Episode 004 - Guest Interview: Kristen Poissant
The Arts welcomes its first guest to the podcast! We interview Creative Director and Brand Strategist Kristen Poissant about following a creative dream and being financially and creatively independent in New York City.
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Show Notes
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Guest: Kristen Poissant
Follow Kristen on Instagram
Check out Kristen’s website
Finding Your Unicorn Space by Eve Rodsky
Fair Play by Eve Rodsky
“Black American Portraits” at the LACMA
“Behind the Myth of Benevolence” by Titus Kaphar
Kaphar’s Ted Talk, "Can Art Amend History?"
Patrons of the exhibit - interesting story about the couple who made it happen.
Fact check: NYC is the world’s 6th most expensive city, according to this article.
Wynken, Blynken and Nod poem / book by Eugene Field
Homework: Learn more about Tiffany Pratt and her Creative Mornings podcast.
We would love to hear from you! Email us your questions and ideas at podcast at artbymegan dot com
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Megan: Okay. We're going to go from the top. Ready?
Friend: Ready.
Megan: All right. So we're doing episode four.
Friend: Welcome to The Arts, a brand new podcast about art and money. I've spent my career managing at some of the world's largest financial institutions. So I can't tell you my name, but trust me, talking about money is my jam.
Megan: And I'm Megan, I'm an artist and a teacher. And now co-host of this amazing podcast. We're having this conversation because we came to a realization. We have no idea how the other person spends her workday.
Friend: Or her money. So let's chat about it.
Megan: On today's show. We're talking about financial independence and taking the leap from corporate life to entrepreneurial bliss, with our super special guest and friend of the show Kristen Poissant.
Friend: Yay. I love Kristen so much. We're also going to explore what we've been learning about in The Scene. And we have some homework for our listeners and ourselves. You ready?
Megan: Yay. I was born ready.
Friend: I'm sure.
Megan: So ready.
Friend: The Scene. Okay. You know, I'm at the pulse of all things, trendy. I just finished reading Unicorn Space. Have you heard of this book by Eve Rodsky?
Megan: Okay. So she's the author of a book called Fair Play, which I haven't delved into too far because it's too close to the pandemic parenting surface.
It's about equality in the home. And I'm not sure I want to go there to be honest, because it's not equal. And women have taken on the lion's share of all things, but in this book, Unicorn Space, what is being spoken about is carving out time for yourself as a person, no matter what your day job to pursue something that is for yourself.
It's not a hobby. It's not a job. It's not self care. It's like an intellectual pursuit or a completely quote unquote selfish endeavor. What I liked about that is that it talks basically about how we should make a podcast. So I love her ideas. I like her data collection. It's a book that I have to kind of like read in small spurts because it's a little bit of it as like, too deep into women, losing their identities during motherhood and specifically mothering in a pandemic.
And I can't dive into that too deep without getting out, you know, but, but I love the idea of. Any human needing an intellectual pursuit. That's not for capitalism and or self care, which I find to be kind of a slippery slope. So anyways, Eve the author, if you're listening JK, I mean, maybe she's listening.
We would love to have you on the show sometime because I want to fully debate with her and dive deeper into this world of unicorn space.
Friend: Oh, so interesting. I love her too. I think she would be willing. We'll have to see
what she says. I saw her speak when Fairplay came out. I also bought the book and gave it as gifts. I'm glad I didn't send it to you because I think that would have been a stressful gift.
But I actually think it's a lot of fun. I think the concept, she makes it a game, right?
So you're, you're basically like playing with cards and I think it's just like what we're trying to do here, giving a, a way to talk about difficult things. she's provided a way to do that.
Megan: Yeah. I think the problem with Fair Play is like when the bottom falls out and one person's job truly does matter more than the others. Like I'm the default parent. Right? So like I had to be the safety net. For all the homeschooling and pivoting and unpredictability. So that was just like, I was like, I can't play this card game where I'm like, you should do more household chores husband, because it's like, it's not an option right now.
Friend: Yeah. I think it'd be interesting to ask her that cause that book came out before extreme circumstances.
Megan: And I think Unicorn Space is sort of not her like apology, like, sorry, there was a pandemic, but her realizing this conversation evolves, which, you know, I'm totally down with.
Friend: Yeah.
Megan: What are you thinking about these days?
Friend: Well, I wanted to pick up where I left off in the last episode. I was talking about seeing the Obama portraits in
LA, but I didn't want to go on too much. I was very excited and I thought, let me just try to contain this for the next one, split it into two.
Megan: The title of my memoir.
Friend: and I didn't really get to spend too much time on the complimentary exhibit that was next door to where the Obama portraits were and, how it really impacted me and has haunted me in the time since I was there. This is a moving exhibit, but at least at the LA County Museum of Art, when you're done looking at the Obamas, the traffic is routed into this side exhibit and it's called Black American Portraits. I didn't want to sort of mis-explain this
and,
go outside of my ability to articulate it too far. So I just went to the LACMA website and I'm just going to read how they describe the exhibit.
" Black American portraits chronicles the ways in which black Americans have used portraiture to envision themselves in their own eyes, countering a visual culture that often demonizes blackness and fetishizes, the spectacle of Black pain. These images center on love, abundance, family, community, and exuberance."
So there was this one piece in particular. And there were, I mean, the room was massive. It was almost 150 pieces, but there was this one in particular that. I just, it just floored me. Like, it just, it just stopped me and I, it was the first time I've really had an experience of like needing more time and not wanting to move from having the opportunity and the time to just take it in.
It's called Behind the Myth of Benevolence, by Titus Kaphar. So, it just, yeah, it just got me.
Megan: Well, it's wild. Like why? I mean, why were you like staring at it for four hours?
