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

Whitney, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Yes! I’ve been so blessed to be earning a full-time living from my creative work and to get to do what I love every single day. It’s truly a blessing! God has been so good to me. But, I wasn’t always full-time.

Naturally, my journey to brand design began with my obsession for fashion, color, and all things pretty. I poured my heart and soul into a petite clothing brand I founded back in the day. Like any solopreneur, I wore all the hats for my business—including branding and marketing. I was feeling a bit stuck in my career path and I realized that I loved the branding and marketing aspect of my job a lot more than designing clothes, so I decided to take the leap and pivot from being a fashion designer to a brand designer.

I invested so much time, money and resources in learning all I could about this space; whether it be from signing up for every class/workshop, working with agencies as a social media manager or a digital marketing assistant, to eventually getting a degree in Graphic Design.

There was a season no one saw me as I was trying to pursue this path. I’m pretty sure my cat was the only one that saw me lol. During that season, I was only making $400 a month. Yes, you read that correctly, $400 A MONTH! When I say I truly dedicated my time to learning this space and pivoting into the designer I am today, I really sacrificed. Whew! Luckily, I was still living at home so I didn’t have rent to pay but, I digress! It was tough not being able to indulge in the everyday luxuries. However, I knew in order for me to scale up, I had to scale back. I wanted to be very intentional with my time and take a leap of faith and embrace a slower season to plant those seeds and to really hear from God and just allow him to guide me on this next path of my career.

Although social media can be so draining and a little bit toxic at times, I’m so grateful for my network, all the connections and the community that I’ve built. From showcasing projects to showing more into my personal life. Being able to put myself out there has been so beneficial to my career. Social media has been an outlet to sell my services, but also to express myself as well.

In retrospect, I would have definitely put myself out there more and would have taken a chance on myself earlier on. But, all I can do is focus on where I’m at now and where I want to be.

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?

Yes! I’m Whitney! I’m the brand designer behind WK Creative. I equip female entrepreneurs across the beauty, fashion, and lifestyle realm with a visually stunning brand identity that elevates their story and aligns with their people.

Inspired by the beauty of feminine design and detail, I work with conscious beauty, fashion and lifestyle brands to establish a cohesive brand identity backed by strategy and storytelling. I’m a bit obsessed with chic, swoon-worthy fashion and beauty brands, making this the perfect outlet for me to exercise my passion for all things lovely. As a romantic at heart, I fully believe in living life to the fullest and chasing after that #maincharacterenergy.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I think being myself and showcasing my work/services in a different way than the typical way of one would showcase their work or portfolio has benefited me in building an audience. Also, networking! Networking will never go out of style. I really built my audience from way back when I was designing clothes, so some of my audience has really seen my full transformation and has been on this journey with me from the very beginning. When I was designing clothes, I felt like I was in the streets meeting new people and building those connections lol. So now, whenever I need, I can tap into my network and they’ll show up for me and vice versa. I’ve been so blessed to be able to work with people outside of my industry and to really partner with like-minded creatives.

My goal has always been to sell a lifestyle; to showcase my work and to sell my services in that way. That’s what I resonate with. That’s the type of content I resonate with, what my audience and target clientele resonate with. Also, showing up authentically and being myself has been very beneficial for me. I think once you find a niche or a certain way of showcasing yourself on social media that resonates with you, that’s when you will start seeing growth. When you first start out you’ll have the tendency to unintentionally mimicked what other creatives are doing on their social media, but you want to try to avoid that. Ask yourself what speaks to you and how you want to show up on social. How do you want to essentially sell yourself or your services on social media. Remember: You control the narrative.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Again, I think how I show up on social media to showcase my lifestyle, my personality and my work has helped me build a reputation within my market. Also, kindness and energy! One of my core values is kindness. Empathy and warmth are at the forefront of my work. I believe that the closer the partnership, the more creatively stunning the project will be.

My passions outside of design, is beauty and lifestyle so I believe that resonates with my target clientele. I was raised by a single dad, so I didn’t have someone to teach me about skincare or makeup growing up, I had to teach myself. I fell in love with all things skincare and beauty at such a young age. I remember inquiring about tretinoin when I was 11. Teaching myself at such a young age about certain skincare ingredients, learning about my own skin with rosacea, I understand my client’s pain points, their target audience and what will make them stand out in such a saturated market. I think my knowledge in the beauty space has helped build my reputation within my market, also simply because I’m so passionate about it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wkcreativestudio.com
• Instagram: @wkcreative
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/wkcreativestudio
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitney-kerney/
• Twitter: @wkcreative_
• Other: Pinterest: @wkcreativestudio Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
@wkcreative