We recently connected with Kaitlin Riffe-Uding and have shared our conversation below.

Kaitlin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?

My first dollar earned as a creative was in March of 2023 after I published my first book, “Lessons I Learned from Two Dead Parents.”

In a testament to how incredible my support system is, it topped out on #4 in new releases in the Grief and Bereavement category on Amazon.

As someone who is still struggling to fully embrace creativity, hitting “publish” was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done but has been incredibly rewarding.

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?

Operation Sheepdog is a passion project. We are a brand new non-profit which has been such an incredible learning opportunity.

My father was a great man. He was kind, generous with his time and knowledge, and believed in having kind, compassionate, and educated first responders in our communities.

Our mission is to award qualified law enforcement recruits grant money during their time in the academy. Our hope is that we can alleviate some of the financial burden they face so that they may focus on their education to be the best public servants they can be. We see it as an investment in our own communities and as a way to connect with our fathers spirit.

I work in the law enforcement field as a civilian analyst. I worked in Denver during the George Floyd protests and riots. I also grew up just south of St. Louis, and was greatly impacted by the events following the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson.

Serving in this capacity is how we are a part of the solution.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I love this question.

I’ve learned so much about social media marketing and branding in the last year.

For me, I don’t see it as an “audience”. I see it as a community. First and foremost, this perspective shift helps when we consider quality over quantity. I’m on Instagram working to build a community of others like me who are struggling to learn who they are in the “after” of great unexpected loss. I also feel very convicted about trying to educate my loved ones about what grief may be like. If you’ve been lucky enough to suffer through great unexpected loss, you will someday.

I’ve met some of the best people through embracing vulnerability in this way. I don’t have a huge audience, but I may someday. Either way, helping just one person means mission accomplished to me.

If you’re just starting, building brand templates in Canva and scheduling posts helps so much. More importantly, staying true to yourself and your mission is more important than any analytics!!

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

The power of networking is something I wish I would have embraced sooner. This is the single most powerful tool that I’ve used to find all kinds of resources.

Whatever you’re struggling through or trying to learn, someone has done it before you. Leaning on others when you can will also help avoid whatever pitfalls they came across.

Contact Info:

• Website: kaitlinriffeuding.com
• Instagram: @kaitlin_uding
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/6b73a71bb
• Other: Non-profit Instagram: @operation.sheepdog

Image Credits
Emma Bright Visuals for my headshot