Creatives Like Us Podcast - Ep:38
Episode 38 of the podcast Creatives Like Us
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Kira the Bold: Permission to Be Audacious
In this episode Angela sits down with Kira Matthews (Kira the Bold), a creative coach who helps people pitch themselves to brands and overcome rejection.
Kira shares how a viral post about audacity took her from 5,000 to 25,000 followers in a month and what that number really means to her. She talks candidly about leaving a fast paced career in fashion styling that wore down her self esteem and building a coaching business from scratch when nobody around her thought it was a good idea.
The conversation digs into the client relationship building process behind partnerships and why following up isn't pushy, it's just good business.
Kira also opens up about confidence, being neurodivergent and feeling emotions deeply, growing up working class in East London and navigating the fashion industry as a black woman. She closes with practical advice on building social and cultural capital when you don't have generational wealth behind you, plus details on her upcoming three day event in East London this September.
Connect with Kira
Website: www.kiramatthews.com
Instagram: @kirathebold
LinkedIn: Kira Matthews
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Angela recording the ‘Creatives Like Us’ Podcast on Riverside with guest - Kira
Chapters
0:00
Introduction to Creatives Like Us
1:20
Kyra Mathies: The Journey of a Creative
5:07
Going Viral: The Power of Audacity
7:34
Building Confidence: A Personal Journey
10:51
Catalyst Connection: From Fashion to Coaching
19:03
Creative Projects: Retreat and Community Engagement
24:49
Building Relationships for Opportunities
29:19
The Importance of Follow-Up
32:24
Embracing Your Unique Journey
34:51
Overcoming Background Challenges
39:17
Navigating Identity in Creative Spaces
43:51
Words of Encouragement for Your Younger Self
Transcript
Angela (00:02.094)
Hello and welcome to Creatives Like Us, a podcast where we open up conversations about what it really means to build a creative career when you're black or brown. I'm your host, Brandon Marketing Graphic Designer Angela Lyons. In my guest episodes, I sit down with creatives who are out there doing the work, navigating the industries, and proving that there's space for all of us. Because the more we share, the more we see our stories out there, and the more we see ourselves reflected.
And the more we realise we're not alone in this. Okay then, are you ready? Let's dive in to today's episode.
Angela (00:41.07)
Hello and welcome to Creatives Like Us. And today I'm joined by a very special guest and I'm so excited to speak to her because I've been wanting to speak to her for ages. So can you introduce yourself and tell us what kind of creative you are?
Kira (00:53.164)
Yeah, sure. So my name is Kira Matthews. I go by Kira the Bold on Instagram. And I am a creative who is endless explore, endlessly explore exploring the types of like mediums that my creativity lives in. Like I started my career working in fashion. Now a lot of my creativity comes through how I think about.
opportunity, how I think about rejection and how I teach people to create opportunities and overcome rejection. and I express a lot of my creativity through content now these days.
Angela (01:32.11)
I love it. I love I've loved watching you on Instagram and your journey. And I think you actually put a post out last year, you a couple of years ago, you only had like two thousand followers and now you've got like what is it now? my god. That's what you do to say it really.
Kira (01:42.422)
Yeah. Twenty five K.
Kira (01:46.87)
Yeah, I know. I was like
Angela (01:50.75)
I know I know it's like I know we'll talk about your journey and how you got to twenty five K followers, but what is when you hit that number, what did it feel like? Was it was it like I've worked freaking hard for this or do you appreciate it or do you think what do you is it an empty number or what do you what do you see as
Kira (02:06.092)
You know, it's so weird because I was never like one of those people who who was like, I need a big audience to validate myself. In fact, like my whole marketing presence, literally up until this year, was like, you should take big risks, you should put yourself out there, you should raise your hands for opportunity, regardless of your size. And I was doing that and I was living that. I
Did one of my dream partnerships with Squarespace, the website company, when I had 4,000 followers, I never let my follower size dictate what I was gonna put myself up for and how much I was gonna charge and how I moved through the world. So I already had this very like grounded sense of what I bring to a conversation, what I bring to my content. I really enjoyed making content. So by the time, so I
Went viral in April and my I went from like 5,000 followers to like 15,000 followers in the space of a month. Yeah. And now we're in May, we're at 25K. That post and the posts that I've didn't done since then just get keep getting reshared and reshared and reshared. And it's really nice because a lot of people who have been here since before I went viral are like.
Angela (03:22.733)
Wow.
Kira (03:30.878)
I always knew that this was going to happen to you. Like your content was always so good. and you know what? It's really nice because I have a community of people that I've nurtured this community from when I was small. I took them really seriously. I didn't undervalue them just because they were small. And now they've got to like grow with me on this journey. So I think it means something in the sense that a lot of people have been following me and invested in my journey and.
I've achieved something that it feels like it's good for the community. Like now we can all believe that we can grow, you know? and at the same time, I felt like I always had this energy of being larger than what I was. So now I just feel happy that I have a number that feels impressive to other people who care about that stuff.
Angela (04:06.014)
Sure.
