Story & Lesson Highlights with Christie Becker of Washington/Oregon/Seattle/Portland

We recently had the chance to connect with Christie Becker and have shared our conversation below.

Christie, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
I’m a creative at heart, and I really enjoy being creative in the kitchen. I like to be as resourceful as I can with ingredients, and that has led to me learning to do some unique things at home rather than buying ingredients at the store. I’ve made everything from homemade mayo and sun-dried tomatoes, to homemade molasses substitute, and even pesto from walnuts from our tree and basil from our garden. It’s a labor of love, it allows me to create more than just musically, and the payoff is delicious food I can be proud of.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am the owner and sole violinist of Christie Becker Violin, LLC. I began my business back in the summer of 2018, and I was completely figuring it out as I went, posting ads on Craigslist and doing my best to create an online presence for myself. I basically used the inspiration of some violinists I had seen in the UK who played for events with accompaniment tracks, and I thought “that’s something that I could do”. I looked for similar offerings in my area, and I couldn’t find a market here so I started one. I learned what my clients were excited by and made it the core of my offerings: customizable performances of the music that matters most to them on the days that are the most important of their lives. From birthday celebrations with songs by the Foo Fighters, to Disney themed weddings and even Bollywood and K-Pop, I’ve enjoyed learning from my clients and expanding my repertoire to be so incredibly diverse. Now that wedding season is winding down for this year, I’m working on compiling an updated repertoire list to share with future couples for inspiration (but of course I never force couples to select from just that list – that’s how it got so long in the first place!) I expect that I’ll be listing well over 1,000 songs in a wide range of genres, from classical arrangements (think Bridgerton-esque) to acoustic (with guitar accompaniment, which has a more relaxed folk or alternative feel) and beyond.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
Trust breaks the bonds between people. Without trust there can be no foundation for future growth – everything stagnates and becomes shallow, because it becomes unsafe to continue a relationship that has any deep significance. Only the continued showing-up can repair trust. It’s not in the words – words are cheap. It’s always been in the actions, and when someone shows you that they are there for you, time-in and time-out, rain or shine, that’s what you can rely on. That’s a solid foundation that can be built upon, and counted on when hardships come. And those positive deposits into the relationship are what sustain it when negative experiences come.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Yes, in 2020 when the pandemic shut the world down, the first gig I lost was a company event for St Patrick’s Day. As the shutdown continued, and nobody was booking anything, I really had to reevaluate what I was going to do for work, since events were prohibited with a few strict exceptions. We sold our house and travelled the country as a family in 2021, with my husband and our newborn. I had picked up some other performances throughout the country as we went, testing the markets and seeing if any doors would open, and we made amazing memories, but realized that Washington was the state we wanted to remain in. I was really struggling to get my business on the trajectory it had been on before the pandemic, and had worked with some marketing companies with terrible results. It was really my Hail Mary to work with Book More Brides in 2023, and they really helped to launch me into a whole new understanding of marketing, CRM tools, and even the small things in web design you might not think of. I’m forever grateful that I worked with them, that my family put so much faith in my business, and that I didn’t give up.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. How do you differentiate between fads and real foundational shifts?
Since I work within the wedding industry primarily, I’ll be using that industry to illustrate my thoughts:

Fads are things that are popular for a time, and then lose popularity. They are surface things, like styles, that are usually aesthetic or engaging, but don’t offer any real depth. Examples of this could be more ruffled piping on cakes having a comeback, or heart-shaped cakes. Flowers that are whimsical with offshoots of sprigs and non-traditional things like leaves or seed pods or heavy greenery. These are things that are fun and fashionable, but not necessarily a shift in thinking.
Real foundational shifts are things that are not coming from a place of inspiration or influencers, but are core to the individual or couple’s world view. Things like incorporating cultural or personalized elements, family or religious traditions, even deciding against gender-specific roles in favor of honoring the people who matter most regardless of their gender, really speaks to a foundational shift in how we perceive weddings. Some weddings are certainly focused on image and being Pinterest-worthy, but more and more we’re seeing people make choices that are not for the outward public gaze, but are simply for themselves. I’m thrilled to see people rethinking the classic wedding tropes in favor of only keeping what works for them personally – it’s keeping things fresh within the industry, and it’s also keeping the attention on what’s the most important in any wedding celebration: the couple at the center of it all.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I’d want people to say that I had integrity – that I did what I believed was right when it wasn’t easy or even recognized. To me, life is about relationships: building them, nurturing them, making them stronger over time. That takes real work, and sometimes it means unlearning the ways we’ve been groomed to people-please our way into fake connections. It means doing the hard work of really knowing ourselves, understanding what doesn’t serve us anymore, and being willing to let it go. Then taking what we’ve learned and using it to show up for others kindly and with love, in a meaningful way. It’s slow work, and often invisible, but it shows up in the way people remember you, and that’s the kind of legacy I want to leave. That’s the only real way I think we can make the world a little better, is by doing that hard work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.christiebeckerviolin.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christiebeckerviolin
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christiebeckerviolin
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@christiebeckerviolin