Friend: Yeah, I, and I probably could have, but I had someone else with me at the museum that day and he was like, "You you okay?" I'm like, "No, I'm not okay. I don't think I'm ever going to be the same." Um, so I'm new to this, right? I don't know if this is more common, this was the first time I had ever
seen something like this done, but it was this literal physical representation of pulling back the curtain on history with art.
Megan: We're going to link to it in the show notes because this piece is breathtaking, even as like a JPEG on the internet. You're just like,
Friend: You're like what? I mean, I had to walk, I had to see it from all different angles. it really changed depending on where you were standing.
So let me just explain how the artist would explain it. This is Titus Kaphar. He's been quoted as saying that, this piece came out of a conversation. He was having with an art history teacher who in the interview described Thomas Jefferson as a "benevolent slave owner." Air quotes. But then when he followed up that teacher was unable to explain what made Jefferson so benevolent, like was unable to articulate how you would tie benevolence to what he was.
And so Kaphar went back to the studio and he paints this portrait of Thomas Jefferson on canvas, and then he pulls it away or layers it, I guess, over top of another canvas with a black woman. And she's peering out, you know, from her own canvas behind him. And it's just, uh...
Yeah, It's wild.
So Yeah. I know that Kristen is going to assign some homework, but I would also recommend Google, the image, or, the artist has also done a Ted talk on amending art. NPR has done some interviews. There's also.. there was a couple that did fundraising events and so on to make the exhibit happen and then had a walkthrough event of their own house and all of their related art. That's what really got me this week that I wanted to make sure that I had closed the loop on from last week.
Megan: I love that. I just thought of a great episode, which is art, that just blows your mind.
Friend: Yeah.
Megan: And we'll go through a bunch because this is so noteworthy, not just because of like a moment, but portraiture itself is deep, right? Like, and the fact that this, this painter has taken it back, right? It's like this, there's so many layers to this literally and metaphorically. It's beautiful.
Friend: Yep.
That'd be cool.
Megan: All right. Well, we're going to link to all this in the show notes so everyone can start being huge intellectual art historians like us.
Friend: Yes,
I have
no idea.
Megan: Our title.
Friend: well, I am certainly not an expert in any way, but we are going to talk to somebody who has spent much of her life in art and design and, is killing it. And we love her.
Megan: Yes, we like that in a lady.
Friend: Yes.
The Main Exhibit.
Megan: We are super excited today to be joined by our BFF and super talented creative Kristen Poissant of Kristen Poissant Studio, a full service design studio, which helps creative, small businesses attract their ideal clients through colorful, awesome branding, beautiful web design and cohesive visual strategy.
Kristen has been a creative director at her own company for over six years and has worked with some amazing clients. Such as Instagram's hottest Italian home cook, Grossy Pelosi a personal favorite, fashion and DIY blogger, Candice from Smiles and Pearls to name a few. Her work is colorful, fun, and vibrant, just like her.
Kristen, thank you so much for taking your time to be with us today.
Kristen: Thank you. I'm so excited to chat with you guys.
Friend: We've been waiting for this for like since before day one.
Kristen: Exactly.
Friend: It's not a show without Kristin.
Kristen: This is like the perfect cumulation of our friendship. It is all of us together. Like we always like to be, we have the same goals. We're so different. Our careers are so different, but we have common ground that we like to meet on and happy to talk about it today.
Friend: Awesome. Thank you for being here. So I'm just gonna brag on you for one second and just tell you that we love you because you inspire us. Yeah. Everything. Why do you love Kristen? Everything.
I personally I love women who tell it straight. And just, um, when we were working together, you know, you just gave me the best feedback and in the most direct way and helped me to make decisions.
And I think that is so valuable in a service provider.
Kristen: Thank you. That's so good to hear. And I mean, I always love working with friends and when it can work as well as it did, even with us, that makes it so much better.
Friend: Yeah.
Kristen: So thank you. Thank you.
Friend: All right. So we want to make the most of your time. We know you're very busy lady, so we'll just dive right into the questions that we've got for you today. We've divided them by our own curiosities and proclivities. So I'm going to ask some, uh, some awkward financial questions and Megan will ask you some of her awkward Megan questions.
Kristen: I am so ready.
Friend: Okay.
Megan: This is like, basically like we have to put explicit on this.
Friend: I mean, she can't not. We went over your bio very quickly there at the beginning. Do you want to give us a little more on your career background? You know, why New York and what were you doing before this?
Kristen: Yeah, absolutely. I have been down here in New York. I say down because I grew up in Connecticut. I'm a new England girl at heart. I grew up in Connecticut, went to school in Massachusetts and right after school in 2004, I moved down here to the city, started working for a company that designed licensed accessories. So that included a lot of work with Disney, Nickelodeon, Hasboro designing mass market stationary for retailers like Target, Walmart. A lot of the back-to-school stationary that you were always excited to go get in August as a kid. Get ready for school. That's what I was designing.
And it was truly a dream job right after college. So that kind of launched me into product design. I did that for almost 13 years for a number of different brands, number of different licenses, and then came the point in time where I wanted to make a shift, make a change for myself. Based on the work that I was getting kind of freelance jobs.
Enjoying so much more working outside of the corporate setting with small businesses that I decided to make the pivot and really do that. Full-time just over six years ago. So here I am working with small creative businesses, helping them brand themselves, enhance their visual presence, online, focus on brand strategy and help them grow their business, which has always been important to me and where I've thrived in my career is helping out other people and seeing them thrive as well. Fills my cup and what I do every day.
Friend: That's so good. Can you tell us how long did it take you to make that decision to leave corporate?
Kristen: A few years. And it's nothing I ever set out and said, oh, this is what I want to do. But there came a point in time where I was like, oh wow. I could potentially do this on my own. And what does that look like? And I will be honest, what I thought it looked like is not anything, what it looks like today. But making that decision really came over time and I get that question a lot and I tell people, you will find this peace about you when you know that the decision is right. No amount of money planning, no amount of contacts, no amount of jobs lined up will make you ever feel comfortable, but there is a peace that kind of comes over you.
