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

Ciara, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

As a lifestyle and fashion content creator that has been degendering fashion and serving as a role model for androgynous style for the last 4 years, I have been misgendered and mischaracterized before. With being a creator, brands and agencies send out opportunities for products like clothing, technology, you name it. I had an agency reach out to me in regards to a new polo they were marketing for their client, yet I was misgendered through the entire email. I took it upon myself to respond back and state was this was not right and knew from there, that being a woman in the “menswear” space would not be easy. I learned that I would have to continue to build my own way and let those who misgender or misname know why it is wrong and to be open to learning.

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?

My name is Ciara Strickland! I’m an androgynous content creator and business owner of CS Creatives, in line with The New Mixx and Dare to Be Different. My love of content creation started with photography and also seeing that I did not have anyone like myself to gather tips from when it came to fashion. Besides my content on Instagram and TikTok, I work with clients on a styling basis, whether that is on a Zoom call or in person.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative are the messages or DMs that I receive. As small as it may seem, those little notes give me motivation to keep going because the impact is helping people in real life situations.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

There are a few and these are not in any particular order: Russ – IT’S ALL IN YOUR HEAD
James Clear – Atomic Habits
Don Miguel Ruiz – The Four Agreements

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thenewmixx.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenewmixx/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciara-strickland/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKzXzfIVwj7O3OwkSYKqazg
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@thenewmixx