Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kyra Marsh. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kyra, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
Growing up, I was taught to fail faster — the faster you fail, the quicker you can learn from those mistakes. What I appreciated about that perspective was how it fostered a growth mindset and helped me to separate my worthiness and current capabilities from the failures at hand. Recognizing that not only am I more than my mistakes, but that growing from those mistakes are what allows myself to evolve quicker let me embrace resiliency.
Granted, I cannot say that I never get let down, embarrassed, or disappointed in myself for my failures, so coupling failing faster with self compassion, grace, and self care helps to replenish the tank, empowering the growth cycle to continue.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My name is Kyra, pronounced like the Kira in Shakira, and I am a designer in the Salt Lake City area. Currently, I work as a part of a creative team that develops branding, marketing, and environmental design for multiple restaurant concepts. This means my day-to-day can range from drawing up a Barbie campaign for the Crack Shack to reinvigorating the brunching spirit with fun murals at Hash Kitchen (plus much more in-between!).
I originally hail from Washington State, growing up idolizing the designers behind Disneyland, the warm weather mecca for a child living in the rainy Pacific Northwest. I later attended the University of Southern California to study Themed Entertainment design where I graduated in 2022 and drove straight to Florida after graduation to intern with Walt Disney Imagineering as an art/design intern. After my internship at the most Magical Place on Earth, I headed to what was my happiest place on earth, to where my partner and dog were living and supporting me from a distance — Utah!
Joining my current team in Utah has allowed me to continue my work in hospitality/themed concept design, but this time for restaurants! I have had the pleasure of working alongside some of the most amazing, innovative, and dedicated designers I have ever met, laughing and learning each and every day.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
By far the most impactful piece of knowledge I received was when I was in college, stressing around the potential career fields for graduating artists, feeling as though my design program was not serving to foster the type of portfolio I wanted to leave college with. I had an industry mentor who sat me down to have a blunt, but necessary conversation.
In sum, he express that college is a tool to serve your needs. If it is not serving your needs, better use/redirect it to. If you can’t, advocate for yourself even more. If you still aren’t seeing results, use the tool to break the system. Neither a degree from a good school nor a stellar GPA gets you in the door, a portfolio does. If the class isn’t facilitating portfolio pieces, make it; if the project isn’t something you’d show post-college, ignore the guidelines; if the degree’s program track does not include what you want to learn, change it. Do not waste your own time knowingly without any potential to learn/grow.
Hearing this really changed my understanding of college from being a necessary chapter to passively attend into an active time to mold myself and essentially fail faster. It was not easy by any means, but this piece of knowledge encouraged me to advocate for degree flexibility, take challenging internships/opportunities, and view my peers as designers to be inspired by versus competition.
I would say then, looking back, being my own champion, having resiliency, and being self compassionate have been the three qualities that have kept me open to ever-evolving and being adaptable on my journey.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
My biggest area of growth has been in being a more active figure in my own development. After graduating college, it felt easy to get lost, especially thinking that my development and growth would be facilitated by a job. The reality is I want to work to live, not live to work, meaning that I have to be at the helm of my own growth.
This has come about in a variety of ways; on one hand, I have put less pressure on myself to have the perfect portfolio and spend every waking free hour toiling away unhappily to instead taking design classes that bring me joy and place me around likeminded individuals. I have spent more energy doing less linear endeavors to stay inspired and I have prioritized making sure to replenish my cup, knowing how the burnout from constantly making new ideas can become crippling.
I have grown to be kinder to myself and more well-rounded in how I approach what being an artist looks like. Fulfillment won’t come from working at the perfect company (which doesn’t exist), but finding value in the cool shit I get to make now with the amazing people I get to surround myself with and taking advantage of unique opportunities that come my way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kyramarsh.com
- Instagram: kyacma
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyramarsh/
