#WHOARETHEY: Kibbee Miller

Kibbee’s energy is unmatched when it comes to bringing the momentum and enthusiasm with whatever project she’s working on. A digital marketer, photographer, copywriter, stylist, driving force behind CLLCTV, etc., Kibbee has a fierce edge and composed confidence in her passions, and she doesn’t half ass her work. Kibbee also helped collaborate on the narrative of the Who Are They project and was involved in its early brainstorming sessions, so it’s only right to feature this Boston creative.

Where are you from and where are you living and working now?

I’m from Mattapan. I currently live in Cambridge and work at a local direct-to-consumer startup for rugs!

Where did your path begin in the creative professional / marketing world? What drew you to this area?

My senior year in high school. I knew that I wanted to go to school for business but I also knew marketing was where I could let my creativity shine, have fun, and get paid.

What is your preferred niche of marketing or creative that your really enjoy working on?

I love all things content and social media. When it comes to content that could mean anything from copywriting, drafting blog posts, shooting photos of video, styling a photoshoot etc. I love coming up with a concept and watching it come to life, whether that’s irl or url.

In a fast paced industry, how do you stay on top of what you need to learn to be successful in your line of work, but still make time for exploration for the sake of exploration?

I try to read all of the emails that I subscribe to from publishers that have the latest and greatest. Even if it’s just a few a week, I try to do at least that and check out my hit list of sites to see if I missed anything big. I’m not a HUGE planner but I’m a HUGE fan of having a planner lol. I’m old school, so I write all my obligations and shit I wanna get done in my moleskin and carry it around with me everywhere I go. That way I know when I have pockets of time for me and the stuff that I want to work on, it helps me stay sharp for sure.

Do you feel that your work has had a positive impact on the creative culture in Boston?

Sure fucking hope so man, that’s one of the questions I struggle with constantly. I’ve seen so many awesome, inspiring people leave the city because of the adversity here, and if I can even crack those doors just a little - it’s all worth it.

What are you looking forward to working on next? Any new skills you are trying to learn this year?

I’m really going to focus on building my personal brand this year from both a content standpoint but also as a consultant. My goal is to be self-sufficient by a certain age, and in order to do that I need to really work on being more vulnerable and letting people learn more about me and what I have to offer.

Who or what provides you motivation or inspiration when you’re brainstorming a new endeavor, or to just give you excitement to push forward overall? 

My parents. Whenever I get down on myself, I always try to remember all of the struggle and sacrifice that they had to go to in order for me to even be in a position to complain about whatever trivial thing I’m wasting my energy on. They’re the reason I go to work everyday, they’re my biggest cheerleaders and they’re who I want to make proud.

What artists or photographers do you admire or give credit to for shaping pieces of your artistic perspective?

I think early on in my career I didn’t really look to many other photographer’s work, I was researching music and that was my main focus, I would just sort of shoot. However over the past few years I’ve been so inspired by so many photographers, such as Campbell Addy, Tyler Mitchell, Renell Medrano, Ronan McKenzie, Nadine Ijewere.

It seems like you’re someone who doesn’t just want to work on one thing, you like to experience and work on a whole diverse array of activities and projects. What advice would you give for someone looking to pursue many areas of business as they absorb and learn what they’re most passionate about?

Learn, ask questions, stay curious and always lead with an open-mind. You never know what sort of opportunities will be afforded to you because you’re willing to see them. It’s totally okay to not have everything figured out, in fact I feel sorry for people who think they’ve done that.

Anything else you would like to add?

Shameless plug to check out my blog - maybe not like right now but definitely in a month or so. Life’s short, so eat what you want ;)

Follow Kibbee on Instagram
www.kibsta.com