Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Katrina RiChard. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Katrina, thanks for sitting with us today to chat about topics that are relevant to so many. One of those topics is communication skills, because we live in an age where our ability to communicate effectively can be like a superpower. Can you share how you developed your ability to communicate well?
I taught teenagers. I was a high school history teacher on the south side of Chicago before moving to Los Angeles. Educating teenagers is challenging for a variety of reasons but everything is worse when you are a poor communicator. I started my teaching career two weeks after my 21st birthday and they assigned me SENIORS, who were only 3 -4 years younger than me and I looked younger than them. I was mistaken for a student by security the first two weeks at my school. I quickly discovered that in order to have effective classroom management as well as be effective in instruction. I had to be very clear with my instructions, deliberate in my language (both verbal and nonverbal) and strategic in my tone.
I learned very quickly that just because I understood something to be a given did not mean that my students did. The times that I didn’t communicate effectively resulted in misbehavior of individual students, disruption of the lesson by constant clarifying questions by students, and/or students just giving up on the lesson for that day. I started listening to their conversations, discovered what they were interested in, including the popular phrases and pop culture of the day so that I could tailor my lessons and examples to things they knew and understood as I worked to teach them the curriculum. It made all the difference not only in my teaching but also how I now communicate when working on a project, whether I’m directing a piece, or working with other creatives to bring a piece I’ve written to life.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
There is an African proverb that says, “Until the Lion tells the story, the hunter will always be the hero!” After years of acting professionally, I realized that I needed to help facilitate the change I wanted to see in the stories being told on stage and screen and I could not do that as effectively as possible from on the stage.
I started writing and have not looked back. My mission as a writer is to illuminate marginalized voices, tell stories that have never been told before, and to tell classic stories with a fresh perspective. I strive for a day when plays with women or people of color as the protagonists and the perspective from which the story is told is normalized instead of viewed as an anomaly.
I draw inspiration from the lives of my family, the people I grew up with and around on the South Side of Chicago, my students, and other “ordinary” people. I am always seeking to explore how the events and phenomena of the larger society affect “regular” people or not. Having a Social Science History background and having been a high school educator for almost 20 years, I am well versed in the news of the day, political climate, and the historiography of this country, which I repeatedly come back to when beginning a new piece. Instead of making the academic content the center of any piece I write, it is always just on the periphery, as is most often the case in the daily lives of people.
In my writing I seek to facilitate transformative experiences. The stories I gravitate toward provide opportunities to do that. When I write characters, I seek to make sure they are authentic, layered, and flawed, therefore being whole people the audience can feel even if they do not agree with or relate to their stories. When you can feel a character it is more likely that they can touch you in some way which is the first step to transformation.
James Baldwin said it best, “You write in order to change the world, knowing perfectly well that you probably can’t, but also knowing…the world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even but a millimeter the way people look at reality, then you can change it.” There are plays, movies, and episodes of television shows I still remember because they affected me so much. Those stories caused me to think differently about an idea or issue, some of them even introduced me to ideas, historical stories, and other notions that were not in my mind prior to the experience. In the current climate of the world, change is constant but transformation is lacking, my goal in my writing is to balance out the disproportion.
After beginning my writing journey, I discovered there are still many barriers to the production of works by Black Women like me as well as BIPOC individuals in general. This led me to start my own production company, KDR Enterprises. Whose mission to illuminate and transform. I believe that there is no reason artists should be waiting for gatekeepers of any kind to produce their art, we can work together and do it ourselves. My motto is, “Let’s build it and make them come to us!”
Since its inception, KDR Enterprises has produced both theatrical productions as well as film, namely the Award-Winning film “#MoreLife,” co-produced with Maji Made Media. We are currently in pre-production for the film, “Jewel in the Crown,” exploring the aftermath of situationships and the lessons they teach.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Audacity – I have the audacity to believe that I, a poor girl from the south side of Chicago, raised by a single mother, can be successful at whatever I really set my mind and hand to do it.
Irritation – When I see/experience something that just isn’t right in my opinion I can’t just let it be. I have to try to do something to make it better
The faith and knowledge of the sovereignty of God – When things get difficult I go back to two of my favorite scriptures. “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper and not to harm, to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11) and “God is within her, she will not fail” (Psalms 46:5)
My advice to anyone starting out is identify the thing that grinds your gears the most, for example, if you can’t stand tacky events and are always thinking about how something could have been done better, you might be called to be an event planner. I would also say BE YOURSELF, that’s the only way you can truly fulfill the purpose you were created for. Lastly be patient on your journey, yes make your plans and do the work, then give it to God and don’t get frustrated and give up while you’re waiting. Anything worth having, a cake, a flower, a artistic career, TAKES TIME. Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. (Proverbs 19:21)
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
The Alchemist. I’ve gone back and re-read many times. These nuggets continue to inspire and push me:
“People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.”
“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
“When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.”
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @kdrenterprises
