Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kirsten King. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kirsten, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
My resilience comes from having to dare to be great in spaces that would prefer me be otherwise. Having grown up as the proud child of a well-traveled military family, I had what some may consider a gift and a curse of experiencing different varieties of racism in many different places around the world. So, it’s plain to say that with each encounter throughout my life, from childhood to even now, I had to find new ways to be resilient. Additionally, I am part of a family that is its own kind of resilient and taught me to be strong in moments of weakness and adversity. My parents always instilled in me that my greatness, skills, education accolades, and overall confidence will sometimes be seen as something to be disliked by those who would rather I be small and less than and to not let it phase me, because it says more about them than it does about me anyway. With strong and amazing parents, they taught me that strong women are not just born, but they are forged through the challenges of life. My resilience has been forged through the trials and tribulations of life’s challenges and I’ve come out stronger on the other side.
I also grew up playing classical music most of my life, so I was often in spaces that were predominantly non-diverse and where I was more times than not, the only person who looked like me. I started with piano and then added clarinet and viola in middle school and then continued to play viola semi-professionally into adulthood in pretty much every city orchestra I lived in, whether that be a youth symphony city orchestra, a college orchestra, a reunion or alumni orchestra, a holiday orchestra, a philharmonic or maybe just a wedding every now and then. And to make the haters even more unsettled in their seats, I played an uncommon instrument, viola, and most times I was playing in the first chair position.
I think a large part of developing tools and techniques in regard to building up resilience is to remember that one’s excellence shines a little too bright for those who squint in the shadow of greatness. It’s important to stand tall and 10 toes down in your greatness and let your light shine bright as it may encourage those who see how you move. Remember, everyone wants to shine, but not everyone wants to be polished. And if someone ever tells you something is impossible, it’s only impossible for them.
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?
I, like many people, am many things. A large part of my career journey has been spent as an Arts Education Specialist. I create arts-centered programming for different schools and arts organizations and I teach theatre/drama classes at a variety of public, private, charter, homeschool, and online education spaces for youth & teen communities. Sometimes I’m the first Black female theatre/drama teacher they’ve ever had when teaching in the school setting; especially when teachers are leaving the profession in droves. It’s weird to think that in 2024 that I’m sometimes the first Black female theatre teacher some of them have had, and it doesn’t happen all of the time, but when it does, I’m always glad to be the teacher who’ll be guiding their arts education journey. I’m also a professional improviser and teach all ages from 5 – 17 and also adult improv classes 18+. I teach at acting studios, theatres, schools, a variety of business and organizations, and independent small groups looking for coaching, team building, or to amplify their public speaking and presentation skills. Another variable of my arts programming that I’m very proud of is that I manage a team of TAs and interns, where most have aged out of my various youth & teen programs and wish to continue working with me through my continuing education opportunities and this affords them the opportunity to start learning how to teach and continue to learn through a different lens while assisting me in my different classes, camps, and workshops.
I serve as the Creative Director for a Black-owned business here in Atlanta helping to pitch, create, and develop marketing, branding, and social media ideas for the company. I’m a brand ambassador who occasionally collaborates with Slutty Vegan ATL and I’ve also performed many times in my career with my friend and comedy colleague, Colin Mochrie along with Mark Meer, and Greg Proops. I’m a member of an Atlanta-based improv group called Dark Side Of The Room that performs all over the country and in Canada. I think it’s hard for people forging their career to do, but I do my best to not stay too long in spaces and places where I’m not seen, valued, or respected. I also do shadow work in the field of survivor advocacy helping survivors of SA, hostile work environments, and professional misconduct document and speak up about the situations they’ve survived. It’s quiet, hard, and heavy work, but I’d want someone to stand up for me, so I find it important to stand up for others who are brave enough to speak out.
Being a mover and a shaker in the improv world for some time now is unique, because it’s primarily a white and male dominated space and most of my improv colleagues and teachers while in that space were/are of that same non-diverse identity and it was usually a dog eat dog atmosphere. Often people in the space felt/feel as though they have to operated in a desperate way to get to the top and fight for stage time, but I never did anything but dare to be great and that was how I earned my way to the top of every improv space I came into. I always made sure to lead with love, integrity, and a valiant work ethic and put front of mind that in the grand scheme of things, the hate from those who couldn’t see how or why I was so talented, was really a feeling of admiration that took a wrong turn inside of them somewhere. They were just confused fans.
In my career as an improviser, I very rarely saw anyone who looked like me daring to be dynamically excellent in the field, so as I tell my students these days, I made it my job to become the teacher I always wanted. One who cares about the person, values their journey, and knows that they’re not just another number on the roster, but a person seeking growth and clearer vision of self. I remind them often that ‘The Process Is The Prize’.
It’s exciting and empowering to move with such integrity in my career and for it to have brought me to some amazing opportunities and I look forward to what comes next.
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?
Three qualities that were most impactful in my journey thus far are: Integrity, Faith, and Self-Worth.
Integrity has been the quality I see in myself and how I move through life and career that has kept me honest, kind, and allowed me to always have strong moral principles in everything I do and with each space I venture into. I dare to uphold integrity and my shear existence is a small act of defiance against those who surrounded me with hate, injustice, road blocks, and dishonesty. The integrity I’ve held close to my core values has allowed me to be unwavering in my morals. My advice in regard to this quality is to always do what’s right and to remember that that will often be what’s hard.
Faith is something that has kept me hopeful and positive when I’ve had to remove myself from spaces and people steeped in hate, negativity, and dishonesty. Faith is having trust and confidence in someone and something, so it’s important to have faith in yourself, your beliefs, and your journey. Faith is knowing that the journey is like a connect-the-dots picture and even though the dots along the way may not make sense or seem important, they’re vital to the bigger picture. Faith reminds us that we are people of purpose and it’s what we can lean on when making decisions and facing challenges. The world teaches us fear to distract us from our power. Faith restores our allegiance to our self, our dreams, and our aspirations.
Self-Worth is another area of knowledge that I find has really served me on my path. Knowing my self-worth has kept me from staying where I wasn’t valued and allowed me to know my worth when negotiating and considering offers and opportunities. When you don’t know your own worth, that allows others to undervalue you and convince you their value of you is what you should value yourself at. You must know your worth, else you may get lost in other’s opinions of you.
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?
A book that has played an important role in my development is Set Boundaries, Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawaab. Nedra speaks a lot about setting and upholding boundaries in personal and professional environments and provides many ways to better understand and uphold boundaries. There’s a part in the book that talks about refreshing and restating boundaries and she shares that, “As humans, we change, and our boundaries change with us. It’s okay if your tolerance for certain things in your relationships change.” It’s something that I already knew, but there’s something that hits different when you hear someone else say things or read a book of someone else validating your already existing thought. This entire book was very validating and I would highly recommend it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @kirsten_king_official_
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