We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kristen Casey. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kristen below.

Kristen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

Most of my answers to “what I want to be when I grow up” as a kid were science-related. I went from volcanologist to marine biologist to meteorologist and so on, because I was always a kid that loved to learn. The idea of traveling around the world and learning about how things worked has always been fascinating to me — and it’s partially why documentaries are some of my favorite things to watch on TV.

Then in high school I settled on a journalist, because I told my parents that journalists get to see and learn things in a similar way, but then they get to create stories out of those experiences. I realized I liked the storytelling side of things.

But it took me another 2 years to realize a creative field was where I was meant to be. I had struggled through pre-vet classes freshman year of college, hiding in the music room to avoid my textbooks. The frustrating part was I would spend days studying for my exams, only to fail.

My parents then recommended a professional aptitude testing in New York City to me. It was one that my family had participated in before, and so I agreed to the 2-day test in the city. When the test was over, the woman sat me down and looked me dead in the eye, saying “you could literally be anything but a STEM major”. I laughed, considering I was a biology major at the time.

But this woman started very quickly speaking my language. She wasn’t surprised I was spending my time hiding in the music room — literally teaching myself piano — instead of figuring out how the brain and heart worked in my bio textbooks. She said that I tested off the charts for an aptitude called Ideaphoria, and in short I think a lot. It’s something us creatives need to be successful, she went on to explain.

What I immensely lacked what spatial thinking: the aptitude that is most commonly needed in STEM degrees but also in things like graphic design and architecture (so I checked those off my list as well). This is why I was getting so frustrated in my classes.

The point of discovering your aptitudes is that we all will feel more satisfied using our aptitudes in all areas of our life.

Bottom line was I needed a creative problem-solving career. Knowing this, I switched to an advertising degree and started taking classes I loved like public speaking, copywriting, and strategy. Among these classes was a multimedia journalism course I took over the summer in Europe. THIS was my turning point.

This class was in Sorrento, Italy on the Amalfi Coast, so of course I knew I’d fall in love with it. Our assignments were to interview locals, create video diaries, and write blog posts. While I fell in love with the coursework itself, writing on the coast where the Odyssey was inspired made me fall in love even more. This is when I knew I was where I was meant to be: in storytelling.

Fast-forward to life out of college. I’m working a full-time job in advertising/PR, but my side hustle has become Instagram and YouTube (and soon enough my new blog!). I realized I NEED to have creative outlets surrounding my life because otherwise I get bored and feel unfulfilled. Storytelling and creating are what drives me in life.

Now I can proudly say that both my full-time job and my side hustles are all creative, and in multiple different ways. I get to spend my days filming, writing, editing, and drawing all things that are driving forward my own business and my company’s business. It feels meaningful, purposeful, and I still feel like I get to learn new things every day.

I don’t know where I’m going to be in 5 years or even 1 year from now, but I do know it will be to tell stories in some capacity.

Kristen, 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 am a fashion and lifestyle content creator mainly based on Instagram and also on YouTube. I love to inspire others in the content I’m creating, whether it’s through outfit inspiration, Florida beach content, or apartment must-haves. I will also be launching my new blog, www.whereyoubloom.com, in the next month which I am so excited for!

I sort of fell into what I’m doing by chance. I had always loved YouTube and Instagram and posted pretty reguarly to social media for friends and family. It was during COVID when I was looking for things to do that I started my YouTube channel. I had always wanted to do it, but was too scared to start in fear of what others would think about me. Had I known then what I know now, I would have absolutely started my channel years ago. It has been a place for mostly vlogs and ramblings on topics I’m passionate about. Throughout senior year of college I kept my channel up, posting regularly for my 1K subscribers.

A few months after graduation, I saw girls finding huge success on Instagram and making a full-time career out of it. Determined to do the same, I spent hours teaching myself the ways of the Instagram algorirthm, studying other creator’s habits, and testing out what worked for my platform. And within 6 months, I grew to 20,000 followers which is insane!

Now I post to Instagram 4 times a week with all kinds of content (but mostly fashion content) and I will be kick-starting my YouTube videos again with lots of apartment, adulting, and moving to Tampa content!

I absolutely love what I do and I’m so grateful to not only have a platform to reach others across the world, but also to make it into my part-time job!

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I mentioned the scary ‘Instagram algorithm’ which is a complicated and ever-changing thing. For me, the best way you can support me is by engaging with my content. Instagram has evolved over the years, and in their effort to be more like Pinterest and Google, they value things like saving and sharing over commenting and liking. All are important, but the best way to support your favorite creators is to love on their posts. Personally, I spend hours of my week behind the scenes trying to make content that people will actually appreciate, and so it really goes a long way for you to save and share (and engage in any way you’d like!). Plus it is a huge indicator to me that I’m creating valuable content for my audience!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect is the feedback I get from others. I am already proud of myself for stepping out and creating the content I create, but nothing makes me more emotional than hearing it from others.

I have had so many people in my life say to me that they not only love what I’m doing, but they are encouraged themselves to pursue a creative field. I’m here to inspire people, and so when I hear from people that I have done that I couldn’t be happier.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.whereyoubloom.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristen.m.casey/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/kristencaseyyy
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/kristencaseyy/