Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kelsey Williamson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Kelsey, thanks for joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
I went from working a 9-5 at a church for six years to quitting my job during covid and becoming a freelancer full time! I quit with no job lined up. It was a toxic situation. Took the leap knowing that I wanted to live my life differently and have more control over my life and give my job less control over my life. I went from having a career to working at a Nike outlet store to pay my bills while I was networking to build my freelance connections. I posted a Tik Tok for my birthday a few months after quitting my job and the marketing director for the bar that I tagged in my video reached out and asked if they could use my content. I went out on limb and told her that I do this full time and if they needed any other content I would be down to collaborate with them if that was something they were looking for at the time. She told me they were actually in search of someone to hire as a freelancer to create content for all the bars and restaurants on Crockett Row and West 7th. A week later I had a zoom call with a bunch of corporate people and from there my freelance career took off!
Kelsey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I went to UNT and studied radio television and film and minored in marketing! I worked at a church through college in the youth department creating videos and running the social media until I graduated. Then worked myself into a full time job in the youth department as the creative director. After 6 years full time decided this wasn’t the place for me anymore. Started experience some church toxicity, The higher I got up in the ladder the more I learned how the church was functioning and that it wasn’t aligning with my moral decisions and how I wanted to live my career or personal life. I took a leap into freelance and hustled to make it a reality. Coming from that background I promised myself as I entered into the freelance world I would only do business with the approach that people come before product. Prioritizing relationships with the people that I was making connections with is the main reason I think I was able to grow as quickly as I did as a freelancer. I’m most proud of this because the opposite is one of the main reasons I left my job at the church. They cared more about what I could do for them than they did for me as person. A place that is supposed to support, elevate, and love unconditionally became the place I felt that the least. Being able to exit that chapter of my life and start over and provide all of my clients with quality product but also prioritize them as people is something I am most proud of!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I had a very challenging childhood. My parents got divorced when I was very young because my mom was an addict. I dealt with a ton of court ordered visitation and relapses for a good majority of my life. My dad was my rock growing up. He raised me and my sister and then got remarried when I was about 10. We quickly became a family of 7. She had two kids and my dad had me and my sister and then my stepmom and him had my youngest sister. Unfortunately my stepmom also struggled with her addiction to alcohol. So with the combo of everything I had dealt with up until that point I had to grow up fairly quickly. When I was entering my sophomore year in college my dad go sick. He got diagnosed with rare form of cancer. They misdiagnosed him and were treating him for the wrong thing at first and then by the time they diagnosed him properly he was already stage four. I promised my dad that I would take care of my siblings and finish school! I did just that! I knew I had not only made that promises to him but I had my 4 younger siblings looking up to me like “what do we do” now that my dad was gone. To look back at that and see where I am now and where there are is something that I feel illustrates my resilience for sure!
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I think something I had to unlearn coming form a toxic church environment and what I experienced growing up was that my value did not come from what I could do and what I thought I had control of in my life! So many things that have shaped or altered my life were tragic life events or decisions made by other people that impact me and the way I wanted my life to look. I think growing up thinking if I did more if I was perfectly behaved then my bio mom and step mom would do drugs and drink. It led me to think that those things were the same. That when they drank or did drugs I failed. That carried over into my experiences at the church as well. I was continually told if you do more you are worth more in the office but they were preaching something completely different to the congregation from the stage. The emotional abuse I endured there really affected my self esteem and the way I viewed myself. When I left I not only embarked on a journey of starting a new career but also starting the healing journey of unlearning and relearning a new version of myself. The self that I wanted to be that wasn’t dictated by anyone else’s voices.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hypewomandigital.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kdub5577/
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kwilliamson?_t=8Yg9onewabO&_r=1
Image Credits
@itsdarah