Angela (04:20.694)
Yeah. It's funny, it's that the people I love that. I love that because there are people that like especially if you're working with big brands, they do care about that. And even though you've got that you know, four K followers with Squarespace, which is fantastic. I still could imagine like bigger brands like, Well, how many followers have you got? How many couple thousand have you got kind of thing before they want to start working with you? And you're like, Really? But can't they see that you're great at what you do anyway? They just like just want that number to be like big and it's just but it's good that you've actually said that
I love that you actually tell people where you started from and people that you've got be bought on the journey because a lot of people think, I've only got like six hundred followers, what am I gonna do like with that? I remember pff I'm not even nowhere near you, of course, but I remember like a few years ago I had about I think about fifty followers on Instagram. I was like ridiculous. It was just like somewhere. I had to start somewhere, it was just my friends and like now obviously it's other people and people share like, you know, all that stuff. But it's just yeah, it's it's funny how these things matter to a lot of people, but I
Kira (05:06.915)
You gotta stop
Angela (05:18.54)
Well, I see it and I still think it's blooming impressive. Right. Before we go on to tell me about that you and your history and how you got to where you are now, I need to ask you one more question about that post. What was it that made you go viral? What was the post about?
Kira (05:30.932)
It was a post about audacity and I basically was like, here are the things that I'm trying to grow my business. And I shared three ideas. So one idea was that I created a newspaper and about my business and I made it really fun. I had interviews from people who were in my network. I had horoscopes in there. Like I asked an astrologist to like write personalized horoscopes.
I had a quiz in there. It felt really nostalgic. I got it printed by a newspaper company and I was putting that newspaper in shops, in coffee shops, in co-working spaces so people would find me. I also in that post was talking about doing virtual coffees and how I'm on a journey to do a hundred virtual coffees in 2026. And I can't remember what my last idea was. I think it was that.
My last idea in that post was like, I'm gonna pitch myself to a podcast. Like every week I'm gonna listen to a new podcast and I'm gonna pitch myself to a new podcast. This podcast was one of those ones on the list that I did. And I think people just really like people love the idea of a newspaper because they were like, my gosh, that's so cool, getting away from the screen. But I also think people liked it because it gave them permission to be like, I don't just have to market my business this prescribed.
Angela (06:39.725)
Yeah.
Kira (06:57.036)
way that I can see on social media, I can try other things. I can connect with people in my physical geographic location. I can do bigger things. I can take risks, which was kind of the thing underneath that post. And brilliant. I teach people how to pitch themselves, how to pitch themselves to brands, how to pitch themselves to corporates. And all of that is about risk. It's about
valuing the opportunity more than you value your fear or any negative outcome that could come. So I feel like that post did like quite a good job in summing up like my philosophy for life, my philosophy for business as well.
Angela (07:42.828)
I love it. You and also you you seem really confident and you call yourself Cara the Bold. Have you though? Have you always been like confident and like I'm gonna go for this? Or have there been moments because again, people be looking at you and thinking, my god, she's really going for it but I don't know if I can be like that and I'm scared to do that or come out of my shower. Do you do you have you always been like that or is it something you work towards?
Kira (08:04.366)
So interesting because I feel like I definitely was born with this confidence. I'm the eldest daughter. My brother, the middle child, is 18 months between us. And when he was younger, there was a period when I would talk for the both of us. Like I would say, we're hungry, we want to go outside, we're thirsty, can we have a drink? And so I was always that loud, chatty kid, I guess.
But then there's a there's a period in adolescence where I sort of lost that, where my confidence was maybe knocked a little bit. And definitely as I went through university and entered the working world, I felt like my confidence was really challenged. The gap between university and real life was huge for me. I also I have a really distant relationship with my family. So I navigated a lot of those like early 20 years on my own. And so
I had to really sort of like build my sense of confidence, my self-worth up from scratch in a way, after that period. Yeah. and I'm still doing that work now. I still seek out like I work with a therapist who I adore. I've worked with them for the last four years. So I'm still always doing that work. And I still get nervous when I every time I go and do a talk and I've done
So many talks, I still get nervous like it's the first time. Really? I still absolutely take risks that make me feel a bit like wobbly, like wow, I'm really putting myself out there. I say really inappropriate things sometimes in the hope that people will find me funny and not weird and silly. And so I feel like that fear, the element of risk, the element of being afraid of something never kind of goes away.
I think what happens is that there's like 50% of you that grows stronger. Like 50% of you realizes that even if this goes wrong, I can still have my back. I can still support myself. I don't have to shame myself if this goes wrong. I can still love myself through that process. And that's why my confidence is. Like I have a neurodivergent brain. I feel my emotions very deeply. So I feel my fear just as strongly as I feel my.
Kira (10:30.552)
happiness or my confidence. And instead of trying to like be away at the fact that I feel my emotions so deeply, I kind of just like, I'm like, this is how I'm feeling today. This is life. This is my body reacting to my environment. And that's okay. And that's where my confidence has come from. Whereas I think in the past, a lot of my confidence came from being a really great student, being the the
eldest child you do everything correctly, there's perfectionism. So now it's kind of like my confidence feels really different.