That's like, okay, now I can do this. I didn't do it -I didn't make that choice until that feeling came over me where I'm like, yes, this is a confident decision. I'm going to go forward and do it. I did enter it cautiously, but I tried to be smart about it.
Friend: That's such a good indicator on the emotional dashboard: peace.
Kristen: Yeah.
Megan: It's also, I mean, it's nice to de glamorize it a bit. Right. I mean, I think there's this like stigma where it's like, oh, follow your dream. It's like, well, you do also have to be a real human.
Kristen: Absolutely. A hundred percent. I knew that. You know, it was me, it was me taking care of myself, my space living on my own. I was in charge of everything that I was doing. And it was a lot of pressure to put on myself. And it still is, as we've talked about, personally in our friendship, but, yeah, making that decision is, is not an easy one and it really is not too glamorous whatsoever. There's a lot of backend work to the hustle and making things actually happen that are, that are tricky sometimes. And not so pretty, not so fun.
Megan: It's not cute. It's not cute.
Kristen: Not cute.
Megan: But you make it look real good. If you want to know the truth. And that's why we love you.
Kristen: But I, I do, I do it to say it may look good, but I also show the hard parts as well. And I feel like that's very important.
Megan: it is so important.
Kristen: Not always, pretty, but you have to show both sides of it.
Not the highlight reel.
Megan: Yeah, because why bother showing only the good parts when you're like working your little tushy off? I mean, that's why I show behind the scenes too. It's like, people need to understand that, like the moment in front of the painting hanging on the white wall for me is really lovely, but there's been like a lot of ugly stuff behind the scenes.
When I say ugly, I mean it, you know, okay. So we're going to ask the question that our friend here loves the most, which is me just blurting out during dinner. You were there.
Friend: You were there. You, remember. It's your turn.
Megan: What do you do all day? But I mean, it, like, I really mean it. I love people's schedules and I love knowing how do you run a business alone?
Kristen: Yeah, based on working in corporate, I thrive off of a schedule. So I will say that I'm not somebody who. Kind of is like, oh, I'll wake up at noon and start working at two to two in the morning. Now it's not really me. I try to keep as normal of a schedule as possible. With that being said in my day to days are very different.
For example, today I'm talking to you guys, I'm starting with a new client. I have another call with another client and one of their brands that they're working with later this afternoon, I'm sending out a marketing email for that client later today, I'm working on a mood board and a color palette for another client who I started with last week.
So within that I'm juggling, you know, five to seven people at any given month. I feel like. Yeah, about five to seven. And within that, there is structure though. I do have to say, I have regimented myself in taking on a certain number of clients a month. We start at the beginning of the month and we wrap up at the end.
So there is that structure that allows me to project financially. That's allows me to understand kind of what's on my workload, what I can take on what I might not be able to take on and also plan as well.
Megan: Can I ask you a funny question? Do you bite off less or more than you can chew? Like what's your mode?
Friend: Like on purpose?
Megan: Yeah, just like I personally always take on too much. It's just like my fatal flaw, because I think I can handle it. And then I like cry while painting a mural. This is a true story.
Kristen: No, that's very, I think that's a very common thing. For sure. I would say I'm a big boundary setter. I have no problem saying no. I also will not take on a client if I don't feel it's a good fit. I won't take on a client just because financially it's what I need. I've learned that the hard way.
And I think that comes with time. That comes with being confident in what you do and confident in yourself. But, yeah, it's, it's really tricky, but boundaries are very important. I know better now than to take on more than I can chew. But with that being said, they're like business, a busy week for me.
I'm out of town next week. I'm trying to push a lot into this week.
Friend: It sounds like your days are so colorful. I feel like, you know, when I hear you talk about working with so many different people in all these different brands, it's just very, colorful in my imagination of what your days look like. I don't know if that's true or not, but
Kristen: Yeah. And I think that's on purpose too. I, I tried to plan it that way.
Friend: And so today's color is green. Can we talk about the money side?
Megan: Oh, I love that transition.
Friend: Right? Like how, how am I going to get these girls to talk about the money come on. I know that finances are sensitive and we're so grateful that you're willing to come and talk to us a little bit about it.
Can I just dive right in first money questions? When you think of finance, what happens in your brain?
What do you think?
Kristen: A little bit of red flags and panic set in. It's so funny being in a creative field and living in New York City. When I think of finance, I think of men in their twenties with colored shirts and fleece vests at lunch.
Friend: With the bank logo embroidered on the
Kristen: Exactly. All of the finance boys going to the food trucks on park avenue to get their lunch.
That's exactly what I think of.
Megan: They're like little school boys, but grown up.
Friend: probably on my team. Those are probably my little school boys.
Kristen: True. Anyways, but yeah, no, I think Finance and finances are two different things. Finance and the financial world, and those gentlemen who work in that world. And I am so proud to know a woman who works in that world, and who is at a high level and you know who I'm talking about?
Friend: What's her name?
Megan: She's a friend.
Kristen: I'm trying really hard not to say.
Megan: Friend of the podcast.
Kristen: Anyways, I think finance and finances mean different things to me. The finances is mainly what I think about in my field of financial and finance is something that's different.
Friend: Yeah, I appreciate that. I'm glad you have explained that to our listeners because I think sometimes I forget and just wrap them all up in one. And It's like a contraction when we talk about finance and it's not quite, as articulate as we should be.
Kristen: It's very broad. Especially even in banking. When you first told me I work in banking, I'm like,
okay, very broad.
Friend: Yeah. exactly.
Kristen: Yeah. Just like being a creative though, being a creative and especially being a graphic designer, everything in our lives, everything that we touch is designed.
I'm holding up a gift card. I'm holding up my air pods, my phone. I mean, even this tape measure right here that I keep at my desk, all of it is designed specifically.
