Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kellee Halford. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kellee, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
Honestly, I wouldn’t know where to begin, so I’ll start with when. 2020 in the middle of the COVID pandemic, I officially became an entrepreneur and started my consulting business. By 2020 my creative community and their various connections often asked for my input, advice, knowledge and skillset to help them perform various tasks, from stage play production to taping television pilots and everything in between. I took the risk that I could build a solid consulting business in the middle of a shutdown and help frustrated creatives and visionaries imagine new ways their visions could come to life. Prior to the pandemic I was primarily a background vocalist who’d occasionally substitute teach. Being a creative is no easy task and it is absolutely not for those who expect instant returns. Choosing to start something of your own during incredibly uncertain times is perhaps one of the greatest risks one can take.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
I am the proud owner of L’Erin Greenfield Consultants a Planning Facilitation, Project Management and Creative Consulting firm based in Clarksville, TN. I specialize in holding creative visionaries accountable to their dreams. I am a natural-born analyst cultivated in strategic thinking. When people entrust me with their visions it is my job to create, implement, and execute processes and plans that make tangible what they’ve only seen in their dreams. Many of my clients work in music and performing arts but I have also assisted authors, philanthropists and politicians. I enjoy what I do!
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
It astounds me that there are still people who don’t believe that the work of artists and creatives is actual work. Creativity and the creative process are intense and non-creatives often don’t realize how energy depleting conceiving new ideas can be. I believe it is essential that society acknowledges that the work of artists, creatives and creative ecosystems is just that, WORK. Societal support looks like patronage: attend our shows, purchase our products, share our information/content with others. Finally, society can make it easier for creatives to access things like health insurance and what government calls entitlements so that in difficult times we have the same safety needs as our industrial and corporate counterparts.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to unlearn timidity. Some of my earliest memories are like snapshots of times during my early development where respected adults within my community said things like “it’s not good for a little girl to be so bold!”. So many in my community thought boldness was synonymous with arrogance. I own and appreciate the nuances with which my parents raised me. My dad and mom are the polar opposite of timid. It took time to get here. Helping others unlearn timidity is part of my life’s work.