We were lucky to catch up with Kyle Aiden recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kyle, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I was sitting in a hotel room in Chicago, swamped with emails from various directors and costume designers, trying to create and prepare choreography that I was going to teach that afternoon, trying to create a design for the next seasons launch of my clothing line when I realized, I would love a 9 to 5 job. I would be able to show up, do my work, wait until 5:00 and then go home. Why on earth am I running myself ragged to try and make this all work.

That night during rehearsal we are getting the number taught and one of the kids came up to me and told me that he wanted to be me when he was older. This was the quiet kid in the back that I thought was miserable most of rehearsal and that was just there because his mom wanted him to be a star. It was moments like this that made me realize, yes all the emails and work and hours spent in a hotel room alone are not what this job is about. It is the fact that I get to create art with humans that are just looking for a safe space in their school. I get to come in for a week or two and be that for so many kids. I don’t do this job for any other reason than getting to inspire kids to grow as performers, dancers, and humans.

Kyle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My clothing line that all gets designed on Canva was created out of a need for a personal brand for a project that I was hired for, all because I became a choreographer.

It was my freshman year in college where I was mindlessly walking to accounting 101 because I was going to go into business because I knew at the very least that I wanted money. Since the Fine Art building had the most public parking I would park there and haul my heavy accounting book across campus. One day, the director of the shows at the college pulled me into his office and handed me a binder.

“I want you to choreograph our next musical.” Cue me having to look up how to choreograph a musical on google. I open the binder to reveal, The Phantom of the Opera. After having a slight panic attack, feeling the most unprepared to do this task, I do another google search, how to become a professional ballet dancer in two weeks. (That was when I started teaching my first number)

That was the universe stepping in after seeing me trudge to business class after business class absolutely miserable and telling me this is now what you need to focus on. I was so lucky that in my short time at college I was able to receive several awards ranging form college level all the way up to national awards.

So then became the long journey of making choreography my full time job. I was applying and reaching out to anyone who would listen to me. And one day, I finally hooked something! I was going to be a guess choreographer and judge on a dance show that was to be filmed for Netflix. I was on cloud 9. But then, the contract. I was not allowed to wear anything with a brand unless it was your own.

And thus I started a clothing line. At first it was just for me to have so I could wear that for filming, but then thanks to Covid-19, the show got cancelled. I no longer had a “need” for this project. I then spent the next couple of months learning from friends and experts just what it takes to start a clothing line. The one common thread they all said was, “Get Canva.”

Canva is now the main tool I use for all my designs and creations I sell for my clothing line. With its simple approach to design, I was able to be a graphic designer and create so many design that I now sell on my site.

I designed my clothing line to be half tailored to dancers and my students and the other half to helping the environment. I am always so excited to get that little ding that someone made a purchase. And all that excitement is thanks to Canva.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

For most jobs-you go to college, get a degree, apply to a firm, work your way up.

For a creative- you sometimes go to college, maybe get a degree, have to have several part-time soul sucking jobs so you can afford to follow your true passion, put yourself out there day in and day out, learn to love the word no, and maybe just maybe something will work out.

If you do not absolutely love what you are doing as a creative, you will never make it. The world will eat you up and you will end up working a job that sparks little joy. It is a passion that is unmatched that gets you through and lets you have a career that is also your passion.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Being able to take a blank slate and create something that someone is like that was cool. Be that a design on a shirt or an actually performance where 30 people are dancing in perfect unison. You as a creative get to create actual magic that so many people think only is possible in movies.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kyleaiden.com www.kyleaidenapparel.com
• Instagram: @kyle__aiden @kyleaidenapparel

Image Credits
Claire Penning Isaac Barneson