Friend: This pink tape measure. Bright, hot pink.
Kristen: Of course.
Friend: On brand.
Kristen: Everything just like in banking, creative is broad too. So it could be, you know, working on a creative side in house somewhere. It could be creative doing what Megan does and painting. We have a ground to cover there.
Friend: Good answer. There was no wrong answer there. Thank you. Just trying to get a sense for what happens in, you know, people's brains. When we start going toward this topic. Did you have a chance to look at the comfort scale and the grid? happy to talk about? Either of them, but where did you place yourself on the scale or the grid?
Kristen: I would say I'm pretty much in the middle. I'm about a five. It doesn't scare me because I know I do have to make it a priority. And I know that there's responsibility and I'm, don't shy away from it. But taking a deep dive into it gives me anxiety, as I'm sure it does most people and especially being your own business. It's important to know where money is going and money is moving.
Friend: Yeah. So scale of one to 10, you're a solid five, tolerate.
Kristen: I would say so I'll tolerate it. Yes, I tolerate it. I get it done when I need to, but do I like to talk about it? Really? Probably not.
Megan: I think, I think there's something to that though, because if you had asked yourself this question 10 years ago, you would have been an avoider probably. Right? So we are getting wiser with age and I do think there's, we need to pat ourselves on the back a little bit, especially with a different, you know, everyone comes from their own personal background on comfort with money and talking about it. And so if you weren't raised in a household where money was a topic that was allowed to be spoken of for whatever reason, and now you're a confident woman who owns a business, that is something to mention, that's a huge accomplishment. And I forget often to tell myself that.
So it's like, we need to pat ourselves on the back more, generally speaking.
Kristen: Yeah, absolutely. And I think you guys can probably atest to this too we're encroaching on the middle part of our careers 20 in 20 out. So we're almost, I know, I hate to say it too, but
Friend: I don't want to keep doing this for 20 more years.
Megan: retiring actually.
Kristen: Okay. Yeah, exactly. So we're at that point now where it's really like taking a lot of this seriously and thinking about, okay, what is that end goal? If you don't want to do it for 20 more years, what does that look like? For me, Megan, it is a little bit different. 10 years ago I probably would have been more confident talking about it because I was in a corporate setting.
Megan: Oh, interesting.
Kristen: I was on salary. I did have health benefits. I did have a 401k set up that somebody was contributing to through my own job. And now, you know, it shifts when you own your own personal business.
So I would say. I was more confident talking about it back then, because I had those things in place. And obviously when you do this on your own, it brings in a different level of planning.
Friend: I think that's important for us to remember Megan. Kristen, thank you for raising that. I would put myself at the top end of the scale, but I have those safety nets that you've just described.
Yeah. So there's less anxiety there. The anxiety is more macro it's like, do I keep a job or not?
It's not each line item. Is it at risk?
Megan: I mean, I'll be the first to admit I love receiving. Every two weeks from an external source.
That's I miss it so much. I consider going back to teaching five times a year because of that
fact alone.
Kristen: I will be honest. Same, same here. Absolutely. Yeah. And it's not moments of doubt.
Megan: No, It's just stability
Kristen: Stability would be nice.
Friend: Awesome. Thank you for that. How about the, the grid? Did that resonate at all the sort of X and Y axis with the quadrants?
Kristen: Yeah, I'm a middle of the ground type of girl. I feel like I would be middle of the ground there, but, after I looked at it, I've definitely thought about it over the past few weeks and I think my definition of splurge is different from. I think even you two. All of our definitions of splurging would be different.
Friend: But this is why this is so good to talk about because the goal is to not find the right answer it's to start developing the ability to think about where you are and whether that works for you or not.
Kristen: Yeah. Splurges are different in that sense that I feel like I do splurge on some things. And sometimes you have to splurge on something in order to get business, keep on moving. For example, my laptop died unexpectedly and it wouldn't even charge, wouldn't turned on. So that alone it's like, okay. I do have to go and see if I can fix it. Ended up at the Apple store in Grand Central and buying a new laptop that day. Cause I had to get it done. I had to do it. So that's like a splurge where I was like, I gotta do this.
But then, you know, I was thinking about it specifically last night, as I'm planning to go to Palm Springs for a friend's wedding in May. And I'm like, okay, what, what do I want to splurge on? Do I upgrade my seat on a six hour flight? Or do I stay at a nicer hotel? Do I get a cheaper hotel so I can in travel afterwards, like I'm all about the balance of it and feeling like what's worth it, what's not.
Friend: I actually feel like on this grid, middle of the road is, is maybe a good place to be like, I think that it's not that saving is all good and splurging is all bad. You can be far on the side of saving and have no fun and not contribute to your community and the economy and, you know, be stuck just sort of holding tightly. I think the middle keeps you away from the edges. I know that's the obvious, but you know...
Kristen: Completely, completely. And I would say that's definitely where I don't live life on the edge too much. I feel safe there. I think it's interesting to see about mindset too. If you have an abundance or a scarcity mindset, when approaching a lot of this, I would say I steer very far away from a scarcity mindset. I try to keep an abundance. I feel like abundance attracts abundance. So there's that to be said too, about having that mentality about how you approach it.
Friend: Yeah.
Megan: I love that.
Friend: Yeah, thank you. All right. Next question. Do you manage the finances for your business yourself or do you outsource that?
Kristen: I definitely do a little bit of both. I can very easily keep track of what's coming in. When it comes to taxes, that is something that as a business and a business owner, I'm an S-Corp. I do have somebody that helps me with that. Who is wonderful. I am all for paying somebody who is an expert in their field. So I have a wonderful tax woman, Irene, who I know some of us in here, use as well. And I recommended all my friends too. She is fabulous. She keeps me on track. With that being said, we don't talk weekly or even monthly. But she is there whenever I have a question, when it comes to the end of the year, she knows everything that's going on.
