We were lucky to catch up with Kelly Branyik recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kelly, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
Creativity has been a part of my life since I was a child. My siblings and I were divorcee kids, and it was a brutal time because we had a father who made the divorce complicated and painful. My mom, who was an early childhood professional and creative herself, knew that as adults, we were going to need coping mechanisms and healthy outlets for any trauma that would come from the divorce. So she got us involved in everything from dance to theater to crafting to music and everything in between.
I know a lot of people suffer from writer’s block or challenges with creativity, but I don’t really struggle with it that much. I find that the more I activate my creativity, the more it keeps on coming. And if, for some reason, inspiration isn’t hitting me, I write down the thoughts occupying my mind so I can clear my headspace and let the inspiration in.
I’m a writer, so a lot of my inspiration comes from reading books, watching news, playing on social media, and watching movies. I also am the type of person who needs to experience everything, even it’s horrible. It’s almost like, the more I know and experience, the more I can draw on to create. You never know what experience is going to inspire you to write something great. My most recent novel I wrote is based on something that I’m passionate about, something that makes me angry.
So to sum up, consuming a lot of other content, wherever it comes from is a huge part of me keeping my creativity alive. And, I will create everything, even if nothing comes of it. If I have an idea for some sort of graphic design, I’ll go make it. If I have a story idea or a jumble of ideas for a story, I go write it down to flesh it out.
Don’t ever not entertain your creativity and it will stay alive.
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 grew up in a small town in Colorado. My siblings and I lived in the back of a video and computer store until we came of age. Movies and music were a huge part of my life, as you can imagine. You can always find me quoting movies and TV shows depending on what conversation I’m having. My siblings and I had access to our own computers early on, which heavily influenced our lives, but for me in particular, it held avenues to so many different worlds and opportunities.
I had this aptitude for tech and writing when I was young and really loved to write stories. In third grade, I got praised for this really organized web outline I made. It was then I knew I wanted to write. I went to Colorado State University-Pueblo, and got my Bachelor’s degree in English (Creative Writing) and minored in Professional Writing. I wanted to be a novelist, just like Kristin Hannah. I wanted to make people feel the way she made me feel when I read her novels.
After I graduated, I joined the Peace Corps and taught oral English in Chongqing, China for two years. It was one of the greatest and most influential experiences of my life. In Peace Corps, I really wanted to go make a difference, change the world. At the end of my time there, it was me who was completely changed. I am a self-taught Chinese language learner, and currently have an Advanced-Intermediate level of Mandarin Chinese. I have family and friends in China still, and consider it my second home. I even wrote a book to help aspiring Peace Corps Volunteers prepare for their service—It Depends: A Guide to Peace Corps.
Once I left Peace Corps and came back to Colorado, I ended up working as a content writer, copywriter, and production coordinator for the largest dealership group in the state. That pretty much launched my career in the marketing industry. In my off time, I was traveling solo around Colorado to build my Travel Branyik brand. My website, Travelbranyik.com, was my little guinea pig, and I constantly tested SEO techniques out on it. I was also writing articles for local magazines and newspapers in addition to all the travel content I was producing for my blog.
After working in the automotive industry, I ran marketing and events in Cripple Creek, a casino town just west of Colorado Springs, Colorado before making a trip back to China to teach English again. I was in Xi’an, for about four months before the world was rocked by COVID. And for another four months, I was stuck in the country until I was able to fly home.
After I made it back to the United States in 2020, I struggled to find my feet for several months, working as a receptionist for a friend and driving for Lyft and Uber. Eventually, I ended up at another ad agency that absolutely killed my spirit and motivation. But while working there, I was able to write my very first novel, The Lost Pleiad.
At one point during my time at that ad agency, I was wearing 22 different hats and thought to myself, “What am I doing here? I don’t even want to be the all-in-one marketer. All I have ever wanted to do is write.” So I quit that job, secured a contract job as a teaching assistant for Coding Dojo, redid my resume, and started my career switch.
After just a few months of searching, I was hired as a content writer for Semrush, one of my favorite marketing tools and brands. For two years, I wrote a significant amount of technical content for them, learning a great deal about my writing skills. During my time with Semrush, I wrote my second novel, which I’m currently pitching to agents.
Today, I’m a content director for Rimo3, a Windows application migration software solution. So I help with content development and execution. And funny enough, my job is located in my home town in my old high school, which was converted into a local tech startup that supports aspiring tech businesses in the area. I never thought I would end up back in my home town, let alone the IT industry. But it seems like my life has really come full circle. It’s quite a challenging job, because my knowledge on the topic of DaaS or end-user computing is pretty slim, but I am a woman who lives for challenges, and know I will be an expert to some extent one day soon. And I also love seeing people’s dream grow.
I haven’t spent as much time writing for Travel Branyik, not with so many other projects happening. And those projects, the novels I’m writing, are huge passion projects I will never be rid of. But my partner was recently going through my website and social media handles, liking every single picture, and he so sweetly said to me, “We’re going to get you back to this.”
As of today, I am heavily focused on getting my book out in the world, and have been in touch with many wonderful authors who are helping me get there. I’m also trying not to work as much, because there is so much life to live and so much world to see. So I have a lot of travel planned in the coming year, much of which I do plan to put on my website again.
I do my best to update my author site Kellybranyik.com and my travel site, Travelbranyik.com, whenever I can, so that’s where people can find me.
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?
Communication was always one of my most improved skills. You would be surprised by how poorly people communicate, even when they have good intentions. I feel a lot of my communication skills were honed because of my time in China. Learning a new language changes how you view language in general. But beyond that, being unable to speak a foreign language really forces you to listen to understand rather than react. Learning another language made me a better communicator and better listener. Honestly, if you have a chance to learn a language, I highly recommend it, not just for the purpose of improving communication skills, but for the purpose of connecting to people and cultures.
Writing more professionally and succinctly was another on of my greatest successes, and an area of knowledge I can confidently say I am a professional in now. One of the things I always wished I did after leaving college, was doing some sort of internship to help me launch myself into those workplace settings sooner. Sometimes I think I would’ve developed my professional writing skills much faster if I had gotten into an internship, so I always recommend that to young writers. My time with Semrush was invaluable, because I had a team of outstanding writers and editors who saw my shortcomings and taught me how to improve on them.
Travel, and I cannot express this enough, completely altered my life and personality. My time living in another country completely changed how I viewed the world. It softened my soul, made me more compassionate, and opened my mind to how different and similar we all our. I’m not saying I’m a professional in understanding anything about China, but I am a professional in letting go of all you think you know about the world to accept other possibilities and perspectives. Coming from a small town, it’s really easy to get stuck in your home country and never see the world. But if you have the means to, go somewhere else, go for a long time. Learn about the people, study the language, and create family around the world. I truly believe this is how we learn to love and understanding one another.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
I am very fortunate to have a family that has supported me as I ran to different corners of the earth. My parents, siblings, and closest friends have always been my biggest cheerleaders when it comes to me pursuing my dream. I know not everyone has that kind of support, so I feel incredibly fortunate. We are a family of people whose dreams are never too large. We encourage each other to go after what we want with passion, and we pick each other up if we fall on the way to those dreams. There are other masters in the field of writing, authors of my favorite novels, and mentors I’ve had along the way who have helped me be a better person and develop my greatest skills. There are so many people to name, but I think I can confidently say, they know who they are.
Contact Info:
- Website: kellybranyik.com
- Instagram: @kellybranyik or @travelbranyik
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellybranyik/
- Other: My other website is travelbranyik.com.
Image Credits
My headshot photo was taken by Guo Chen.
