We recently connected with Reilly Wadsworth and have shared our conversation below.
Reilly, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Who is your hero and why? What lessons have you learned from them and how have they influenced your journey?
This is the easiest question I’ve ever been asked because the answer is so simple to me. It’s my parents.
My family is everything to me. My mom and dad have been and continued to be my heroes, my north star, my rock and my mirror. I often do integrity or character checks with them, rely on them to be honest with me and keep me in my lane. They keep me centered and confident.
The first thing you see when you walk into our home is a piece of art that reads, “’Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less,’ C.S. Lewis”. This only speaks to how they have influenced my journey because they are the ones that have pushed me through it and been on the sidelines to cheer me on. Our home is lined with gratitude, discipline, ambition, kindness and love. Every tattoo I have on my body reflects lessons I’ve learned from them, reminders, and things that connect me back to my family.
That’s why this question is so easy. Everything I am is because of everything they are and who they continue to choose to be. There hasn’t been a day where they have failed to show up for me or strayed from the people they are.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
From a very young age, I was always creative. I loved telling stories and listening to my family members tell their own. I never dreamed it could actually be a career.
My grandma was an extraordinary painter and brushed off her talent like it was an everyday skill. My dad is a brilliant storyteller, drawer and can even dabble musically. He never spoke about these things like they were serious skills. So I never grew up thinking I was different than anyone else or had something truly tangible and moving within me. I don’t say this in a bad way, my family was just extremely humble and nonchalant about their given talents so I didn’t realize what I had the whole time although it was with me all along.
As I came into high school I got more involved in various arts: writing, photo and video. Writing was my absolute favorite and became the way I could effectively communicate my exact thoughts or emotions. However, I loved to entertain. My friends signed me up a few times at our high school’s coffee house to do stand up. I was completely unprepared each time but would just tell my own stories. I adored winging it and seeing the faces light up.
Going into college, this helped me even more. My professors often commented on how my minor must have been bullshitting and coming from Advertising professors at the University of Oregon, this is the highest of compliments. Very very long story short, I took every creative opportunity I could to boost my skillset and push myself. I wound up getting the job of Creative Director for Oregon Women’s Soccer, the first position outside of the athletic department for any one team outside of Football. It was a groundbreaking opportunity that set me up for my current job (no pun intended) at the KC Current as the Content Manager. I took this position at the age of 23. It was extremely humbling and a huge opportunity for me to lead and step into such a role in the NWSL where I could help build women’s athletics.
I am most proud of the way I have connected with others through my journey. I always strive to leave things better than I have found them and I have remained committed to my 3 P’s: Patience, Persistence and Passion.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Freshman year of college, I started to question the path I was on. So many people were assuming I was heading straight to Nike after college. People said I wouldn’t make money in advertising, I wouldn’t get far, I wouldn’t be as well off. They said I had so much potential, business was safe, I would establish better connections. Quite honestly, I was terrified. I wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing. I switched into advertising anyway. I decided to bet on myself and find a way. Advertising combined every positive quality of mine: competitiveness, creativity, inspiration, thoughtfulness, intention, intelligence and, most importantly, storytelling. Never in my life had I felt so in my element.
Oftentimes, I measured my amount of self-worth by what I accomplished within the day or the grades I received. As I started to craft messages from my heart into my work and use every part of myself to connect with others, I found that I was my first resource. I had a place to put my experience and utilize emotions. In advertising, every part of yourself is your tool. I fell in love with it. Choosing advertising and learning to love all my life experiences helped me love myself more each day. Pain only makes for a better story. Making each day my masterpiece progressively translated into my work. All I’ve really wanted is to leave things better than I found them. Advertising allowed me to also better myself in that process of striving to serve others.
I wanted to be more, do more and be the best at what I was doing. I still study and teach myself what I need to be great. I know I am not the best, but I constantly strive to be because I have the opportunity and the potential to be great. What I found was that I could be great in anything I do. I could be one of the greatest art directors or producers, but I’m not yet. I was shown my potential but I found that that’s not what matters. Your potential doesn’t make you one of the greatest. What you do with it does. Where I was was certainly good enough, but good enough is mediocre. I started to apply myself every day and give all of myself to my career. I found greatness is earned, in every little thing you do. Greatness is a habit and an art.
The more I bet on myself, the more opportunities have risen for me. It wasn’t that I have never
allowed myself an Option B, I just never looked for one. There is only tunnel vision on Option A. For
example, the Director of Women In Flight asked me to produce the 2020 video for the program. I had
never had such a massive opportunity. I said yes before I even knew how to do it. I skipped meals to save money for cameras and equipment. All summer, I worked a marketing job I loathed so I could buy
equipment for the video, which was unpaid. I believed in Women In Flight and their purpose. I wanted to be a part of it. On breaks at work, I built my website and refined my portfolio. I worked 8-5 at the job and went home to study videography and production, every single day. I produced the video within a month and it was first shown at a football game with a crowd of fifty-six thousand.
Fast forward to quarantine in June 2020, I made it a priority to work on my craft every single day.
After special teams work in the SOJC, I started to believe I could be an asset anywhere I had the
opportunity. One evening, I got a call from Women’s Soccer coach Graeme Abel, asking me to become
the Creative Director of the program. In a time of no athletics and competition, it was my job to build the
brand. I taught myself Photoshop and learned how to create graphics for the first time in my life. I refused to settle for anything less than greatness. I got our unranked program to the top 15 in the country for social media engagements the month after I took over. Patience, persistence and passion pay off.
And now I am here at the KC Current building our story as we are building the first stadium in the world purpose-built for a professional women’s sports team.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My goal and mission that drives my creative journey has always been so far beyond creativity. For me, this is a life mission. I have always wanted to become the person I want to know.
I am self-taught in everything creative because I never knew someone who could do it for me.
Within my storytelling, I want to connect at a level where I can communicate messages and effectively talk with others, not just to them. I want comprehension and communication. I want people to listen, not just hear. And most importantly, I want them to feel seen and valued.
My goals are to tell stories in a way that positively affects lives and nurtures empathy. I want to leave the world better than I found it. Just as there’s a difference between being nice and being kind, I want to be that difference.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.reillywadsworth.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reiwads/?hl=en
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reilly-wadsworth/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReillyWadsworth
- Gondola: gondola.cc/ReillyWadsworth
Image Credits
Reilly Wadsworth