I think we're going on year four or five of working together. And she has been a godsend and I am happy to invest in her, invest in her as a female run business. I am happy to give her name out to anybody because she makes my life easier. At the end of the day, she's in charge of my payroll. She's in charge of my end of year taxes. And she reminds me and kind of keeps me on track as far as paying out quarterly as well, which I do, but everything else I can keep track on my own.
Friend: Yeah. So a hybrid. You use the expertise when you need it.
Kristen: Right. Right. And I don't have any employees. I contract out work if I need to. I've done less of that this year and last year, but if I need to, I will contract out work. But that's not anybody I have on payroll. So it's manageable in that sense. And I like that. I like to keep it. I don't ever want to grow too big where it gets very complicated, I'm responsible for other people's salaries as well. I enjoy helping people and letting them thrive in their business.
Friend: That's good. Okay. Interesting. One or two more questions here. This one is about costs, a little more towards the cost side of things, you know, running a business and living in one of the most expensive cities in certainly the U S but even in the world, it's probably top five. I'll have to fact check myself on that. It's very impressive from this angle. Does it feel impressive or does it feel otherwise?
Kristen: I don't know any different. So I moved down here in 2004, three to four months after graduating college, I had lived in Connecticut over the summer. I moved back home. I had a job that I probably could have stayed in, I was very happy because it was a creative type of job.
I loved it. It was in the theater. I worked in musical theater. I loved the position I was in, but it came to a point with, okay, do I want to focus on the career that I went to school for? And I was able to find a job here in. Manhattan. And I moved down here in August of 2004. So I've lived here for in New York standards a very long time, and I don't know any different. My career has kept me here. I've had no reason to leave. My family is still close, so I can see them. But it's interesting as far as living in one of the most expensive cities, it's all I know.
So to me, living a New York lifestyle is no rmal. Which is wild, which is wild when you kind of say that out loud, because at one point in my career, when I was working for Vera Bradley, who is based out of Fort Wayne, Indiana, my coworker and I would look at real estate out there because everything in Fort Wayne, Indiana was so cheap.
And we would have coworkers that were buying houses that were paying three to $400. A month just for their mortgage. And that was even on the high-end.
Megan: Oh, my God. Can you imagine.
Kristen: It was, wild and we were like, what are we doing with ourselves?
Friend: You pay more than that for parking per month in NYC.
Kristen: Yeah. Completely. So, that really put it into perspective at that point in time, but it's what I know. And it's where I want to be. I've thought about, you know,, moving out at certain points, but you make it work for you. I don't live in the most expensive part of town. I live in a part of the city that culturally is a good fit for me.
That is, close to the things I want to be at. It's close to beautiful parks, but it's not living in Midtown Manhattan. But still I'm a five minute walk to the subway and five stops into Manhattan. So you kind of choose to make it work for you while you're here. And I definitely feel like I've found what works for me.
Megan: I still think it's amazing.
Friend: Yeah, it's still amazing.
Megan: Like you should be bragging more,
Friend: Like, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.
Megan: Yeah. There's a song I've heard.
Kristen: Yeah, says the two women who have lived here and lived outside of here. I don't know that world. It's funny, like, you know, living in the suburbs like you do, and you know, living in London and, overseas like you did and it's yeah.
Friend: I mean, Hong Kong is probably the worst that I've seen in terms of the ability to afford life. Like you can't buy anything more than a shoe box there.
Kristen: I have a girlfriend who moved from here to there as well, and yeah. I've seen the same.
Friend: In Hong Kong, didn't see the independent side of things. It was all corporate. So I don't know how creative entrepreneurs and independent creative women were making it work there.
Megan: Maybe they're not. It would be cool to find out.
Kristen: Yeah. If you would like a contact to bring on this podcast, I can give you one. One of my girlfriends works in fashion and she moved over there to work for a fashion brand. And it's been year over 10 years now. So yeah, the iteration of seeing how her career has evolved to living as an ex-pat in a place like Hong Kong has been very interesting.
Friend: Yeah, I think that would be good. Cause the only people I know in Hong Kong are bankers and they're getting like bank housing provided. That's a different ball game. Right?
Kristen: Completely. Yeah. She's in a completely different field, but seeing how she has been able to make it work and you know, how other colleagues of her from around the world have been able to, you know, make it as an ex-pat. And that type of space has been really, really interesting to watch.
Megan: That's so cool.
Friend: Oh yeah. Last question for me, and then I'll hand over to Megan. What is your measure of success when it comes to your business and your finances?
Kristen: I think feeling comfortable and not always feeling the hustle is my measure of success. When you feel comfortable and you can be able to afford the things that you want to afford, you can live the way you want to live and not always worrying about. Hustling to get another client hustling, to get another job, knowing that your workload is set in advance. I think is success.
Megan: I love that answer so much. Your success, wavelength is just a beautiful, the way you explained it was beautiful. I love that.
Kristen: Good.
Megan: All right. Are you ready to be bamboozled by my question?
Kristen: Go for it.
Megan: All right. So let's give some encouragement to people. Shall we? Someone is wanting to leave their day job to start their own creative business. What do you, Kristen say to them?
Kristen: I would definitely say the most important part is having that level of peace and comfort, knowing that you're going to be able to make it work. I think there is no amount of money that's going to be able to make you feel that comfort. But if you have contacts. If you have jobs lined up, that can really set you for the first six months to a year.
That to me is really important to be able to be within that space, doing what you want to do and thriving within that. I think knowing who your community will be when you go off on your own is very important as well. It can be very lonely. If you just decide to do it, you don't know where anybody within your space, my business was able to grow and thrive.
The way it did in the first few years because I considered all creative entrepreneurs doing not only would I did, but in other fields, but who were in similar situations with me, were there as my colleagues. They were there when I had questions. They were there. I mean, you two are a big part of that.
