care about.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Christina Setliff, but most people know me as Xtina, or X for short. I’ve created a brand and business around my name called “XtinaDC”, where I write about upcoming artists, provide E-press kit services, classes and even a few free marketing guides. On top of my services and marketing tools, I also model, promote brands and sell clothing under the brand “Xstella”. I’m very proud of my work because I’ve done it all independently. I’ve learned marketing, website design, blogging, structuring online classes and guides, social media, and more, all on my own. But XtinaDC is more than just my brand, it’s a way for me to advocate for things I want to change in the electronic music scene and nightlife in DC. I’ve collaborated with a nonprofit, End Overdose, in hopes to spread awareness of the overdose epidemic. This is where my passion for our community comes in. There’s so much I want to do to make an impact and I feel like I’m on the right track to getting there.
Aside from my own brand, I also work with others. DCflicks is a company I’ve been working for since June. We make a lot of videos for the electronic music scene in DC and have continued to grow as editors and content creators. Editing and creating has become a huge part of my life and it’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time now. Another separate company I work for is Steez Promo. I started off as a promoter, then was labeled as “the face” of Steez, which leads me to where I am now. Being the face of such an amazing company lead me to believe that I should be doing more for our community. I will make a change.
Have you ever had to pivot?
When I first started getting into social media, my main goal was to model on Instagram and promote for other brands. While I’ll still do that on occasion, I decided that there’s really no point to getting low pay and random products as an influencer other than showing off. I decided that I want to make actual money and write. That’s when I started creating classes and writing articles. I branched off of that and never turned back. Now, I have a successful business and people know my name.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
My name helped me build my reputation. I’ve said this before but it’s really such an amazing marketing tactic to name yourself something a little out there. I now usually introduce myself as “X”, and BOOM, all of a sudden people are trying to look you up and figure you out. You’ll see them turn to their friends asking, “wait what’s her real name?” and usually it’ll even lead to a conversation. There’s a lot you can do to build a brand, it’s been really fun for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: XtinaDC.com
- Instagram: @Christinasetliff
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-setliff-1142a7203/
- Twitter: @xtinadcofficial
Image Credits
DCFlicks for Xstella (the picture of me with the bear backpack)