We recently connected with Kristin Martin and have shared our conversation below.

Kristin, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Being successful is a measure of opinion and the only one that matters is your own. I’ve floated between careers, held several jobs at once, dropped everything and traveled across the country on pennies and trades, tried new things…failed…and tried again. I’ve never been able to fit into what society has taught me was a successful story. Some have said I go where the wind blows…but I take that as a compliment because although some don’t understand – I always try to follow my threads of passion. Between our education system trying to mold us into certain types of people, to social media teaching that if we are not seen and approved of by many – we are not ‘living our best life’, we are breeding a culture of anxiety and disconnection. In reality I think we live our most beautiful and successful lives when we follow our truth, listen to our souls whispers, and ground ourselves in the moment we are in. We are most successful when we are consciously creating the reality we live in and are unconditionally loving ourselves and our own journey. It’s taken me a long time to understand and find that grace with myself. To release the fear of being seen- whether it’s accepted by many or not – and to just be authentically yourself.

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’ve had a lot of different jobs in a lot of different industries. There has always been one consistent factor: Art & Creativity. Whether I was working with animals, teaching, working in a bakery…I was always recruited to some sort of content creation. My favorite moment was working at a chiropractic office and being asked to co-create a children’s book. It was a beautiful passion project about a wonderfully vibrant person – Maggie and her equally special dog – Tipper. (Lake Dog).

For a long time I was too afraid of putting myself out there. After I had my two beautiful daughters, something changed in me. I asked myself what kind of person I wanted to be, what kind of women I wanted to model for my girls and what spoke to my soul. I made a choice and put the fear of being seen aside and with the encouragement of my friends and husband, birthed Rose & Sol: a content creation (social media content, digital and physical marketing materials, marketing analysis) and creative consultant business in Buffalo, NY. My mission is to support Buffalo’s local community through meaningful creation. I strive to empower my clients and audiences to connect, engage, and inspire one another. To prioritize the voices and stories of our community organizations and small businesses to help them reach new audiences and increase the vitality of our Buffalo community. My philosophy lies in a commitment to inspire rather than influence. I believe in the power of authentic storytelling and genuine connection to uplift and empower individuals. Through my content creation I aim to spark curiosity, foster empathy, and ignite passion. By focusing on inspiration rather than persuasion, I strive to create a ripple effect of positivity that helps my clients reach their marketing goals.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

In my personal life, what drives my creative journey is the need for self-expression and modeling for my children the creativity in everyday life. It’s important to me to break through the noise, the hectic energy that has come to be our society and show that living simply and enjoying the little things in life creates the most fulfillment. To move slowly and enjoyably through your day. This philosophy bleeds into my professional creative journey. I am here to help small businesses and our community organizations elevate their voice and be heard through genuine storytelling and simple and beautiful graphics. My goal is to take their passions and stories and express them in a creative way.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn the perfectionist lesson. The idea that no matter how many degrees I got or experience I gained, I was likely not good enough for a higher level career or position within an organization. I always shot lower than I was capable of. Always afraid to put myself out there. When applying for jobs, I always applied for a lower level position and during many many interviews, I was told I was overqualified and asked why I applied to that job. It wasn’t until I met one of my best friends, Jenny that I began the journey of facing this fear of failure and the need to be perfect. With her cutthroat encouragement and unconditional support, I started to see myself.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Rose.sol.creatives
• Other: roseandsolcreatives@gmail.com