Megan: I think it's huge to have a community, but I also think it's very worth mentioning that you don't need to strike out alone. Like that's nearly impossible and kind of ridiculous, like rely on people that have done it well, or at least have some buddies in the, in the fight.
Kristen: And especially people who are in the same type of field that you are there is always enough work to go around, do not approach anybody as competition because they have the same fears and they've the same wins as you do. And you need to celebrate those together.
I have a really great group of girls that I got to know early on and starting my business in my business would not be here. The processes that I have in place would not be here if it was not because of them and us having conversations about what is working for some of us, what is not? And then finding the best route.
Megan: I love that. It's very important. Okay. Then the other end of that question is when do you discourage someone from taking this leap? Because I personally think it's over glamorized to be like, follow your dreams. It's like, well, yeah. However, also pay rent and contribute to society in a positive way. So like where's the balance there?
Friend: And save for the future ,a little bit.
Kristen: Yeah. no, absolutely. And I think it's really important for you to remind us of that as well. That I feel like is secondary in a number of people's minds and it really should be more in the forefront, myself, a hundred percent included. But yeah, Megan, it definitely can be over glamorized.
The whole 'follow your dream is do what you want,' it really is. And it's not as easy one if you're down here in the nitty-gritty of it, but again, that support system is important. Make sure you have that in place.
Megan: Also they're like the voice of reason, you know, like sometimes you need a support system, not just to like cheer you on, but to be like, yo, that's a risky idea.
Like it's a balance of it's coworkers, but you have to kind of form your own cohort.
Kristen: Yeah, exactly. Have them, know that it's somebody who can also be honest with you, but yeah, if there's any doubt, I would say it's probably not a good time to do it. You have to be a hundred percent ready, a hundred percent in it, and you do have to have some sort of plan in place.
You have to, that you can't go into it blindly. And I definitely recommend, you know, doing it parallel with your career for a certain amount of time to making sure like, yes, this will work. Yes. This can happen.
Megan: Yes. There's beauty in having a majorly, lovely safety net. And I think that's the thing that women need to say out loud more often, because it's like, you can follow your dream until the cows come home. The pressure and the anxiety of also doing that while being a mom who sends their kids to school and like pays the bills. I can't, I mean, I can't understate that that is very scary.
Like that's just, or overstate, like that's just so it's scary. So I think we need to realize that, like me following my dream, doesn't help everyone sleep at night. I have to also pay bills.
So there's that reality.
Kristen: Yeah, maybe it's a little gradual. When I left my corporate job, they actually asked me to stay on part-time. Which I did not even think was an option. They asked me to stay on part-time for an additional four to five months, and they allowed me to work from home.
And this was, you know, obviously pre-pandemic. I was able to work from home, start my own business, but still work with them. Part-time in order to make that transition, even for them easier.
Megan: That's amazing.
Kristen: it made a big difference.
Friend: So, what would you say to the group that would respond and say, you're never going to be fully ready. You're never going to be fully comfortable. It's never enough money, which you've said yourself, and you have to just do it scared. Like when does it become, you're scared and you do it anyway. And you're scared and you have doubts. And so you don't do it like where what's the kind of trigger point for knowing which one is right in your gut?
Kristen: I. I have had this thing in my head for a very long time. It's always gonna work out. You're always going to make it work out.
Friend: Hmm.
Kristen: So there is no doubt in my mind, you're not going to let yourself fail. It's always going to be ok.
Megan: What do I love you?
Kristen: I can't like, I, I know I booked my clients anywhere from four to eight weeks in advance. I don't, as of right now, I don't have a client set up past April, but I know based on experience that I will. And I've gotten to a point where I know this is how it's going to be, and I'm not gonna let it.
If I realize I'm getting too close to my deadline and I don't have anybody lined up, what do you do? You ramp up talking about what you do online. You talk about it more to people and it's, it's always going to work out.
Megan: Or you get your friends to like shout from the rooftops, how great you are and say, hire her, you know, like there's people out there that will help you.
Kristen: Yeah.
Megan: I love that sentiment so much. There's a quote by someone I'm going to attribute it to Picasso, but that's probably wrong.
It says like, luck finds you when you're working something along those lines. And so whenever I'm painting and I'm wishing something would sell or a commission would come in, or the email that I sent millions of years ago would come back to me. I just like think of that while I'm painting, because I think.
If I sit around and worry about it, it's not going to help. Right. I need to just keep the ball rolling. And then of course, of course the email back, of course, someone buys something. So that's just so interesting.
Kristen: And it's somebody that you usually least expect and somebody you actually know. It's so amazing how I can tie back the people that I'm working with now to people that I worked with in the past, that people who I met at a certain event, that everything has come full circle, especially this year. I would say, you know, during COVID, and the more you talk about what you do, the more people are like, oh my gosh, right? She's a brand strategist and she's has a creative background. She can help me with this. And once that, like, light clicks on, 'cause you're talking about what you do and you're talking about it, often, reminding them educating them, it comes to the forefront and they're like, oh right. Yes, Kristin, is there.
Friend: This is a perspective we would not have had for anything. I think in life, in our twenties, because you don't know that it's all going to work out. You don't know that. And even things like, am I going to get the next corporate job? Am I going to be able to sell this apartment? Am I going to ever get married?
Like you don't know when you're that young, you don't have the experience to know that yes, life is long and it is going to work out. But at this point we're all approaching 40, then we have enough of that experience. The next job always comes, things sell, you know, it might take a little bit, but the house will sell or, you know, someone will come along that you're interested in. It's that seasoning that gives you that confidence. I would say, like, you've done it enough times to know you will have clients in April and May.
Megan: Yeah.
Kristen: Absolutely. Yeah. Business will go on.
Friend: Yeah, I like that.
