We had the good fortune of connecting with Kirsten Kirk and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kirsten, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
This is interesting as a student, especially a music student, because I’m not sure what qualifies as work vs life. School is work, and my bands and my management agency are work, but they are also what I love to do, so where is the line between work and life drawn? The school that I go to, Berklee College of Music, encourages students to be starting their careers at the same time that they are active, 12-16 credit and 7-11 classes a semester, full-time students. I would say I’m still learning about work life balance – I used to view school as something to complete so that I could do the fun stuff, like writing music and reading and cooking. Now school is a tool that I can use to improve my music and learn about how to run my company. I am generally doing schoolwork (classes or work assigned for classes) 4-8 hours a day. I do my “career work”, band practice, emailing venues, making demos between 1-4 hours a day (depending on how heavy the schoolwork is). I try to take a little time every day to read a chapter of a book or watch an episode of tv, but between all of the other life responsibilities like cooking and exercise, I end up doing those over dinner if at all. I like to think that I’m working hard now when I’m young so that later the work:life ratio can be improved.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My business is called KI Talent Collective – it is a small management agency specializing in booking and social media management, currently based in Boston and Valencia, Spain. Because I am a student and an artist myself (as are most of the artists that I manage), I have a unique perspective that allows me to connect with artists on a level that larger agencies or companies cannot. I am able to factor their schoolwork into their priorities, and I know the struggles and stresses of an artist so I can address them before they even arise. That being said, because I am a young, female-presenting student, it is difficult to be taken seriously by venues. More often than not I email as “Ki’s assistant, Henry” and am responded to in a much more timely, respectful manner. It is an unsustainable strategy that I am using to establish myself and my company as one that venues can rely on and feel comfortable with. I’ve learned that doing things that I don’t want to do (like posing as a male assistant over email to trick people into respecting me) can put me in a position that I can then use so that future, young, female and genderqueer individuals can be taken seriously from the get-go.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I have had to think about this for a second – what is the area? I was born and raised in Texas, and I’ll never stop considering it my home. But I’m studying and growing and really becoming the person I’m going to be for the rest of my life in Boston. And right now, studying abroad in Valencia, Spain I would take a friend to the Palau de les Arts in the Ciutat de Artes y Ciencias. We would go to a show at Black Note Club or Radio City, and then spend the evening at The Artist bar or Fox Congo club. In Boston I would take them to Tatte where not only can you get the best (most expensive) chicken salad sandwich of your life, but also loads of my best friends work. In Dallas we would go to Opening Bell for coffee and live music, and Deep Ellum to the farmer’s market, thrift stores, and a tiny hole in the wall bookstore called Deep Vellum that I adore.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I can honestly say I would not be at Berklee without Chelsea Coyne or Sasha Maya Ada – they started as my voice and acting coaches and became my friends and mentors. I’ve known Chelsea since the summer of 2019, and Sasha since fall 2021, and they are always my first priorities when it comes to people I need to see when I am in town. I am also incredibly grateful for the Hopeful Theatre Company, especially Jessica Cope-Holt, Kristi Lee, and Brandi Giles, who believed in me and were adults that I really needed and could trust at a time when I didn’t have a lot of those. I’d also like to dedicate my shoutout to Felipe Trejo – I met Trejo at the Hopeful show, and we stayed in touch when I went to college. For a year and a half he was always the first person to hype me up after a show or say that he was proud of me and my work. We knew each other for 8 weeks and he stayed involved in and supportive of almost every artistic aspect of my life for the next 76. He passed in a tragic accident in the fall, and I think about him every day and am so grateful for the relationship we had during our time as friends.

Website: www.kirstenkirk.com

Instagram: @kirsten_kirk101

Youtube: @KirstenKirk

Other: Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/vrchW

Image Credits
Ana Schon, Berklee Valencia, Caroline Rose, Sean Uminski, Abby Jupin

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