We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tevis Houston a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Tevis, thank you so much for joining us and offering your lessons and wisdom for our readers. One of the things we most admire about you is your generosity and so we’d love if you could talk to us about where you think your generosity comes from.
I worked in some environments before I started my company that didn’t prioritize generosity. I think it feels good to show up being true to your values and believe in treating others as you wish to be treated. My hope, not expectation, is that the feelings of empathy, compassion, and gratitude will motivate other individuals to act as generously, creating a more compassionate and supportive workplace.
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?
After working for years as a creative director for brands, I found myself with a one-year-old who wasn’t sleeping, and my division had been eliminated.
I knew what I wanted in my life: to work with brands our values aligned, give women more opportunities to learn and do the work, build a more flexible work environment (especially without a 2.5 hr commute), and connect the talented creatives I am lucky to call friends. So, I figured I would work on some project for a while until I figured out my next steps, but I soon realized we were on to something, and that was over 11 years ago.
We established the agency to address gaps we identified while working on the brand side. Our team is dedicated to realizing innovative concepts, collaborating with mid-large brands to develop integrated campaigns with impactful narratives, and implementing creative operational strategies to enhance their internal teams’ capabilities.
I love connecting talented artists, writers, and talent together to learn more about their stories and creatively deliver them.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three qualities/skills that had the greatest impact were having endless curiosity, the ability to admit when I didn’t know something, and being open to learning. We often are so worried that we should already know something that we miss out on other possibilities.
My advice would be not to let your fear and ego get in the way of learning something new. Be resourceful by asking questions and doing your own research. It’s ok not to know but it’s not ok to not try and learn more.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
We are always looking for talented collaborators, from strategists to writers to designers to photographers and directors. We assemble experienced teams as we go that suit the project needs and have a consistent roster that we always like to keep up to date.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.friendseverywhere.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tevis_houston/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tevishouston/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/friendseverywhere_/
Image Credits
Headshot – https://www.instagram.com/katielevinephoto/ Collage – multiple – studio owned images Website – studio owned artwork Event – studio owned On-set – studio owned