Megan: All right. I'm now going to fire away with some rapid fire questions for you because. To be quite honest, I need some rapid-fire because I was like sweating about just all that stuff. Okay.
Friend: Maybe it's the coat your wearing.
Megan: No, I'm wearing a Sherpa because I'm trying to pad the podcast microphone room, but that's neither here nor there.
Friend: I think that's a great outfit choice for padding the room. I mean,
Megan: This, this jacket is a legend. Can I go back real quick to your abundance mindset? How did you get that? Because I have a scarcity mindset and I don't know how to get rid of it still.
Kristen: I think being around people with a scarcity mindset and it driving me crazy.
Megan: Oh yeah. That's that's one thing.
Kristen: I don't know. I like the idea of manifestation and I feel like scarcity doesn't manifest anything good.
Megan: No, oh, that's so true.
Friend: I'm a recovering scarcity mindset person. And I come in and out of it sometimes, but I wouldn't call it a trick. I would say that I have made a practice of gratitude journaling. And I think there's something that happens in your brain where it can get rewired if you encourage it to articulate what is going well and what is good. And so if you give yourself, maybe it's three things a day, maybe it's five or 10. I am now at the point where I could do 10 easily, you just asked me 10 things. I'm grateful for. I give the, rattle them off. And I think that that rewiring to identify the positive helps you to focus on the positive.
And then when you're looking at it that way you don't see as much of the lack.
Megan: Yeah.
Friend: I don't know if you tried that, but,
Kristen: Yeah, definitely.
Megan: All right. There's a whole episode for me here.
Friend: If I leave it for like a week or two, then I hear myself and I'm like, ooh, sounded a little,
yeah, it does it unwinds itself.
Megan: Well, it's like recovering perfectionism, you know, like I'm still under there. And I act like, I'm like, Hey, I don't care. But it's like on, on your dark days, it's still lingering.
Kristen: Oh, for sure. Yeah. It just, how much you decide to dwell on it or talk about it if you're like. No, no, like everybody has it. I, I mean, I obviously have it, but it's like, Push that to the side. Keep on going, keep the train moving.
Megan: All right. So on that note, let's do some rapid fire. The tinier, the answer, the better. Ready?
Kristen: Yeah.
Megan: Dogs or cats?
Kristen: Duh, dogs.
Megan: What's your dog's name?
I know I just love her. Okay. Tik TOK or Instagram?
Kristen: Um, Instagram. But do you hear that hesitation?
Friend: Wow, what happened?
Megan: The universe just shifted.
Kristen: Um, maybe
Megan: Are you converting over girl?
Kristen: Never a full, conversion, but thinking and planning.
Megan: Oh, God, help us.
Friend: Watch this space.
Kristen: You may see a different side of Kristin over on Tik TOK.
Friend: Please tell me you start doing dance videos.
Kristen: Oh, hell no. That will never happen. No. Thank you. No.
Megan: We need to sidebar this.
Kristen: Let me tell you, I will not be pointing at words either.
Megan: Oh, I hate that.
Kristen: No.
Megan: Tea or coffee?
Kristen: Iced coffee.
Megan: Fine. in the winter?
Kristen: When it's cold out. Yeah.
Megan: Such a new Englander. Miami or New York?
Kristen: That's a tough one for me, but I will say New York with a weekend trip to Miami.
Megan: But like literally let's go to Miami in two weeks. I'll email you guys.
Kristen: I leave on the 15th.
Megan: Hot pink or lime green?
Kristen: Hot pink all day.
Megan: Love it. What was your worst subject in school?
Kristen: Oh, I'm going to go to the time in college when I had to, because it got put into my freshmen schedule, to take an economics class. I didn't get it. I just was like, at that point in time, I was a fine arts major..
Megan: Another language you're like, I don't read this.
Kristen: I got by, I don't know how.
Friend: It's funny. I was thinking earlier, when you were talking about how your work applies to what you see in life. You know, like design is everywhere. Design is all around us. And I was thinking, Yeah, everything that you see was funded by a bank.
Kristen: Oh, how funny.
Friend: Yeah. I was talking to my friend this weekend, who is an economics professor. She sent me some video of her lecturing. And in one of these lectures, she's talking about how economics is everything. So I think that that's a little bit, our nature, like the lens we bring to it. Some of us would look at economics and be like, how is this relevant at all? And then someone who spent their life in it is like, this is the whole story.
Megan: Oh, my gosh. That's so interesting.
Friend: It's interesting. I'm hoping we're going to talk to her. I think she'll join us in a few.
Megan: But you love, what you love? Right. Like it's like as a little kid, even my daughter is an architect or something in engineering, I can tell because she puts it together and then she worries about how things are built. I don't, you know what I mean? Like, I don't think like that she tells me to like put an anchor in the wall before I hang a painting.
I'm like, what, how do you even know what that is? You know? And then my son is perhaps an artist because we have a lot in common as far as how we approach the world. He's also a toddler. So maybe I'm just a toddler, but I, I feel like it's so interesting because maybe it's all pre destined, you know, it's wild.
Next question. What was your favorite book is a little kid?
Kristen: It was a book that was actually a poem, called Wynken Blynken and Nod.
And I mean, and this is going back to like when I was little, little, but I really it's still resonates with me and I still love it.
And I give it to all of my when they have a child.
Megan: I'm linking to it in the show notes, because the precious movie, Dennis, the menace from the nineties,
Kristen: Yeah.
Megan: Wilson reads it to Dennis before bed, have you seen this?
Kristen: Don't think I don't remember that. I know. I'm glad you know what it is.
Megan: Oh, it's beautiful.
Kristen: It's a beautiful poem.
Megan: It's precious.
Favorite artist?
Me? Okay. Next
Kristen: Yeah.
Megan: Best restaurant in Queens.
Friend: I want to go back to a Favorite artist.
