Meet Chris Courtney Martin

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chris Courtney Martin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chris Courtney below.

Hi Chris Courtney, so happy you were able to devote some time to sharing your thoughts and wisdom with our community. So, we’ve always admired how you have seemingly never let nay-sayers or haters keep you down. Can you talk to us about how to persist despite the negative energy that so often is thrown at folks trying to do something special with their lives?
Anyone who is a fan of rap music knows that haters and nay-sayers are the fuel that keeps your train chugging along. I’ve spent the last few years shaking loose toxicity from people around me who were ready to benefit from my uniqueness but also held envy and resentment for it that might have hurt me even more deeply if they hadn’t been made to show themselves when they did. This led to some really trying events in my life. But my specialness proved itself in spades. I was able to connect with people in the industry who understand the many ways that giftedness manifests. There are people with dreams, goals, ambitions, hopes. And there are people with destinies, fates, gifts, and prophecies. It’s not on me to tell folks where they fall. But it is on me to prove– and continually so– where I happen to fall.

I have a history of giftedness on paper, which might have helped shut some of this marginalization down were it touted as much as some people would. If you read my bio, my childhood is full of those stamps. That doesn’t mean I was privileged. I came from pretty much nothing and grew up on public assistance my whole life until I came of age. But I kept that under wraps because it can do things to people. It can make them a target. Others can project this idea that you think you’re better than them because you come with these accolades and accomplishments before you hit adulthood. It has almost become a meme– how gifted kids end up the most depressed adults. Well, it’s not an accident. Nor is it a coincidence. There are a lot of factors but we hate to put a name to the one that’s supposed to scare us into thinking we’re egomaniacs for being who we are. And that is envy. Child prodigies have spiritual and emotional bounties on their heads. We see those results in the tragedy stories around child actors and similar. I’m blessed that I was protected from that.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I do a lot of different creative things. I’ve listed them at length all over the internet, so I won’t be a broken record here. But I’ve branched out from my original goal of writing and I continue to pursue music and other endeavors. This includes spiritual counsel. I’ve been called a gifted healer and medium by someone who holds a PhD. I’ve also proven that skill set among some of my peers in the Hollywood industry. So, I’m just being me and seeing what blessings spring out of that.

Right now, I’m most excited about some stage opportunities that may be happening around my work on the East Coast. I came up writing for the theatre and I’m very excited about the prospect of returning to my roots. I also just dropped an instrumental album (a la J-Dilla, R.I.P.) called “OONTZ UPSIDE YA HEAD” which I’m happy to share with the world. Finally. It’s my second release in 7 months, so I’ve been on fire and I’m ready to say I’ve gotten a foothold in the world of independent music. I own my publishing and everything. I can slow down and just let the world discover what I’ve been doing since I took a break from Los Angeles. Along with my film projects, this music is under my banner -= CRYPTID CONTENT MEDIA– which is eponymous with my initials for a reason. It’s just me being a one-stop shop for everything I love so that I don’t have to lose sight of why I’ve been called to do it.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Resilience isn’t a skill as much as it is a trait. Either you feel you have to survive or you don’t. It’s born of necessity. If you can go and do something else, you’ll probably do that. But that doesn’t make it any less important in my journey. Work ethic is a hard one because the ends up abused in a way that keeps one from working for oneself. That’s just the Capitalism of it all. But you have to apply as much work ethic to the things you love as the things you MUST do if you’re ever going to leave unfulfilling work behind. Lastly, love. It’s a skill. It’s something you practice when it’s hard. If you feel you have no power over your own life, see what you can do to improve somebody else’s. And you’ll never go wrong. You’ll feel like the most powerful person you know. Folks seek all kinds of destructive ways to feel that power. But if you latch onto the idea of finding your power in love then it’ll pay itself back.

How would you describe your ideal client?
I only want to work with people who are– or try to be– as altruistic as I am. That does a lot of thin the herd.

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Image Credits
Portrait Credit – Petra Shrieves

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