We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kate Young. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kate below.
Kate, appreciate you joining us today. Innovation comes in all shapes, sizes and across all industries, so we’d love to hear about something you’ve done that you feel was particularly innovative.
I love this question because I think it encompasses my career as a whole. I always wondered how I would make a career out of writing poetry. I’m sure that’s the question my parents asked themselves quietly when I decided to pursue a degree in Creative Writing. But alas, years later, I was a new mom at home with my kids when I realized there was still space for me in our home to be writing and space for me in the community to be sharing my work. That started on Instagram and overtime, led to the launch of my online poetry print shop. Poem prints were a new concept to me. I had never really seen them done before, at least not by little known poets like myself. But despite the deep seeded fear that no one would embrace the idea, I collaborated with an illustrator friend and launched my first two print products in August of 2020. Much to my surprise, people did embrace the idea. And as it out, poetry prints have been a beautiful way for me to get my work into the world and have served as reminders and encouragement for people, as well as art on their walls. That concept succeeding and still succeeding is blowing my mind, to this day.
Kate, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I grew up in South Carolina and have written furiously since I was a little girl. It’s always been my way of making sense of myself and everything swirling around me. I received a degree in Creative Writing and Poetry from the College of Charleston in 2013. Not long after that, I became a mom to my first little girl. Soon after, another. And since then, our son as well. In these little mothering years I’ve continued to find writing poetry to be my ultimate solace. I share my work on Instagram (@youngkate__) and in 2020, I launched my poetry print shop (www.youngkate.com). I sell several different sizes of quality print pieces encompassing my poetry there and in a few shops local to South Carolina. Vulnerability is a core value to me, both as a human and as a writer. I want to say hard things in a beautiful way. I aim to put words to things that many people feel and struggle to articulate. I can’t successfully do that for everybody, but if I can do it for some, that’s what I consider well worth it work.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I think a big struggle for me is that I’m a creative way before I’m an entrepreneur or a small business owner. It’s been hard for me to monetize my work or to figure out how to continue to diversify what I do in order to grow my business. As an example, I have so many people assume that because I’m a poet, I can just write a poem at any given moment. That they can commission me to write their wedding vows or a poem for their home or xyz individual in their life. I find that I technically *can* do these types of things. That I may even *should* do them, because there is definitely financial gain if I were to open myself up to it. But for me, at least at this time, I’ve made the decision to decline mostly all commission work. Mostly because I find it massively drains me creatively and therefore isn’t worth the effort, despite financial compensation. I’d personally rather continue to create what I feel genuinely inspired to and what I feel proud to have my name attached to; even if that means less money for me. In a way, writing feels so sacred to me. I’m thankful for the commission work that has come along and genuinely thrilled me to work on. Projects like that provide capital for me to create new print projects or host poetry readings; things I actually enjoy.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
One big thing I’m in the process of learning is that because I received a degree in writing a decade ago, there is much I’m having to unlearn to be successful in 2022. For example, when I was in college, the poets who were my professors were extremely adamant about pursuing publishing in the typical sense. Querying agents. Submitting your work to different publications. So I’ve pursued those avenues off and on over the past decade with little success. Meanwhile, I had a growing audience of people on Instagram who enjoyed reading my work and were sitting there, willing to engage further with it and share it with their friends. Still, I had never considered self-publishing. Every time the thought crossed my mind, I could hear one professor in particular’s voice in my ear. I respect her so deeply as a poet. But I’m learning that if I want to grow in my gifts and in this industry, I have to adapt and be willing to pivot my plan. This means pursuing self-publishing my first book of poetry, which is a goal of mine that I’d love to achieve by the end of 2022.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.youngkate.com
- Instagram: @youngkate__
Image Credits
Anna Duncan