We were lucky to catch up with Kierra Wooden recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kierra, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I pursued various creative/artistic paths. My most notable, in my opinion, was becoming an author and 3D artist/animator. Since I was 6 years old, I always knew I wanted to become an author. Books were an escape for me growing up, it was all I wanted for my birthdays and it was what inspired me to start writing my own little short stories. From middle school to high school I began writing poetry and that was my literary medium that just stuck with me. During the Christmas break ending my first semester of college in 2016, I remember being in this diner late at night with one of my closest friends and I told him about this idea of writing my first book. I wanted to use the book as a source of women empowerment, stories of women who felt unheard or felt powerless and found their power. I wanted to dedicate poetry to those women. I didn’t have a clue about what to do, how to do it, or who to go to. However, I have just decided to start somewhere. In January 2017, I began my first promotional shoot for it, and over the course of that year I used my social media to, to reach out to women who were comfortable sharing stories, and I started writing, and also doing shoots with women for promotional use for what I was doing with my book, and my book cover was completed as well. One year of work, 2018, was when everything began to make sense as to how I could get published, what resources were available. Another author named Michael Tavon gave me so many resources, also helped edit my book, format, and helped me find a platform that helps independent writers. In April 2018, my first poetry book, “Flourish”, was published. And one of my poems was published in the same year in another book by H.D Hunter called “Torment”. I published my second book, To the Angel in the Room 2020, and I was part of a poetry collection, book 2021, called “Into the Black Beyond” with Contextos. In 2021 was when I decided I wanted to be a 3D Artist/Animator. I took 2021 off as a mental health year, especially after burnout. I didn’t have any goals or expectations for that year other than I knew I just needed a moment for myself. July 2021, I got super inspired looking at all the work I did when I was in college, remembering all the things I said I wanted to learn and do. So I decided I was going to learn 3D art. I had so much free time and I dedicated every single day to learning Blender 3D. One month I began posting work that I had learned how to do. It was my first time as an artist that I actually found something that just felt like me, that I was incredibly passionate about, it was a full-circle moment for me. I went to college for game programming and design, and am now exploring my creativity as a designer. I started taking commissions. I received my first four-figure commissions 7 months after starting my 3D journey and within a year I was selected to work and compete with HXOUSE to work on the NFT collection for singer The Weeknd.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Kierra Wooden. I am a 25-year-old black woman born and raised on the Southside of Chicago. I am the author of two books, “Flourish” and “To the Angel in the Room”, poet, model, founder of Non-for-profit Southside Cleanup, 3D artist and animator. I challenge myself as a creative by always learning and trying something new. I am self-taught, my curiosity, passion, and drive have gotten me into all of my crafts and industry. I think what sets me apart is that I find ways to integrate all of my creative endeavors together. Overall, I am a storyteller. It is my root. I like to explore every creative avenue that interests me, study it, learn it, master it, and add it as an extension of my storytelling down to my community work. I am most proud of doing everything I ever wanted to do, said I was going to do, and taking every risk to accomplish all the goals I set for myself. I said I wanted to be an author and that was what I did. I wanted to take my poetry to another level and do spoken word. I entered the Louder Than A Bomb poetry competition and faced my fear of performance art and got 3rd place on my first try. I wanted to learn 3D art and within a year I got commissioned by other artist, and was able to participate in things I didn’t even think I was ready to take risks on. I wanted to start my own non-for-profit exploring the bridging of community, civics and artistry. I was given the opportunity so abruptly, but I took on the responsibility and I started and run my own organization called Southside Cleanup and have partnerships with the University of Chicago, Maria Catalyst High School, Chicago Votes, Babes Only, etc. I have given back to my community food, essentials, money, laptops for students during the pandemic, etc.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I built my audience on my authenticity. From the start, I’ve utilized my social media, expressing myself with my thoughts, my style, pictures, my views on things, and my journey, the good and the bad. I was always myself, opinionated, friendly, honest, transparent, expressive. I’ve developed many great friendships and partnerships by being myself. It’s not packaged into an aesthetic, it’s not based off of trends, you see me through different phases and all my imperfections. If you are trying to build a social media presence, I believe the best thing you can do is figure out how you want to utilize it, how you feel comfortable connecting or engaging with people, but also keep your integrity. Be yourself, remember you are not a trend, an aesthetic, you or nobody is perfect, you don’t have to contribute your thoughts to any and everything, do what makes you happy, be shamelessly you.
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.
I feel like something that is always a struggle for non-creatives to understand about mine and other creative journeys is that we simply love what we do. It’s a passion, it is what keeps us going, it’s our motivation, it’s our destiny. Whatever ways we can find to keep us on that path, we will take it even if it comes with challenges, even if failure was the outcome. It’s unconventional, but just like them, we’re all putting our all into what we want our lives to be. Everybody wants different things in life, everybody is chasing what happiness means to them. Acknowledge that and stop judging because our version is different from yours. I’ve sacrificed so much and took so many risks to achieve all the things that I have done. I am ok with the uncertainty that being creative can bring. I am no world famous creative but I am one that has successfully earned a living from it. I am happy with my journey.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kierrawooden.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ho3micide/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kierra-wooden/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ho3micidee
- Other: Organization: https://www.southsidecleanup.org
Image Credits
“Flourish” book cover illustrated by Dontay Lockett “To the Angel in the Room” book cover illustrated by Kiara Cooper Image: Wooden_2 photography by Akilah Townsend Image: Wooden_7 photography by Dan Finnen Image: Wooden_8 photography by Samantha Presser Headshot Photo photography by @ill_mill (Instagram)