Nodes of Design#88: Creative Entrepreneurship by Kristen Shenk

Kristen is the Founder + Creative Director of MLTI NYC, a multi-disciplinary boutique creative agency based in New York City — specializing in Campaigns, Branding, Art Direction, Graphic + Motion Design, Photography, Brand Films, & More for Fortune 500 Companies and Start-Ups.

Shockingly, only 0.1% of creative agencies are founded by women. After designing and leading teams at Nike and PepsiCo for ten years, Kristen created MLTI NYC to tell compelling visual stories and powerfully bring brands to life to build brand love — all from a diverse, global, and female-led perspective.

MLTI NYC is a team of visionary thinkers and relentless craftspeople with great taste and a modern aesthetic. We strive to consistently deliver aspirational, culturally relevant results and pack a bold (and sometimes playful!) punch. MLTI NYC clients include PepsiCo, FootLocker, Nike, and Amazon, as well as a series of funded Start-Ups. Aside from MLTI NYC, Kristen also recently launched a women's running apparel brand, DWNTWN Run Co., which merges function and style for modern female runners. 

In this episode, Kristen shared her journey into creative entrepreneurship and spoke about her challenges as a creative entrepreneur. We then discussed how she balances her work's creative and business parts and what techniques she employs to maintain her commitment to her artistic vision while establishing a prosperous business. Later she shared insights on how she stays on top of industry trends and advancements and what strategies she uses to ensure your work remains relevant and innovative.

Takeaways - Journey of a creative entrepreneur, How to stay relevant and innovative, How to balance personal and business life being a creative entrepreneur

Books recommended by Kristen

A New Earth and The Power of Now — Eckhart Tolle

The War of Art — Steven Pressfield

It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be — Paul Arden

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This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.