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

Hi Raven, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I was a teacher for the majority of my professional career. I spent nearly a decade in classrooms after attaining my B.A., Masters, and Specialist degrees. I am even in the final years of my Doctorate now for the educational field. However, back in 2020 during the pandemic I took up a side hobby of content creation and live streaming. It was something that brought me through the hardships of that time and helped my mental health tremendously. It started off small, but then grew to a partnership with a platform called Twitch. This was a shocking feat for me. As time went on I continued teaching, but poured more and more of myslef into content creation. It finally got to the point where I believed I could do more if I were not working 40+ hour weeks in the classroom. So I decided to take a huge risk. Leaving behind my 60k annual salary, excellent health benefits, and the only career I’d know to pursue a new one. It felt daunting at first, but the community gathered around me and continually made me believe the path I’d chose was the right one. There have been struggles, stresses, but moreover countless amounts of memories and joy in taking the leap. I am here over a year later, still streaming, still putting food on the table, still growing, and still loving the chance I’ve been given in a field I’d never imagined.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a cosplayer and voice actor that does live streaming events 4 nights a week on Twitch. I do voiceovers and new characters all the time, but my main fortay is cosplaying Jack Sparrow. With the whimsey of the characters I put on a family friendly program and post content related to it on all socials.

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

The most rewarding thing about working in this realm is the community. Getting to meet people from all around the world and hearing their stories, there’s nothing like it. I focus on a mission of trying to instill self worth in others while advocating for mental health on and offline. It is always so fulfilling to hear something we have done through content creation has helped affirm someone in someway.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Going from zero presence or followers to tens of thousands is no easy feat. Trying to go make a brand new entity and getting people interested is quite a challenge. Many may know this in any startup business how challenging it can be to gain relevance. So while most may only pay atttention to the top 1% of creators. Anyone who has amassed some sort of following has typically spend grueling hours into getting established. It’s not as simple as turn on the camera and play video games. The grind takes place offline, the live button is the reward for the hard work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.twitch.tv/theravenarmed
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_raven_armed/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRavenArmed/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheRavenArmed
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFl3BCEmVqj6WjMAzySrh7Q