Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Stephanie Khattak. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Stephanie, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
After my last corporate job in 2016, I went on a series of interviews within that same profession. I was excited to be considered, but none were a mutual fit. I turned to art as a way to offset this very stressful process, both creating it and spending a lot of time in galleries, museums and other art spaces. This created a path that led from developing my own skills as an artist to launching K.Co Arts, which combines my professional experience and creative expertise to deliver arts and culture content, program planning and experiences, and art tour consulting services.
Then, the pandemic happened! K.Co, like so many other small businesses, was forced to pivot.
My husband James and I began taking short road trips to explore and photograph small towns near Dallas. We wrote about these small town day trips in Texas on our blog and social media platforms, and in 2022 started publishing travel coffee table books highlighting things to see on road trips in Texas and beyond. Potential clients began to approach us to create custom travel content for them, and K.Co has grown from there! Our professional experience, visual arts expertise and travel perspective make us unique, and our story not only gives purpose to our own work, but advocates for purposeful travel. Win-win!
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 am the founder of K.Co Arts, which delivers custom travel content and advises on travel content strategy, travel programs and arts and culture experiences for local, national and international clients. What makes K.Co special is our ability to connect people with places that inspire. Our knack for identifying unique experiences and shaping compelling stories helps us engage travelers and advocate for local arts, culture and businesses in destinations across the country.
K.Co also publishes travel guides and photography books through our publishing initiative, K.Co Press.
Our next book, “Frontiers,” planned for a late May release, covers destinations in the Texas panhandle and plains regions. It will be available for purchase on our website.
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?
Intellectual curiosity, resourcefulness and resilience have been very important, not only in finding purpose in my work, but in building a business. Specifically, the curiosity to thoughtfully explore unconventional ideas that may not have obvious value; the resourcefulness to independently complete a task or meet a goal, and the resilience to keep going when things aren’t immediately successful or progressing quickly. Even strategically smart, purpose-driven ideas take time to launch, maintain and grow.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
Prioritize projects by impact to your project or company goals. Determine what meaningfully contributes to success and what can be put on the back burner, delegated, or removed. A habit that I’ve kept from my last corporate job is to designate tasks by priority very early in the planning process. That way, you (and your team, if applicable) can see where things fall within the larger project, quickly make decisions, and adjust workloads accordingly. It’s not the most exciting work, but it brings order to chaos and helps put things in perspective for “future you” when you’re overwhelmed!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kcoarts.com/
- Instagram: instagram.com/kcopress/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KCOARTS
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/k-co
- Instagram: instagram.com/k.coarts/
Image Credits
James Khattak/K.Co Arts
