We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Maya Tomlin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Maya, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on to date was Horror Camp at The Bourbon Room in Los Angeles in 2021! It was a show put on by Joan Grande (Ariana Grande’s mom) and her company Diamond Dog Entertainment. Joan found me from my reaction to Ariana’s album “Positions”! She followed me and once she found out that I could also sing and act, she asked if I wanted to come do the show out in Los Angeles. I was so nervous but I knew it would be an incredible opportunity so I did it and it changed me forever. When I came home I embarked on a journey of self love and appreciation of all the gifts that I’ve been blessed with! I realized just how deserving I was of the opportunity (in hindsight of course) but also that I was capable of doing more in the future.

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.

My name is Maya Tomlin but I go by the moniker “Kioshi” or “Kioshi Warrior” online! I embarked on my creative journey back in 2017 when I began taking my YouTube channel seriously. I started by doing storytime videos and eventually found my way into the music space by doing reactions to my favorite artists! I like to say I’m in the business of joy and passion because I show both on all of my platforms and encourage people to enjoy art that brings them happiness. I think my overall energy separates me from other creators, I always highlight my personhood because I think creators as well as artists have a tendency to be dehumanized and our importance reduced to how “well” our content is performing and how much we give. I like to remind everyone that I’m a human being who’s creative and not a robot pumping out content for the sake of it. I LOVE what I do and I feel like that shows at all times. I also share my morals and political beliefs because I am an entire person. Last year I made it a point on my YouTube channel to only promote artists that spoke about the atrocities taking place in Palestine, Congo, Sudan, etc. All of the other reactions would go behind the paywall on my Patreon because if they were prioritizing their money and status then I would match that energy. I always encourage artists and other creators to use the spaces we’ve been blessed with to do the same simply because we can and I believe that we should have a heart for people regardless of where they are in the world.

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

The community I’m building is definitely the most rewarding part of this journey. So many beautiful and kind souls gravitated to me and enjoy what I do, it makes me feel whole in a way. I love being a safe space, I love being considered a “comfort creator” and it brings me joy to be there for people even if I don’t know them personally. It’s fulfilling in every sense of the word to see them happy or inspired by what I create!

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Society can allow us to be ourselves and no one else. There’s this common misconception that there is a formula for success when in reality our uniqueness is what will help us garner that success. Let us have our own opinions, our own way of doing things, our own path to greatness.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @kioshiwarrior
• Twitter: @kioshiwarrior
• Youtube: @kioshiwarrior
• Soundcloud: @kioshiwarrior