Angela (11:04.962)
That's amazing. That's brilliant. I love that you're still and you said that you're still still working on it and it's still it's still something that you can always push yourself day. It sounds like you're making daily choices where you couldn't push yourself daily. It's like, what am I gonna do today? What am I gonna do today? And then you like go for it and yeah, it's amazing. So thank you for sharing that. That was That's really good. So should we start back from maybe a little bit from when you were at uni? What certain where you are now? What made you actually come to where you are now? Was there someone that
Kira (11:22.638)
Very cool. Thank you.
Angela (11:35.106)
said to you, you need to become a creative coach for people out there in the world because you're in the fashion business. So what were you doing? So I call this section the catalyst connection. Is there anyone that maybe we can explore it when you start talking and we can pick those up, those points out.
Kira (11:49.816)
So really interestingly, no. Nobody told me No. In fact, I had a lot of people at the time being like, What are you doing? This is super cringe. I don't think you should do this. Like
Angela (11:55.31)
The show No
Angela (12:08.204)
Yesterday, super cringe.
Kira (12:10.262)
Honestly, people are like, this is not good. Like like I wish I had like physical evidence to show you. the o the closest thing I can get to physical evidence is on my podcast, which I now don't publish on, I do have an e an episode with my boyf my ex-boyfriend who was
There with me at the time when I started my business. He comes on my podcast and we talk about how he thought it was really weird at the beginning and how it's grown. That's the closest thing I have to evidence to prove that when I started, nobody thought this was a good idea.
Angela (12:51.214)
Right, I'm gonna put that link in the show notes if anyone wants to listen to that one.
Kira (12:54.126)
Yeah. So I worked in fashion styling. I studied fashion design at UCA in Rochester. Shout out to UCA Rochester. it doesn't exist anymore, but good vibes. cool. And my dream was to go to Paris, work with Alexander McQueen, work with Jonathan Anderson. I really liked menswear. I really liked like this romantic menswear.
Jonathan Anderson is really, really good at. I left university, I think in 20 2016, and I just realized that my course, which was all about being very good at sewing, very good at like these like technical tailoring skills, was so different to the real world.
Like in the UK we don't produce that much fashion here. So lots of the fashion companies who are based in UK aren't looking for like technical sewing people. They're looking for people with really strong creative ideas.
Angela (14:04.27)
strategists are more s creative yeah, it's not the actual doers, the basic
Kira (14:08.23)
Yeah, so your portfolio is actually like a really significant piece. And even though I had a portfolio, it definitely wasn't what I was strongest at. And so I really, really struggled with that transition. I interned for a couple of companies for about a year. I interned with a menswear brand in London called Liam Hodges. I interned with a woman's wear brand, it also in London called Asai.
incredible brands. They're still doing really cool things today. And who else did I intern with?
Angela (14:41.954)
That's that's a lot of interning. Did you go
Kira (14:44.13)
Yeah. I was like working unpaid. Wow. Yeah, I know, for a year. All the while I was working in styling. So I had a friend who was at university with me. She was in the year above. She was on a course called Fashion Promotion. And she was like, Hey, I'm doing this shoot. Could you come and assist me on the shoot? So I would go with her and I would support her as she did these fashion shoots for magazines. And so while I was interning, I would occasionally make money because I did
this shoot with my friend Cassie. And it got to the end of the year of the interning where I was like, I can't do this anymore. I can't work for free. I need to get paid. So I decided to move into fashion styling. And fashion styling is one of those industries where it's very, very cool. It's very cool. You work with big brands, you work with celebrities. Yeah, you it sounds cool.
Like I had four flatmates and I would get like Dior parcels sent to my house because we'd be shooting Dior looks and Prada and Christian Louboutin and all of that sounds really cool. So when I decided to be like, I'm not doing that anymore, I'm gonna be a coach. So many of my friends saw me as this cool stylist person. They did not see me as a cool coach person. They did not see coaching as cool.
And I don't blame them because at the time there weren't many coaches that were cool. They were
Angela (16:14.83)
I was just about to say that 'cause I I think we've had a bit of an explosion over the last few years of coaches, but back then I'm sure there weren't that many, especially that just like give up their job to say, I'm gonna become a coach.
Kira (16:25.23)
Exactly. Like they were all blonde. They all wore like baggy yoga pants and sunk kumbaya and lived in Bali. And then there was like another group of coaches that were like executive coaches, like, I was a CMO at Coca-Cola and now I'm gonna teach you how to be this, that, and the other. And I had a very clear vision that I was gonna be a creative coach. I was gonna make it cool.
The only person who I thought was doing it at the time in a call way was Teo Alola. she's the founder of Confidence and Killing It. So she was who I looked up to at the time. But yes, nobody was like, This is a good idea. But I do want to tell you a quick story into how I got of course. So I did the fashion styling for a couple of years. That world was incredible, and I'm so glad I had my
Angela (17:11.158)
Yeah.
Angela (17:20.629)
But you miss so many contacts.
Kira (17:22.498)
So many incredible people, however, ruined my sense of boundaries, self-esteem, who I thought I was. Because the thing is, is that luxury fashion values luxury fashion. So you find yourself sort of judging yourself about like how close you are to luxury fashion, like how many like Prada bags you own, how many Gucci shoes you own. And that's kind of a really tough environment.
