Meet Crystal C Martin-Johnson

We were lucky to catch up with Crystal C Martin-Johnson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Crystal C, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
It took me years to develop my confidence and self esteem. After years of being bullied and mistreated I decided to focus on myself and my goals. I took time to self reflect which lead me to attend therapy, learn cognitive behavior skills, and remove people who weren’t genuine. Building confidence and self-esteem, especially in the face of criticism or discrimination, can be challenging. I lost many friends and even family. But I had to grow and do become authentically me!

My biggest advice is to surround yourself with supportive people, set achievable goals, and celebrate all victories. I also recommend that you focus on your strengths, embrace your identity, and seek out positive influences to help boost your confidence. Your worth isn’t defined by others’ opinions. I’ve kept all of those things in the back of my mind and here I am today.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am Crystal, and my brand is The Crystallina Perspective. I created this brand in 2015 as a beacon to showcase to others in the South that there’s more to life than surviving. I started with an actual blog site (still have it today) where I would showcase beauty product reviews. I created a Instagram and Facebook account for the brand in 2015 and converted my YouTube Channel formerly known as Naptural Crystal over to The Crystallina Perspective.

Prior to 2019, I did exclusive makeup and hair content. At the end of 2019, I found the planner community and went in heavy creating with my Passion Planners and then Notiq Ring bound planner. I eventually found other brands and started to create and then started a “Shop Small Til You Drop” segment where I would showcase small businesses. Since those beginning days, I’ve had the pleasure of serving on many PR and Design teams. I’ve also had the pleasure of working with many brands such as Pretty Planner Co, Cricut, Erin Condren, CraftyPlannerQueen, Archer and Olive, MäkseLife, Versed Planning, Meanies, Lauren Phelps Designs, and many many more.

Fast forward to present day, The Crystallina Perspective, has a mission to empower & inspire others to indulge in limitless self-care, self-love, and body positivity. I create content around 3 major pillars: beauty•creativity•life that I post on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Lemon8, Pinterest, & my Blog. The Crystallina Perspective has content around beauty, curly hair, planning, journaling, crafting, mental health, LGBTQIA marriage, and nursing. You can also catch me creating for many beauty brands such as Adwoa Beauty, Camille Rose Naturals, Bask and Bloom, Bobbi Brown, and sooo many more.

I practice authenticity and serve as a resource of all things beauty•creativity• life of course from my perspective! I post weekly to YouTube and almost daily to all other platforms.

If you need an UGC person or PR girlie, I’m your person!!!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The three qualities that were most impactful in my journey were authenticity, being detail oriented, and creative. I still use all of the qualities today! I always tell people what you see on social media, you’re going to get in person. If you don’t like the person on screen, you won’t like the person when you meet them in person. Authenticity is key in everything I do! The details do matter! Social media and being a content creator has gotten people to think that details don’t matter because everything is “quick”. But with the success I’ve had as a content creator, it was because I gave details about things. Yes people want the quick version but they want to know what you’re talking about as well! Lastly, creativity matters! Be creative and challenge yourself!!

For those early in the journey, I challenge you to think about each quality I previously stated. Then ask yourself weekly how are you being authentic, detail oriented and creative. It doesn’t matter if you’re not a content creator, these qualities can be used everywhere. I use these qualities at my full time job as a registered nurse. I encourage all to take 10-15 minutes weekly to check in on you and your goals! Give yourself a top three for the week and add 1 quality you want to focus on the most for that week.

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
The number one obstacle I am currently facing is gaining opportunities as a Mississippi Content Creator. There’s not a lot in the state in general and many of the opportunities I have found are in other states. While this is disheartening, I’m not giving up on my content creator dreams. I will work with the brands I desire and end up on a billboard for a brand one day!

One way, I am overcoming this challenge is by traveling out of the state to attend any events that I can. Now unfortunately I can’t attend them all, and I do pay to travel to the events. I know one day soon I will be invited to a sponsored trip whether that’s a day trip, weekend trip, or full week trip. I’m just pressing through with strong optimism.

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