Meet Kaylie Foster

We were lucky to catch up with Kaylie Foster recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kaylie, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
Creativity is one of those traits that is a part of every fiber of my being. It’s quite hard for me to imagine my life without it. As I’ve gotten older and more rooted in myself as a creative human being, I have been able to tap into my creative intuition a lot more.

There is a part of the journey as you get older that seeks to dim that spark of creative flow. I think back to when I was a kid and how my creativity was never limited by exterior factors. To be a kid is to live and breathe limitlessly; to experiment and try everything. It was only until I started “growing up” that I felt certain limitations on those creative intuitions. I heard over and over again about needing going to college and to “get a real job”, when my job has been – and always will be – to create.

Keeping the (almost insatiable) need to create alive has been quite the journey, though. While I’ve always known that being creative was a part of me, both navigating it as well as finding a sense of peace within the world of creating has not always been easy. There are senses of doubt that come along with it, and sharing your work with others can oftentimes feel daunting. Creative work also doesn’t always come with acknowledgment or praise, and it can be easy to misalign the value of your work with the external opinions of others.

The biggest factor in keeping my creativity alive is continuing to surround myself with creative people. I seek it; I make it a point to position myself in situations or environments where I know creative people exist so that it is almost happenstance when I meet or connect with other fellow creatives. It feels natural, but it is also very much intentional and by design.

I involve myself in variety of creative endeavors so when one might not be inspiring me as much, I’ll turn to another to help inspire me in other ways. It’s almost like an ecosystem of creative work that I’ve created for myself. Music is my main passion, however I also freelance in photography and videography work. When I’m not doing any of those, you might catch me doing anything from dancing to painting to digital design.

Although there may have been points where it felt like I was uninspired entirely, the creativity has never stopped. I just discovered different ways to channel it.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Having recently just relocated from Las Vegas to Los Angeles back in October 2023, I am currently freelancing in photography/videography while working on my goal of being a full time music artist. (Although as of today, I just got hired as a part-time team photographer for the LA Kings!)

Writing and performing music has been bred into me from an early age with my dad being a seasoned jazz organist / producer. Over the years, I’ve honed in on my craft as an artist, going by the name FOSTER. I’ve been writing, recording and performing since I was about 16 or 17 years old (I’m 31 now), so roughly 15 years! My ultimate dream is to be a full time recording/ performing/ touring artist. To be able to make a living as an artist has been in my sights for a long, long time, so I’m grateful every day that I have opportunities to get closer to that goal.

In 2017, I dove into my journey of photography and videography, which unexpectedly became something I am now wildly passionate about and find a great deal of joy in. It has led me to such interesting and meaningful life experiences. From shooting for the UFC social media team the last 3 years, to shooting the 2023 NHL playoffs and the Stanley Cup Final, I’ve been so thankful for everything leading me to this point today. Shooting portraits is my bread and butter, but I’ve done anything from shooting behind the scenes content of recording sessions to being Octagon-side at a UFC fight ready to capture a knockout.

I love that I get to tap into so many different sides of my creativity on a daily basis and I look forward to continuing this journey that I call life.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
In my journey thus far, the top three qualities, skills and/or knowledge that have kept me in good stead would be the following:

1) Networking: This is my absolute #1, above all, must-have skill for any and every person, haha. It has, without a doubt, been the one skill that has gotten me further in my professional career than any other skill or piece of knowledge I’ve learned in a classroom. If you can master the skill of networking effectively, you can do anything you set your mind to. However, the networking I do isn’t just about “selling yourself” or exchanging business cards only to be tossed an hour later; rather it is making genuine connections with people who you want to learn from or collaborate with to create something bigger than just you. (“Genuine” is the key word, too!)

2) Adaptability: The art of adaptability is just that – an art. All roles or experiences that I’ve had up to now have required some level of adaptability, and for those whom I worked with that were not able to master this, there was always some issue down the line. Being adaptable in both my work and creative environment has helped me to have less expectations, creating more room for me to grow in my skills as a creative. Not having high expectations might sound somewhat negative, but to me it’s actually quite the opposite as it allows for more ideas to shine and lessens the impact when situations might not go exactly as you expected to them to (hence the “adapting” part).

3) Your Word (Reliability): What importance does your word have if you are not delivering on what you say you will? This one is probably the toughest skill that I’ve learned (full transparency, I’m still working on mastering it). While I’ve usually been the reliable one when it comes to corporate positions I’ve held, sometimes my creative work has not always been at the top of my priority list (even though I desperately want it to be). When others are involved in those creative endeavors, I have not always delivered on “my word” in a timely manner in the ways that I do in other parts of my life. Whilst working on mastering this skill, I know that when I do deliver in the ways I say I am going to, it has paid off two-fold because I not only am following through, I am simultaneously building trust in the people that I work with so they know I can be relied upon.

Overall, I think developing the three skills I’ve outlined above will help anyone early on in their journey to a path of success in many facets of their life.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
The most impactful thing my parents did for me was allow me to explore my creativity but would never force me into doing anything I didn’t want to do. I’ve heard some horror stories of when friends had their parents force them to do things they didn’t want to when they were young and they ended up resenting whatever that thing was.

I remember distinctly in about 1st or 2nd grade, one of my friends in elementary school started modeling and I immediately asked my mom if I could do that too. She was a model back in the day, so there was no better person to ask other than her. We got headshots done for my portfolio and I began my (albeit short) journey of modeling! However, there was one shoot in particular where I was asked to smile by the photographer and I vividly remember saying I didn’t want to…and that was the end of my modeling career, haha. My mom never forced me to do anything, and she said, “If you don’t want to smile, then I won’t make you.”

Same thing happened when I was doing piano lessons around 8 or 9 years old. I had been in piano lessons for a year and one day I said, “I don’t want to practice anymore.” My parents said that it was okay and that they wouldn’t force me to take lessons and practice if I didn’t want to.

By allowing me to explore my creativity on my own without forcibly saying “you must do this or else”, I was able to grow a different type of appreciation for the creative work I do today. I still hold that concept very near and dear of never forcing the process, either. If something isn’t creatively flowing through me, I move onto the next thing and eventually will return with a fresh perspective later on.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
FOSTER 1_Vinyl Performance 2019 – photographed by Sammy Dean FOSTER 2_Performance 2023 – photographed by McKenzie Neibert KFM 8_BTS Stanley Cup Parade 2023 – photographed by Jordan Anders All other photos are taken by me, Kaylie Foster

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