Especially I was coming from, I was a working class kid who I had interned for a year and was, you know, out on my own. I wasn't gonna be walking around like in Gucci shoes. So what had happened was because I felt like my self-esteem was really low, I went on this journey to really work on that. And I turned to coaching. There's this guy who had this newsletter and he would send it out.
Once a week at the same time, every single week, and it would help me so much. His words were instrumental. I'm gonna try and find the guy
Angela (18:27.81)
Yeah, that'd be interesting to find out who it was. Yeah.
Kira (18:31.276)
And he would just say these things. And I was like, my gosh, that's so cool. So when I was about 12 years old, my mom was actually really, really into life coaching. She was a huge fan of Tony Robbins, who is still quite famous today. She was a huge fan of like personal development. Like, you know, these really American books that are like Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
Angela (19:00.866)
Yeah.
Kira (19:02.696)
Yeah, like how to be a millionaire, like how to think like a millionaire. She loved that genre of self help. So and like she introduced me to the secret when I was a t teenager as well. And at the time, when I was a teenager, I thought it was like gross, naff, 'cause kind of it I mean, it still is. Like it's very American, very like this bump and Yeah, that's it. So I thought it was really gross. But
Then when I was working fashion styling and I needed a confidence boost, I actually turned to these resources that my mom gave me as a teenager. And that's when that's kind of how the idea for me to do that in fashion or as for creatives was that idea was born because I kind of had it in my teenage years and I didn't really take it seriously. I really liked manifestation.
but then I kind of put it to the side and then I decided to pick it up for myself. and then I was like, yeah, I'm gonna do this.
Angela (20:07.414)
Wow. Wow. Love it. Love it. Speaking of which, have you you've read all the you read those you know, those kind of books you mentioned or anything like that? Is there a book in the pipeline? Hi right.
Kira (20:18.702)
I mean, I really want to write a book. Like there's a lot of like I guess things that I'm working out at the moment, but yes, there definitely is a book in the future.
Angela (20:29.59)
They always say that especially when you 'cause you do a lot of speaking, obviously, and you're doing a pitching and you're putting yourself pro proper putting yourself out there, they always say to the people that do speaking that you should always have a book that you can when you do your speaking, leave the book at the end and then people can pick you up. That is such a another good marketing tool because even though you might and somebody I read somewhere also, quite a few places actually, they say the same thing. You might not make any money off this book. Great if you do. Great if you do, amazing if you do.
but you'll make more money leaving it in a room where people will see it and the people that see it will pick it up and then work with you. I don't know if you've heard that.
Kira (21:06.946)
It's incredi it's an incredible marketing tool. So I have one of my goals for the year is to write my book proposal. So it's definitely something that I am thinking about.
Angela (21:17.88)
Brilliant. I love it. So what is your favorite creative project that you're working on right now?
Kira (21:24.098)
my god. Okay.
Angela (21:26.382)
Apart from your consents.
Kira (21:29.314)
You've asked me this at a really great time because I'm working on a project that I'm so excited about. It's a three day retreat in London. It was so funny. I asked my community to guess where it was and that everyone was like, I beef her and I was like, No, it's in East London. I hope that's okay.
Angela (21:48.278)
So I need to ask you something about this because I saw the word Leighton pop up and I was like, Leighton? What? Dad the road 'cause I live in Wolfhamston.
Kira (21:57.102)
So I grew up in Wolfhamstow. I'm from Wolfhamstow. Yeah. No way. Yeah. Serious. So this this like I chose to do the event at this place because one, I had seen it. And two, I wanted to do it as like an ode to my past self who was growing up in Wolfhamstow. And listen, I was born in nineteen ninety-five. I was living in Wolfhamstow way before it was cool. Like it was
Angela (22:23.948)
So was I and I've been here for twenty years. Really?
Kira (22:27.828)
Like the coolest thing we had was I think it was like we had like an Ed Hardy shop in the market at one point, or we had a shop that sold Ed Hardy hoodies and stuff. Like that was the coolest thing that we had. And this event, I really wanted to go back and be like, this is a full circle moment. so I'm working on a three-day retreat that's all about creativity and pitching and being audacious, putting yourself out there.
I it's basically a shop front. So I'm gonna make like a shop display display. It's gonna be so, so fun. I've got like a Pinterest board of all of these different ideas. I'm running a competition at the moment called The People's Choice, where I usually select the speakers for my events, but I have one session where I've invited my community to apply to pitch.
their workshop, I will pick my favorite four and then I will let my community vote which one they want to see, which is really, really fun. So I have lots of little creative things going on inside this one big project that I'm really excited for.
Angela (23:45.688)
Perfect. Tell tell me the date of when it's gonna be. You've released it, haven't you?
Kira (23:49.758)
Yeah. The eleventh of September to the thirteenth of September. Yeah.
Angela (23:53.358)
Perfect. Right. So I'm gonna release this episode and everyone will hear it and find out and follow you. And amazing. I what it's so funny, 'cause when I saw Late, I was like, Leighton? What you Ted? I love now you've explained now. I love it, I love it. So it's a proper full circle moment.