Kristen: Favorite skip over that. I mean, it definitely is you.
Friend: Don't listen to Megan.
Megan: I'm kidding. I'm not bullying anyone on the podcast. All right, fine. Go.
Kristen: Megan's painting right there behind me to that little little one. I'm a big Frida Kahlo fan. I know that it's very like typical. I know that it's very. I would say common, but from an early point in time, obviously color resonated with me. Obviously her feminism resonated with me. There is a lot to unwrap there with her life. That really is exciting. Fascinating. And go to Mexico.
Megan: I mean for real Mexico city. Boom
Friend: I have a rapid fire question: for Halloween, would you rather dress as your favorite artist? Elizabeth, or Frida Kahlo?
Kristen: I've already dressed at Frida.
Oh yeah.
Megan: Sounds to me like you're wearing this jacket in October.
Friend: Because I have a friend who does a mean Frida Kahlo Halloween costume. And I
was thinking that would be awesome.
Kristen: I'll have to send you pictures of it.
Megan: All right. This next question is nearly impossible, but whatever. The best restaurant in Queens or
Brooklyn?
Kristen: Ooh, no, Brooklyn, a Queens girl.
Megan: Yeah.
Kristen: I'm a Queens girl. You're talking to two Queens girls.
Megan: For those of you who aren't new Yorkers. It's very fractured. There's like major allegiances here.
Friend: We do not cross the Pulaski.
Megan: No.
Kristen: I enjoy Brooklyn, but I have never lived there. And when I was moving out of Manhattan, I came here and I was like, okay, Astoria is where my people are. And I would say that's primarily because this part of Queens is so diverse.
Megan: Yeah.
Kristen: If you cross over two blocks for me, literally, I can see it from my front door. It's like little Morocco over there. If you go two blocks to the other side of me, it's like all Mediterranean and Greek and it's amazing. So I enjoy this part of town, but I will go for Greek day in, day out, all day long. there Are some of the best Greek restaurants in the U S if not, you know, definitely in New York, if not like the whole US here in like walking distance of my neighborhood. And I don't take that for granted any the day.
Friend: That one that we go to the Taverna not sometimes line up for like hours.
Kristen: There's always lines. Actually, this weekend, they moved into their new location. So we're going to have to go. Have we ever taken you there?
Megan: No, I'm starving. I want to go right now.
Kristen: Yeah. it's oh, it's so good.
Megan: This is the thing about New York food. You transitioned from a little cafe table and you're like, oh, wait, I'm in Greece now.
Kristen: Oh completely. And I do have to say, I don't take the food for granted here. The fact that I can order and have a egg sandwich in the morning delivered to my house if I wanted to from the corner bodega, or I can go and be transformed and taken to Greece for dinner, like I don't take any of this for granted. I grew up in a small town where there wasn't even a delivery. You couldn't anything delivered to your house.
Megan: I'm moving back. That's settled. All right. The last question. The former teacher in me wants to know something. Do you have a homework assignment for our listeners? For example, something we can work on ,collectively read or look into, or maybe something we've mentioned on this episode, we can kind of like follow up on.
Kristen: Yeah, definitely. I have a artist she is a Toronto based artist named Tiffany Pratt. She was, there was a podcast that she did with creative mornings that in 2014 this podcast was very transformative for me in making the decision to lean into my solo career a little bit, but she does a very good job in this specific creative mornings podcast, talking about how you can live a beautiful life authentically colorfully and what it means to kind of lean into your creativity. And by doing that, people believe in you and will take your creativity into consideration, allowing you to live your authentic life. She tells her story about coming down here and the ups and downs of it and how she pushed through and how, you know, she's a little wild and crazy in the best possible way and how that has become her life, her career and who she is. And what does she, what she's known for.
So look into Tiffany Pratt, creative mornings podcast she did in 2014 is a good listen.
Megan: Okay. Linked to it in the notes. Okay. Well, thank you so much for being with us today. This was wonderful. We love You
Where can people find you on the internet?
Kristen: Sure. Primarily on Instagram right now at Kristen dot Poissant. My full name and at Kristin Poissant dot com is where people can learn about the services that I offer. What type of work that I do, and how we can potentially work together.
Friend: Kristen. Thank you. so much. That was a lot of fun. Our listeners are going to love following you.
Kristen: Thank you. You're so sweet. I'm glad that we could get together to do this. And it feels like full circle moment for us here.
Friend: Exactly. We'll definitely have you back as well. Whatever else you want to talk about? Just let us know. welcome anytime.
Kristen: Thank you.
Friend: Well, that brings us to the end of this episode.
Thanks so much to Kristen Poissant for joining us during this lively and colorful discussion of following a creative dream and being financially and creatively independent in New York City. We hope that hearing about Kristen's experiences forging her own path as a woman in design living and working in New York was beneficial to you.
And as always, thanks for listening to The Arts.
Megan: And be sure to come back next week for a discussion on risk-taking and my recent jaunt to Paris, which you're just going to want to tune in.
Friend: Uh.
Megan: Until then, this is Megan of Art by Megan.
Friend: and her friend, your patron of the arts.
Megan: Wishing you more art.
Friend: And maybe a better understanding of your money.
Megan: This is a good, good blooper reel. When I was a child, I have vivid memories of my parents paying me like in quarters to be quiet.
Friend: For how long? Is It like a, a slot, like a..
Megan: We watched the Cosby show in the evenings as a family. Like every good family in the late eighties, early nineties. And it was like, please, Megan, don't talk until the next commercial.
Friend: Here's a quarter.
Megan: And I was like, okay, um, I'm an entrepreneur would bring it.
Friend: And could you do it?
Megan: And then I look back I'm like, how did I afford paying myself for like my first exchange program in high school?
And I'm like, because I had all those quarters.
Friend: Silence?
Megan: I just cleaned them out.
Friend: That's awesome.