Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to KayraJay. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

KayraJay, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I love this question because to be totally honest I am not always a happy artist and do wonder what it would be like to go to a cubicle, do mundane tasks, then come home and just chill. But then, I think that would literally make me die inside a little bit each day too.

I’ve been working in the entertainment industry since I graduated from college in 2018 which is a huge blessing and I’m eternally grateful. However, around 2020 when life started to switch up on us, I became a bit jaded with everything which ultimately affected my creativity, which affected my work.

It’s hard to create when I’m not in the mood or have no inspiration and the work starts to feel as though I’m sitting in some cubicle anyways.

Being creative full-time can be really exhausting. This can be caused by having to fish for ideas instead of letting them come naturally, feeling insecure if I haven’t had a brilliant idea in months or even just trying to decide which ideas do I keep for myself and which ones are for work.

Overall, I don’t think being an artist is about being happy all the time. In fact, I think great art comes from people who are able to honestly tap into all their emotions and express that real, raw feeling in their work. So I’ve been going easy on myself and just giving myself grace to feel all the feels and know that everything I’m feeling is contributing to my journey as an artist and my best work is yet to come.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is KayraJay and I’m an Artist from St. Croix, U.S Virgin Islands based in Atlanta, GA. Since graduating from the University of New Haven in 2018, I got my start in the entertainment industry as an intern at Lionsgate during the 71st Cannes Film Festival followed by a summer Video Internship at G/O Media (Formerly Gizmodo Media) which led to a freelance Associate Producer position at one of their websites, Jezebel.

With a burning passion for wanting to make television, I created a 6 episode web-series called, ADULTIN’, with my co-creators and Season 1 of that show currently lives on Youtube. It’s my biggest accomplishment to this day and I look forward to creating more art that resonates with my peers in the way that ADULTIN’ did.

Around that time in 2019 I was hired as a Development Assistant at MTV/VH1 where I learned everything about creating and pitching television shows to a major network and was able to learn my craft by observing and supporting industry veterans who really made this work look easy!

As of 2020, I was promoted to Associate Producer where I worked across the Love & Hip Hop franchise in addition to several other hit VH1 shows.

In 2022 my boss, Lashan Browning, spearheaded the launch of her own production company, where I was elevated to Development Producer and I currently create and pitch shows/ films with this awesome team.

I am committed to growing in this craft and as a Libra, it’s hard for me to commit to anything, so this journey has had some rocky moments – but I know my heart is in it and I just want to use my God-given talents to walk in the purpose that was set out for me.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I’ve had to unlearn that there’s no rush and I don’t know everything – I will ALWAYS be a student of life.

Since graduation, I was ready to take this industry by storm and go full-steam ahead on my goals. But that just left me feeling burnt out and upset with myself when I didn’t fully grasp something or execute a task to the best of my ability. I would beat myself up if my energy was low as opposed to doing things that filled my cup and replenished my energy to begin with.

I learned that sometimes it’s better to sit back and receive. Receive knowledge. Receive training. Receive direction. If you’re always in go-mode you will miss key teaching moments that will only help you in the long run so I’ve had to learn how to slow down, take my time and soak up the present instead of rushing to the future.

I’ve also had to unlearn that I have to be the best at everything because I simply am not. I once took pride in being a ‘jack of all trades’ but in time I learned that that does not serve me or my art. I now use my energy to hone in on one talent at a time and take my time with mastery of my craft.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I recently found out that I’m pregnant with my first child and I’m going to be a mom. This was a complete shock to my system and not apart of my 5 yr plan so the news of this really shook me to my core and severely affected my mental health during the earlier stages of my pregnancy.

I am currently in a space where I am finding my resilience to honor and accept this part of my journey and come back to myself in a new way. I literally felt like the hot-girl in me died! But now, a hot-mom has been reborn and I’m learning how to breathe life into her while still making time and space for me.

This will be never-ending journey. I will always have something new to bounce back from while on this path and I have to figure out how to juggle it all but I’m putting faith in myself and the Universe that I can handle it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kayrajay.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kayrajay/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayraclouden/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kayrajay
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQIaJhKA9FaVaRserRpTopg