Kira (24:01.376)
Yeah.
Kira (24:12.3)
Yeah. Like I should do some content on that. You've reminded me. Thank you.
Angela (24:16.672)
Yeah, yeah, of course. I'm happy to help. Yes. so that's the so that's a project that you're creating yourself. Are there any creative brands that you're really excited to work with at the moment? And maybe tell me one about how you pitched yourself to them and how it came about. That'd be great to tell our listeners.
Kira (24:37.93)
Yeah, it's really interesting because I'm not working with anyone at the moment. It's really fascinating. After I went viral, I was like, okay, I wanna see how this changes things. And I've had a lot of like opportunities slide into my inbox that but they weren't quite right. Like I almost feel like I've built something really good and really interesting and I want like the right partnership to come across my desk that I'm like, yes, let's do it.
Because all of the partnerships and all of the work that I've done with brands have been really considered. So I'm not working on anything cool at the moment. I am pitching sponsors for my festival. But I will tell you about how I pitched Squarespace because we've already mentioned in this conversation. Perfect. So Squarespace was a brand that I always wanted to work with. Like I didn't know in what capacity we'd work together, but I wanted to work with them.
Angela (25:23.458)
Yeah.
Kira (25:34.946)
So I've started my business in 2020. I'm out there, I'm making content. 2021, brands start approaching me, asking me to host workshops for their communities. And it was really, really fun to see how that could work for me. And it worked really well. And then I decided, well, I don't want to just wait for brands to come to me. I want to go and pitch my own.
Opportunities, my own partnerships with them. And Squarespace was on that list. I met the marketing team at a conference in person, and I was with my friend, and my friend was like chatting to them, like, how you doing? Like, super cool, super casual. And I was like, How are you so familiar, like so friendly with them? And she was like, You have to be friendly with brands if you want to work.
Them. And that kind of like put a seed in my head. So after I met them, I was like, okay, I want to work with you guys. Let me know if you're up for a chat. And I kind of introduced them to what I was doing, what I was thinking about. And they were like, okay, this is amazing. We really like you. We'll keep you in mind. And I think I met them in 2021 or 22. We did not do our partnership until 2024.
It took yes. Yeah, it took a while. It was a lot of relationship building, a lot of following up. Every quarter, I would be reaching out to them, being like, Hey, do you want to come to this event I'm hosting? Hey, have you seen this? Like, this is really interesting. This is what my audience is doing. This is what I've been up to. Every and so sometimes they would come to the event, sometimes they wouldn't. But that didn't matter because if
Angela (27:09.752)
Yeah.
Kira (27:31.634)
I've every time I followed up with every time I emailed them, it was building a relationship. They were seeing, this is somebody who does things and like is doing cool things in the world. And I put it in their inbox so they could not ignore it. They just they could see me. And so in 2024, when the opportunity came around, they were like, we have leftover budget. We want to work with microcreators.
And in the meeting, they literally said, You were top of mind because you're always following up. You're always emailing. And we had a little joke. Because I was like, it pays to be annoying. And they were like, Yeah, ha ha ha. And it was just so fun. Like, and then the project was like a huge project. It was like an online summit. I invited nine experts across nine different fields to come and talk about their personal brand.
Angela (28:02.926)
Sarah said.
Angela (28:11.192)
Yeah.
Kira (28:27.618)
You can still watch the replays on my web
Angela (28:30.092)
I'm gonna check that out. Yeah, I'll I'll put the again, I'll put the links about in their show notes.
Kira (28:33.388)
Yeah, it's called The Future of the Personal Brand and it has been the template for a lot of my work following.
Angela (28:42.35)
Brilliant. And thing is, I love that you followed up and you weren't just saying, here's an email, I'm still here. Hello. You're like, actually, hello, I'm still here, and I'm going to do this. And you need to be involved in this, or would you like to come along to this? still being it's like what you said when you met your friends, your friend met them, you're still being friendly about it. You're saying, Yeah, you know, still still here, being nice, being friendly, not no pushy business or anything like that, but just following up and it all it is is an email. And I think
A lot of businesses, I include myself in that. we forget to like just follow up on emails or just be that person that you are it is okay to email that person again. They ignore you, they might reply, you just don't know. So just keep being friendly, being nice, be a nice person, a hundred percent, that's what we say, and just follow up. It works.
Kira (29:30.794)
Absolutely. And it's kind of like I know people I see posts on LinkedIn all the time about like following up doesn't work and cold outreach doesn't work. And I couldn't disagree more. Like I've had so many opportunities come from just like being sliding into somebody's inbox and saying, Hey, I want to hear more about what you're doing. I want to see if there's a way that we can work together. and also like it's
Kind of like you want to remember that sometimes a brand isn't getting back to you because there isn't an opportunity where you would fit. So by following up, you actually learn so much about how the brand works. So all organizations, most large organizations will have marketing budget and they'll have budget that they can spend on creator partnerships. But oftentimes they're working in advance. So
Squarespace when I was talking to them, and I don't know if it's the same now, but they were working like a year in advance. So they would plan their partnerships in quarter four and quarter one. So if you're following if you're reaching out to them in March, you've you have kind of missed the boat unless there is budget left over. But you won't know that until you speak to Squarespace and ask them. And there's no standard in like way that brands work.
