Meet Crissy Speaks

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Crissy Speaks a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Crissy, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

I absolutely love this question, one of the ways I keep creativity alive is by practicing a work life balance mentality.

Many of us are very busy and the world is constantly moving. Many creatives, entrepreneurs and freelancers can’t always agree to any and everything.

I made it a priority to prioritize different tasks . Sometimes it’s no and sometimes it’s not now.

What I found interesting is that the most times when I’m creating (editing) is usually after hours and it’s a very fulfilling to create with no time restrictions

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?

My name is Cristina, aka Crissy I’m a multi-talented entertainment journalist and on-air correspondent from Queens NY. My passion for music, media, and entertainment began early in college. I attended Medgar Evers College where I immediately joined the radio station club and Co-hosted my first radio show “In The Loop”. After graduating with my AA in Mass Communication and Radio Broadcasting. Shortly after I attended Brooklyn College and started a second successful radio show,  called “Lip Chat”. A show based on local, national, and entertainment news. I was heard on mywbcr.com and 1190AM radio. Before graduating with a B.A. in Television and Radio I interned at Hot 97.1FM where I created content logs and news. Blogging for the site, communicating with listeners, and greeting and preparing guests. 
 
Shortly after, I became a correspondent with What’s The 411, An award winning entertainment and lifestyle television show.  It was there where I interviewed legendary Hiphop pioneer “Big Daddy Kane”. Grammy Award winning Jennifer Hudson, and Super Model And star of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Cynthia Bailey just to name a few. Those skills gave me a lot of confidence on the camera and I eventually developed crissyspeaks,com. Here is where you can find my latest interviews in studio or overall read ups of events happening in New York City. While I have have the opportunity to develop another passion and photography and videography, which is open a lot of doors for me I still continue to host and interview a wide range of celebrities and up and coming artists.

It’s important to lean into YOUR personality and knowledge. This is what sets you apart. You are what make people want to approach you and trust your knowledge.

To learn more about me, make sure to follow CRISSY SPEAKS on Instagram and CRISSY SHOOTS.

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?

Confidence- Is a major key in self-development, and is important, not only on your professional journey with goals, but your overall life. There were times when I would create my interview questions after hours of research, I put time into making sure the questions were not repetitive when I was on the red carpet interviewing Jennifer Hudson. I took time to understand what the men’s appreciation was when I was asked to interview Yung Joc,(Artist )who was one of the honoraries.

Having confidence in my questions displayed in my body language and the tone of my voice, and more importantly eye contact. These are things that people notice immediately, you will need to be confident in who you are, how you look, and the service you provide, knowing that you are the subject matter expert and the best person to do it will convince others, meaning the public that you know what you’re doing and the best person to do it.

Approachability- Is also another major key, how people perceive you may often be positive or negative but a majority of people should feel like they could ask you something. Whether they’re on social media or in person. You want to establish a community. You need to be likable, which means people need to feel like they can approach you.

Problem-solving -My last major key is in the area of problem-solving, this might seem simple, but many people can’t naturally figure out how to be a solution. Problem-solving is a great skill, it shows how valuable you being there is, and how supportive you are, which will be beneficial in the area of networking. Even if you are unsure of the actual problem and how to fix it, the next steps would be to come up with an idea or a solution that could possibly improve this. Figuring out a solution early on instead of complaining can allow you to see much success in your field.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

Prayer is essential, not to be super religious, but taking time to actually pray and talk to God on what it is that you’re believing in, and making sure it aligns to what he wants for your future will relieve you of stress, anxiety, fear, doubt, or any impostor syndrome. You have to believe in a higher power for me that is Jesus.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Crissyspeaks.com
• Instagram: Crissy Speaks
• Linkedin: Cristina Twitty
• Youtube: Crissy Speaks