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

Katie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

As a kid, I was always kind of creative and weird in a way. I was never really good in school and hyperfocused on things that I wasn’t really supposed to focus on. I self taught myself how to play numerous instruments, had obsessions with music, dressing super colorful and different, and always wanted to do my own thing, but that was never really accepted. When I used to play pretend with my friends, I always pretended like I was a famous singer turned Artist Relations Manager (at age 9…this was weird lol). When I got to middle and high school, I would skip other classes just to hang out in the art room alone and work on art. Fast forward to college, I took a few art classes, and after 2.5 years in school and 3 major changes later, I came to the decision that I could combine my love for creativity and also the music and event industry by graduating with a BS in Communications with a concentration in marketing.

So I always knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally since I was really young.

Katie, 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?

My name is Katie Rentz and I am a freelance Social Media Manager, UGC/Content Creator. I started working in social media in 2017 when it was still super new and I was only 19 years old. I have always been a super creative person with really big dreams but never really knew where to put that energy into. In college, I started shuffling and editing and posting videos on social media and realized how much I truly loved being creative with my dancing and how that transpired on Instagram. I always felt super lost and misplaced throughout my life because being a creative is not something that people really accept unless you have a 5 step plan. For me, my plan was just to continue to create because that’s what made me happy, and that’s all I truly cared about.

I never performed well academically and never really meshed well in an office setting, so I never truly understood what I was put on earth to do until I found myself working my internship at a well known music venue in DC with other creatives who were also misunderstood. I thought working in the event industry was something so attainable for me because I would finally be around people like me who would inspire me to find my purpose. Unfortunately, 3 months after I graduated college, COVID happened and everything changed. As most people did, I spent a ton of time posting on social media. I created a ton of videos and just kept posting and creating.

During COVID, I moved to Philly and really felt like I started to find myself. I worked in various jobs that had nothing to do with any creative field, got an internship at a music studio (I DJ’d briefly in college and thought producing was my future lol), and really was all over the place for a bit. During this time, I met my very amazing boyfriend, Roger, who has his own photography company and he has truly has inspired me to focus on what makes me happy even if it is a bit unconventional. Meeting him and our friends has been the best thing that has happened to me. Having a solid support system with likeminded people is so important and I am very grateful for that.

There has been a very long road to get to where I am right now. After losing jobs because they did not align with me, trying to not chase a creative field at one point because my family encouraged me to find something more “stable”, working for a company to do social media and just not having anyone listen to me or respect me simply because I was a woman working in a mans industry running their creatives, I finally found myself and took the leap to focus on social media on my own this year.

So right now, I am a social media manager for a couple businesses, I do UGC creation for different small brands that’s helping me build my portfolio, and I am a tour manager for an EDM artist that I also do content creation for. I love working a lot in this field and I am hoping to eventually focus more on just UGC but I am loving this journey I am on right now.

The road to get to where I am today (which in all honesty is the very beginning of this journey for me) has been insanely difficult and scary but I am learning so much about myself and this change has reflected on to the accounts that I am running and people I am doing work for.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

A 9-5 lifestyle is not for everyone. The 3 step plan of college, internship, grow in a 9-5 office is not for everyone….but that is okay. It is not that we are lazy or do not want to work, but working for other people who do not understand your creativity or different way of approaching things because our brains are a little different has been something for me that has pushed me to want to work freelance. Granted, I am working my ass off to make sure I am making it out here, but working 7 days a week doing what I love that is fueling a fire in me is 10x more worth it than just going through the motions in a 9-5 that really would only be benefiting only my bank account.

Your mental health and happiness should come before everything. So even though it might seem a little unconventional to be doing what I’m doing, it is making me happy and it has honestly already started to pay off.

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

Coursera has helped me tremendously with figuring out which route I wanted to take as a creative. I have a few certifications in different sides of Marketing and social media through coursera. I learned a lot and even though I have more knowledge, it has helped push me into the direction I wanted to go which ended up being on the Social Media side of things.

I also just read articles that I find online about anything I have questions about, but nothing in particular.

Contact Info:

• Website: katierentz.com
• Instagram: @katierentz

Image Credits
Roger Dean (@r_a_d_pics) for the professional pics