So another brand will be like a year in advance. Another organization will do have like a monthly budget that is rolling. Sometimes people have budget allocations in like the third quarter. So I actually use my emails as a way to gather that information so that when they are having those conversations, I can be there and be like, yeah, you you guys are like thinking about your partnerships for next year.
I wanna be, I wanna put my hat in the ring. And I think a lot of people are afraid of a no when actually I would always be like, if somebody said no to me, not right now, I would always ask why. Why not right now? And they will tell you, people are always scared that they're gonna be like, not right now, because you're a terrible creator and I hate your content and you're too small and you suck. No one has ever
Angela (31:43.542)
No one's ever gonna say that. Yeah.
Kira (31:45.472)
It but the reasons that they share are always really logical. It's like, we don't have budget at the moment or
Angela (31:52.174)
Or someone's just left the company or we've got a new team in place or something like that. It's just all of those things, yeah.
Kira (31:57.902)
And then it's kind of like, that actually completely makes sense why we can't work together now. I am gonna follow up when you've said is a good time now. I am gonna follow up in three months to see if that's a bit of time. And I think with Squarespace, like they were one of my dream brands. Like I had this mindset of we're gonna work together. I don't care if it's now, I don't care if it's in a year too much. We're gonna work together. Yeah. And there are like brands that I care way less about that I'm like, you know, I don't care about this. Do you know what I mean?
Angela (32:18.894)
Nefessed that.
Kira (32:27.618)
Like when I have when I'm set on an idea and I wanna bring it to life, I'm very like locked in. Like I'm like, this is happening. Everything I was doing in my business was trying to demonstrate to Squarespace and to the brands that I wanted to work with that I am the creator that they should work with for their next campaign.
Angela (32:52.046)
Perfect. I love that. Absolutely love that. So it's this I love the way that you also you gather that inside information too, that knowledge. Put it in your spreadsheet so you know or put it as a calendar reminder, say contact them at this point. Because I think that's another thing that a lot of businesses forget. Like if you haven't got a C RM system, literally just put a what is it? an email, schedule post schedule post email to say follow up after this time if you haven't got a C R system or anything like that. Because that is the most
simplest CRM system there can be. But yeah, it's such a good one to remember.
Kira (33:26.03)
And it's kind of like lots of casu if if people are struggling to like think about this, it's like lots of consumer brands do this. Like you might launch a new product around payday, or you might offer a discount around a high selling month, like Black Friday. So if you sell products, it's like you're doing it already. Now we're just tailoring it to large organizations.
Angela (33:55.328)
really interesting you say it because I think a lot of especially businesses and micro businesses we especially if you're working you know it's your solo and we forget that we can pretend to be like I don't know like a big brand like MS because they are selling their products. We should be selling our products and we are the products, our services. And I think a lot of I think a lot of people forget that think, no I can't do that. I'm bit scared about this. And that's I think that's of the reasons also why I really wanted to talk to you about it. So I say hopefully this will inspire some people to
follow your content and just say, you can do, go for it, do whatever you want to do because you are your business and you are your own brand. Go for it.
Kira (34:31.979)
Yeah. Yeah. I think it's like it's worse to stay where you are and to not try the thing than it is to try the thing and to fall on your face. Cause when you try the thing and you fall on your face, you learn so many things that you wouldn't have if you didn't try. And I see so many people, they want larger followings, they want brand partnerships, they want
you know, more money in their business. And it's like you're not doing any of the things that would give you that. I think there's this like another phrase that I got from my coach, it's this, she said, for every goal you set, your brain is gonna underestimate how much work that takes. And as long as you can kind of sell yourself on, no, I'm gonna do whatever it takes, you kind of can achieve anything that you want.
Angela (35:02.125)
Yeah.
Kira (35:25.826)
And I feel like I'm really honest with myself about the things that I want. Like I do want this or I don't want that. Like for a long time, a large following wasn't something I cared about at all. Last year, I did what I call my year of trying, where I actually did care. And I was trying to put myself out there and I was trying to make content. And it's like instead of committing myself to lots of different goals, I'll have periods where, okay, now was the time.
Growing my audience would be really valuable, and I'm gonna do that now. Now is the time earlier in my business was a time where I was working on creative partnerships and I did that. And so it's kind of like be honest with yourself about what you want and be honest with yourself about what you're prepared to commit to. Like, how far are you willing to go for this goal? Are you willing to only try it for 30 days? Are you willing only to try it for six months? Are you willing to try it for a year? I think.
Giving yourself a time, like some sort of deadline is so, so valuable. Mm-hmm.
Angela (36:28.918)
That's really that is a really important point actually, 'cause I think a lot of the having that's even having that as a starting point, saying, Look, I'm gonna try and do this for like maybe one day. Then that one day could learn into like I'll do it for like the next week. And then that could just like build on from then on. Because I think it's just you know what it's like starting, it's just the hardest thing sometimes for people. But if you give yourself a a goal to work towards, and if it was a mini goal of the one day, do that one day. Yeah, and that's that's really important. So is that before I wrap up things or round up
things. Is there anything that you would like to go over?
