Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristen Casey.
Hi Kristen, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I should have always known I was more right-brain than left. My childhood consisted of making homemade movies, writing original songs, watching classic movies, and filling up journals. But funny enough, it took me years to figure out that I needed to end up in a creative field.
During my freshman year of college, I struggled painfully through Biology and Chemistry courses on the pre-vet track. I was quickly realizing my love for animals wasn’t enough to get me to vet school. Frustrated, I took an aptitude test in New York City — one recommended to me by family. Getting the results back completely changed what I knew about myself. They told me I was in the highest percentile of an aptitude called “Ideaphoria”. In short, I think a lot. But this was of little surprise to me because I spent most of my time hiding in the music rooms instead of my textbooks in the library.
When a person tests high for this aptitude, they need to be in a fast-paced, creative problem-solving role; otherwise, they’ll get bored very easily. And this extends further than your career; it includes your hobbies and extracurriculars as well.
After this test basically told me to change everything about my career, I hit a roadblock. The school I attended, The University of Connecticut, was less known for its creative studies. It was around this time that my family decided to pack up everything from our New Jersey home and move to the sunny state of Florida. So a move across the country and a college transfer later, I found myself studying Advertising at The University of Florida.
In the summer of 2019, I made another crazy decision and studied abroad for 10 weeks in Barcelona, Spain and Sorrento, Italy. While there, I took a global marketing course as well as a multi-media journalism class. In my journalism class, I was reminded of my love of writing and documenting life through pictures. All my assignments included writing blog posts, creating a travel Instagram, interviewing locals, and taking pictures of the beautiful Italian scenery. After months of confusion (and a little depression from no longer being in my hometown), I found myself learning what I loved most in life again.
The pandemic was the next crazy step for me, and having all the time in the world led me to create a YouTube channel: something I was always dreaming of doing but was too scared to start. Throughout my senior year, I posted to this channel faithfully and only just started getting comfortable promoting it to family and friends.
Flash forward to graduation: I finished my Advertising degree at UF in May of 2021. After graduating, I landed a PR + Communications role for a financial wellness app doing all my favorite things: writing, photography, and social media. A few months after graduating, I decided to take my own social media seriously and create a content strategy with the intention of growing. Shortly after that, I launched my website/blog.
Now I’m working full-time remotely (giving me time to travel around with friends) spending my time creating content for my own social media as well as for my full-time job. When I’m not glued to my computer creating content and writing, I’m taking my dogs to the beach, watching true crime documentaries, cooking various pasta recipes, and going to the gym or tennis courts.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Challenging doesn’t even begin to cover the last few years. College was definitely the best 4 years of my life, but it didn’t come without struggles.
The hardest and lowest point of my life was when I first started at UF. Within 6 months, I lost everything familiar to me: my hometown, my college I loved, a failed long-distance relationship that didn’t work out how I wanted it to, my friends and family being states away from me (knowing not one person on the UF campus), and a medical condition that made it hard to speak and sing.
This was the first time I ever experienced immense anxiety. In fact, it was the first time I ever felt what it was like to be depressed. That semester felt lonely, and my usual extroverted self instead spent hours hiding in the library avoiding going home to my empty apartment. Only months before I had been on a high in life, only to have it all be left behind in what felt like a previous life. It was like a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.
So that’s where I realized I had to start rebuilding from. While my anxiety never left, I learned how to work through it. I took a chance and went abroad, where I finally left like myself again. I got super involved in things I loved doing (photography, tennis, music, church, etc.) and met all new people who I’m so beyond grateful for. I wouldn’t be where I am today with the people I have in my life — long-distance friendships and all.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I work full-time in PR and Advertising for OneEleven Financial Wellness, a mobile app that teaches you how to create healthy money habits and spend more on the things you love. I get to fill a lot of fun roles, and some of my day-to-day activities include copywriting, content creation, social media management, videography + editing, pitching journalists, writing press releases.
On the side, I’m a part-time content creator. I have a YouTube channel and a blog called LifeDesignedbyKristen.com, which is new and still a work in progress! I would say at the moment that my Instagram (@kristen.m.casey) is my proudest accomplishment because I’ve seen my work pay off the most. I’ve had so many cool opportunities to partner with brands I already love and really show off my combined love for photography and fashion. I would say at the moment I’m very specialized in all things photography and social media, but I love all aspects of the content creation process.
And I think what currently sets me apart is vulnerability and authenticity. I never want anything I post to not be entirely and completely me. I want to be open about my life and struggles with others in hopes that people feel like I’m a friend behind the screen more than anything else.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
You can support me by following me on Instagram @kristen.m.casey or subscribe to my YouTube channel youtube.com/kristencaseyyy. I also love supporting local businesses and working with fashion/lifestyle brands, so you can contact me at [email protected] if you think we would be a good fit to collab!
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: lifedesignedbykristen.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristen.m.casey/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/kristencaseyyy
