Meet Maki Welton

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Maki Welton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Maki, so great to have you on the platform and excited to have you share your wisdom with our community today. Communication skills often play a powerful role in our ability to be effective and so we’d love to hear about how you developed your communication skills.

Think about how we’re raised. As kids, we learn very quickly that there are things we can say and things we can’t. We learn to hold back, to filter, to communicate just enough to get by. Then, on the opposite end of the world, you have actors who are told to be fearless, to express without boundaries.

But real life? Real life exists somewhere in the middle.

Real life is walking up to someone you don’t know and making a connection. Real life is standing in a room full of people with your heart pounding and still delivering your message with confidence. It’s having one conversation, one pitch that changes the trajectory of your entire career. It’s navigating conflict, developing trust, and knowing how to listen just as much as you speak. That is the power of communication. Communication is not just about talking, it’s about influencing how people feel, how they understand, and ultimately, how they act.

If you can communicate well, you can lead.
If you can communicate well, you can teach.
If you can communicate well, you can sell.

And the best part:

Your career options are endless!

Maybe you want to become a teacher and shape the minds that will shape the future.
Maybe you want to become a social media strategist and guide the stories the world consumes online.
Maybe you want to advocate for communities, influence public opinion, or enter the world of politics.
Or maybe you don’t know yet and that’s okay.

Because in Communication Studies, you learn the skills that every profession secretly relies on:

How to express yourself clearly.
How to think critically.
How to collaborate.
How to lead with empathy.
How to speak up with confidence when it matters most.

Communication skills are not optional in life, they’re essential!

Every text, every email, every handshake, every presentation, it’s all communication. And those who master it, master the ability to move forward in any field they choose.

You’re learning how to turn ideas into action, learning how to be heard in a world full of noise, and learning how to give voice to those who haven’t found theirs yet.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’m focused on building experiences that connect people, whether through the characters I bring to life on camera or the live events I produce that bring communities together. Acting has always been the heart of my storytelling; I love stepping into different perspectives and helping audiences feel something real, something familiar, something they didn’t even know they needed. That’s what draws me to performance, the chance to move people.

Along that journey, I realized connection doesn’t just happen on screen, It happens in the room with you. That’s where my brand really comes to life. My upcoming event, Not Just A Valentine, is a celebration of love, music, and creativity. It’s a space for every kind of love story, the messy ones, the hopeful ones, the ones still being written. It’s designed to bring people together and remind us that human connection is the greatest experience of all.

This will be the beginning of something special!

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?

Develop Communication, Resilience, and Curiosity

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

My mentor, Alex Salazar recommended and actually gifted me with Relentless by Tim Grover. I believe this book shaped the core of my resilient mindset. What I love about Grover’s message is that he rewrites what toughness actually is. He talks about resilience not as bouncing up right away, but as taking a moment to understand why you fell so that you don’t get knocked down the same way twice.

Grover also emphasizes that your mind has to be stronger than your feelings, that you can’t let emotions be the thing that decides your future. That hit me hard as an Actor and Creator. In both worlds, rejection and doubt show up often. But this book helped me understand that the next move has to come from discipline, not emotion.

Another nugget that stuck with me is how he describes winning. He says there are four components: talent, intelligence, competitiveness, and resilience and that resilience is the one that separates the great from the unstoppable.

If you want to understand what it takes to go from good to unstoppable, This is your book.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://notjustavalentine.com/event
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makiwelton/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/makiwelton/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@makiwelton
• Other: Not Just A Valentine – FEBRUARY 13th, 2026