Kira (37:01.718)
I would like to share if there's anyone listening that came from like a similar background to mine. So I was the first in my family to go to university and to graduate. Super working class. Like I felt like there weren't a lot of adults around me that had careers that fulfilled them. A lot of like my family conditioning was like about like, you have a job, it pays the bills, that's all it needs to do. Which to be fair, I guess, in the 70s.
80s, that's how we related to work. And obviously, the idea that a job is meant to have meaning and purpose is very modern. but I didn't have a ton of role models, and even in when I in my twenties in my early mid-20s, I really struggled with this idea of who I wanted to be and my past. Like I felt like I couldn't achieve certain things because of my background and
It took a lot of lot of work. And I still am doing so much of that work today privately. But I just want to say if there's anyone who came from that background or you have a similar thing, maybe you have things that you're managing, maybe you have a disability, maybe you have something that makes it harder for you. I just want to say to you that.
Just because you have those things going on doesn't mean it's not possible. It might look different when you're building it to how other people build it, sure. But it doesn't mean that it's not possible. So much of the work that I did to change my mindset was about accepting my past and making the most of the present. Because sometimes I think I felt like I would dwell on the past and I wish my family was different. I wish I grew up in.
Ch like Cheswick or like I went to like a really good university or a private school or some or had that kind of privilege. And then it's kind of like when you're sitting there wishing everything could be different, it stops you from realizing how much potential is here in the present. And so you may not have privilege and capital in terms of like a wealthy family behind you to support your creativity, but you can build capital in other ways.
Angela (39:22.862)
Yeah.
Kira (39:24.034)
You can be incredibly resourceful. You can be solution oriented. You can build social capital by building and focusing on your network. You can build cultural capital by, you know, developing a creative skill and getting really, really good at that. So I kind of feel like whatever you want to build, there will be someone who has done it. And
It is your job to find that person, to speak to them, get the knowledge of their wisdom and their insights and go and take it into your life and build the thing. Yeah. Cause your people and having people to look up to you will be that light in the dark for when you're going through it and you're finding it really tough.
Angela (40:12.024)
It's interesting you say that, especially coming back because I'm the same, I'm working class my parents from West Indies. And like when they came there was I think it was just me and my sister, really. Yeah, that from that side of the family went to uni first. And it is like the work was just to pay the bills, even though we all work now to pay the bills, but we want to work and have enjoyment out of our jobs as well as like what we do, even recall it jobs.
Or, you know, and have that extra money to do the other things that we wanna build. Cause like I'm sure all of this, you know, the other things on top do cost things, don't they? I mean, it's not just like we pay for we've got systems to pay for, we've got XYZ to pay for and like and if we want and also if we you know, as I said, we're micro businesses, if we wanna take a day off, we've got to pay for that. We've got all of that to contend with, as well as I don't know about you, but sometimes I ask my guests 'cause cause you've brought it up.
Kira (40:57.512)
Yeah exactly.
Angela (41:07.32)
But did your colour of your skin have anything to do with where you're positioning yourself today or any problems in the past or especially in the fashion industry, I can imagine, as you said, you mentioned quite it's quite those books or blonde white people or just that, you know. And it's just and not seeing yourself as a role model, no one there as role models. Whereas now I think the kids of today 'cause there's a lot more out there that people that they can see and look up to. But yeah, did you anything was there anything that popped up or came across in your career that you're working on?
the colour of your skin or felt hindered or hindered or positive.
Kira (41:43.506)
Ooh, I feel like there wasn't any there were a couple of situations with that were definitely racially coded that happened. But maybe this was because I was doing it in the UK. There was nothing over that I could like pinpoint. I feel like when I worked in fashion, people were more offended that I was fat than me being black. Quite frankly. They would
Honestly, I would have so much comments about my body and my weight and what I was eating. people were more offended that I was fat.
Angela (42:24.066)
Unbelievable.
Kira (42:25.728)
Yeah.
Angela (42:28.014)
I wonder if that's changed today. Gosh, it's terrible. Absolutely terrible.
Kira (42:32.098)
I don't get that many comments about my weight. I'm way fatter now. And I don't say fat as in like a negative slur. I'm just like describing my body. But people were incredibly critical about how I looked. maybe they just couldn't say the racist parts out loud of what they thought. I don't know. But also at that time, I did so much to try and fit into who I thought.
They wanted me to be. So I was endlessly on diets, endlessly going to the gym. I chemically straightened my hair. so if you see my content now, I have an afro. I was doing so much to like fit into this mold of who I thought I had to be. And in some industries, it almost does require that of you. Like people can be hostile if you don't conform. And it was one of the reasons why.
Building a business was really attractive to me because I felt I was having some health issues at the time where I felt like repressing who I naturally was was actually causing me problems. Like there's only so long you can work those really long nights and early mornings and, you know, take rubbish from people on set. There's only so long that you could do that for. And yeah, like so
when I look back on that time, obviously it sucks, but I also feel like it was really uncomfortable so that I left. Like there's so many people who are like in okay jobs. They have business ideas, but the job is okay, so they won't leave. You know what I mean? Yeah. So, and obviously in my own business I don't take any rubbish.
