Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kiki Gomez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Kiki , thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.
I’m a firm believer in manifesting your destiny. I have always been an optimistic person my entire life. Positive energy attracts positive things and I approach every situation with an attitude of “hope for the best, and assume the worst”. I think if you keep that mind state, the losses aren’t so significant. When the chips don’t fall in my favor I view the situation as not a negative but as a positive. I use those experiences to assess what I did wrong and how I could’ve approached the situation better in order to be successful the next time a similar situation arrises. Life is all about learning and as Michael Jordan once said “I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And THAT is why I succeed”. Life is all about learning, even from loses. You only lose if you don’t learn from it.
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’ve been working in advertising for 12 years as a producer/creative director creating brand campaigns for some of the largest brands in the world. I founded The Roster in 2014 offering brands a solution to creating premium content campaigns with top talent at competitive prices. Our business model is simple. We’re a talent first agency. We have scoured the world looking for amazing talent and have curated our roster based on talent that specialize’s in certain verticals of content creation. Whether a brand is in need of strategy, creative development, production or postproduction. The Roster offers brands a streamlined experience with one team under one roof. Unlike a traditional advertising agency who would task their staff creative team to develop a campaign, whether those creatives were a good fit for the project or not. The Roster approaches projects differently. Based on how we are briefed by our clients. We assess the creative brief, and build our team based on what the “idea” is, putting the best suited team together that specializes in that “idea”. If a client wants a blue couch we team them up with talent that makes a blue couch. If they want a red… you get the idea.
We have revolutionized the way brands create content. And yes. Some other agencies have tried to adapt this new business model, but as they say “some can imitate, but never duplicate”.
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?
Looking back on my last 12 years in advertising and how I got to where I’m at. I think the three things I would a credit to is my will to learn. I’ve always been passionate about the storytelling aspect of commercials, film and music and I didn’t come from a traditional schooling of film, marketing or advertising. I made a leap from an entirely different industry. But… this was my passion since a young kid and once I was in, I made the best of it. I bought books, I would always ask questions of my colleagues and I made sure I learned every aspect of advertising and how content was created. The best advice I received and till this day I’m so appreciative of it was from Loni Peristere, a very well known commercial and episodic director who currently directs American Horror Story. I worked for his VFX company Zoic Studios as a jr. agent representing the VFX component, along with their roster of directors which he was a part of. He had told me “My advice to you since I can see how passionate you are, is to learn everything. All aspects of creative, production and postproduction. Don’t be like these traditional agents who just send reels of work out but if asked any questions about a certain campaign they wouldn’t know the details. How long did it take to shoot? What cameras were used, etc…”. It was the best advice I ever received and what really pathed my approach to this industry.
The second thing I would a credit would be creating a big network. If something you see interest you, find out who did it. Reach out to them and create a relationship. Reach out to the people you admire. People in this industry love people who are interested in what they do. I have had many great mentors when I first started. People who I could ask for advice and guided me in the right direction. Those are the people you need to surround yourself with. There’s an old saying… “A man was speaking to his therapist and told him. I want to become a millionaire and I don’t know how to become one. The therapist replied back. Are you hanging out with millionaires. The man replied back. No. The therapist replied. Well there’s your problem, you need to start hanging with millionaires. The man took his advice and eventually became a millionaire. A year later he has a convo with his therapist and tells him. Wow, I did it. I became a millionaire and all is going great but I really want to become a billionaire and for some reason I just can’t break that ceiling. I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong? The therapist replied… Ha! Well there’s your problem. You’re hanging out with millionaires when you need to be hanging around billionaires.”. Moral of the story. Surround yourself with the people that you aspire to be like. It will rub off and you will learn from them. They got there somehow and why not go direct to the source and find out how it was done.
The third thing I would a credit to, would be my ambition. I don’t take no for an answer and I am relentless when I want something and am very goal oriented. Once I want something I get fixated on it, and if I don’t achieve it the first time, I’ll achieve the second time around. Don’t get discouraged. Where theres a will, theres a way.
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
That’s a good question. I think it’s obviously good to be well rounded and learn new things to sharpen your sword, so to speak. But… if you know your strengths it’s wise to expose them. I’m a firm believer that everyone has a skill set that they are extremely great at. For example. Mine is my communicative skills with people. I’m a people person. I have what people call “The Gift of Gab”. It’s something at first that I didn’t realize I had, but in my late twenties started realizing that it was something that I was extremely good at and started really honing in on and perfecting. I also attribute it to meeting so many different people in my life, from all different walks of life. You always pick something up from every person you meet. You just need to pay attention. In all honesty I feel like it’s my super power. There are great salesmen, and then there are the ones who are like Jedi’s. I’ve only met one other person in my life who has this same skill set and we have both excelled at our careers due to it. Plus if you treat everyone they you want to be treated, then it opens doors a little easier.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.wearetheroster.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theroster/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-roster/
Image Credits
Photographer: Jathan Campbell @ jathancphoto@gmail.com