Angela (44:16.366)
It's your own business. And if you did you'd be like look at yourself well you'd be like look at yourself like to the left, to the right, like
Kira (44:21.646)
And now I don't put myself in rooms where I feel like I won't be respected and valued. And I definitely still walk into rooms where I'm the only black person there. And I do it knowing that I get so many messages about, it's so cool to see a black woman like being so creative or putting her herself out there so much. To the point where.
Somebody recently saw one of my content, like saw a video of mine on my on their feed and they thought I was American because Americans, especially black Americans, are very audacious. They're very good at being loud. Very good at I like I guess I have American qualities.
Angela (45:10.168)
Yeah. I think your look your look is too, like you're afro and you're quite you're quite, you know, bold and your colours you wear and I think and it Yeah, yeah.
Kira (45:18.04)
So hopefully I'm doing something to inspire people to be wherever you're from, whatever your thing is, but to just take up space regardless. Like don't wait until you lose weight. Do it now. In fact, put on more weight and then post the content. I love that. be more yourself. Like find a way to be yourself and
Angela (45:34.146)
Yeah, fair enough. Yeah, perfect.
Angela (45:43.374)
Yeah.
Kira (45:47.178)
make the content because it actually makes putting yourself out there so much easier because you're not afraid. You're like, this is who I am. So if you you're not into it, then there's nothing I could do to change that.
Angela (45:57.006)
I'm gonna tell the listeners again, go and listen to Kira's podcast and also look at her content. She is freaking awesome. She is just like you I love it. And you get so many ideas of how to put yourself out there. Cause I just think and you've got a community too, haven't you? Actually, we'll come to that bit in a minute, because I can you can tell me how people can find you and how they can connect to you and how they can work with you. but I've got a couple more questions just before we round up. I'll let you get on with your day, because today is like
Kira (46:08.6)
Yeah.
Angela (46:23.554)
the second hottest day of the year. We're in May and we're so hot. And we might put my fan on because I don't want to make any disruptive noises, but I'm sweating. so end on a personal note. what would you tell your teenage self?
Kira (46:32.407)
Yeah.
Kira (46:39.342)
I love you. Keep going.
Angela (46:41.624)
Thank you. And then the last few questions are the quick fire and five questions and it's a start.
Kira (46:47.928)
Yeah. I love I answered that one like a quick fire, so
Angela (46:51.662)
I know you were ready. You were ready. Love it. crystal chocolate.
Kira (46:58.254)
chocolates every time. I live by the beach. I love a forest. I'm gonna say beach.
Angela (46:59.938)
Beach or forest.
Angela (47:07.95)
reggae or so.
Kira (47:12.76)
So
Angela (47:14.286)
A patty or a sandwich?
Kira (47:17.07)
Every my god. I heard someone call a patty a meat pie.
Angela (47:24.183)
No, there are certain cultures they do call it
Kira (47:28.322)
Don't try don't do that. Don't
Angela (47:30.066)
Kara Karen's making a face like side-eye to me, so 'cause it is a podcast and people listening. She's giving me side-eye face.
Kira (47:38.08)
That's a patty. I almost went back and was like, no, sorry, that is a patty. That's not a meat pie. Anyway, patty all the way.
Angela (47:45.966)
I love it. Thank you so much, Camera. I've had so much fun and I will find out. What's your favorite what's your favourite flavour of patty, not meat pie?
Kira (47:56.206)
Mmm So yummy! Now I really want one.
Angela (48:00.206)
brilliant, brilliant. Again, thank you so much for joining me, Kira. I've had such a brilliant time chatting to you.
Kira (48:07.65)
Thank you. Thank you for having me on.
Angela (48:10.378)
yeah, it's a pleasure. It's a pleasure. And it's been so insightful too to know a little bit more about into your world and how you where you are today and what your plans for the future are. So would you like to tell people how they can find you, how they can work with you, if you've got a newsletter, how they can connect or all of that jazz. I'll put it in the show notes too, but it'd be good for you to advise it too
Kira (48:28.632)
Absolutely. So you can connect with me on Instagram and LinkedIn. I'm on Instagram at Kira the Bold. you can find me on LinkedIn at Kira Matthews. My favorite place to make content is actually my newsletter. So I send a newsletter out every Monday and you can find that through the link in my bio. But I'll also send you the link so you have it to put in the show notes too.
Angela (48:53.64)
That'd be great. Fantastic. Again, thank you so much for joining me on creators like us. And I'll chat to you soon. And follow or I'll see you soon on Instagram, I'm sure.
Kira (49:03.562)
Stocky!
Angela (49:09.642)
listening to creatives like us. If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it today. That's how we build our communities and amplify our voices. You can find all the show notes and the links at linescreative.co.uk podcast and connect with me on LinkedIn and Instagram. I'd love to see you there. Also, make my day if you can leave a review or comment in your listening platform choice. And it's really easy in Spotify. Leave it in the comments. Until next time, keep creating and keep supporting creatives like us.
See you next time. Bye.
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