V: Hi hi hi guys! Thanks for being so loyal to Females of Filadelphia, despite my lack of motivation to post. Today I have a very special guest: Kirsten Beach (if this was a TV show everyone would be clapping right around now)! She is someone that I just met, but she is so genuine and kind that it truly radiates. She is extremely well-known around campus and I knew I had to reach out to ask her a few questions. **Trigger Warning: Mental health and suicide are discussed in this post**
V: Okay let’s get into it, first question: tell the audience a bit about yourself.
K: My name is Kirsten. I’m from Georgia and I live an hour south from Atlanta. I’m a sophomore, Media Studies and Production major, with a concentration in Business and Entrepreneurship, and a minor in General Business. Initially, I wanted to go to school for music. I wanted to go to Florida State, and I got into the school but not the competitive program I wanted to get into. Last minute my parents told me to apply to Temple. I had never been to Philadelphia and I didn’t know anything about Temple. I basically took a leap of faith and I’m so thankful it all worked out. I love the city now so I’m glad I chose this school.
V: What are you involved with at Temple?
K: I’m not really involved in a lot of organizations at Temple. But most of my time is taken up by Bumble. I have been a campus representative for two semesters. I get a lot of marketing and event planning experience. It has helped me with time management, a lot. I’ve also made a lot of connections with it too. I’m also a Luci ambassador and I really enjoy it. The lady who started it, Heather, has been absolutely great and encouraging to all the ambassadors.
April 1st, I just started working with Maybelline. There are only two ambassadors from Temple, but there’s fifteen schools that are doing it. All of us are the first ones to do this for Maybelline, which is super exciting. With Maybelline I also help with event planning to promote the products and increase sales among Temple students. I’m super excited about all that’s to come and it is very time consuming, but it’s worth it because I gain experience while having fun.
V: Wow Maybelline?! That’s insane! How have you been able to rise in the influencing world?
K: Honestly, I get asked this so many times. I know when I first got to school, I was very focused on all the wrong things. I just wanted to get involved and be everywhere. I knew that being popular in college wasn’t really a thing, but I wanted to be bigger than I was in high school. That motive was not very genuine- it was kind of selfish. I wasn’t thinking I could use a platform to help other people, I just wanted to use it for myself. When I realized I had a platform, I knew I had to do more with it. People would then follow me because they could resonate with what I was saying.
I got so many more opportunities because companies loved what I was about. I don’t have to change who I am, and I can be vulnerable. Initially I would post things because I wanted people’s approval, but when I stopped doing that more doors started opening. People realized I was a real person. I don’t really like when people call me an influencer, because I relate that to people with millions of followers. I also relate influencers to people who are just chasing money. I never wanted to be that kind of person. More than anything, I want to help people because people have helped me.
V: What motivates you? What keeps you going?
K: I think all of my hardships truly. My biological died when I was in 2nd grade, and my step dad died last year at the end of March. In 2nd grade, I was very young, but I still understood what happened. I felt so impacted. Until my mom remarried, I was holding on to that grief. My relationship with my step dad wasn’t that good either because I was holding on to that grief.
As soon as we got close, he died from a heart attack totally randomly. I was stuck at school and couldn’t go home for a few weeks. I had to deal with that loss completely by myself. I was in a really bad place. I had a few people that were there for me, but it didn’t feel like enough. I couldn’t help my family. I had to try very hard to get out of bed. I tried to kill myself. Looking back, I see the progress that I’ve made. That’s what makes me keep going. I just want to make them proud. I know they wouldn’t want me to always be mourning. Once you lose someone, you never truly heal from it ever. But being able to see rock bottom and also seeing triumphs is what keeps me going. I can see how far I’ve come.
V: Wow thank you for sharing that with me. I think it’s so important for people to know that they are never alone in a situation, no matter how much it can feel like it. I’m glad you had those people sticking by you. (Disclaimer: for anyone that feels truly alone, remember the people that want to help you and seek out the resources available on your campus). On another note, since you have already done so much: what are some of your long-term goals?
K: I have so many plans. I write out my goals and do progress checks every so often. Initially I really wanted to pursue music, but I’ve been so busy recently. One of the goals I really want to accomplish is I want to create an EP. I want to put out music and pursue singing the way I initially wanted to. I kind of deviated from that path. I also want to expand my platform and do more for the community. I want to pinpoint the things people are struggling with and do something about it. I’ve thought about starting an org. It all comes down to: what do I think is the most important issue at the moment? I also know I’m studying abroad next spring and going to Japan. I know it’ll be complete culture shock but I’m excited to get challenged.
V: Clearly you have very specific goals and wow I’m so excited to see where you’ll go. I’m sure you’ll accomplish so much more in addition to this. Finally for my last question I have a fun one: Since I know you’re into music, what’s your favorite genre/artist?
K: My music style has changed so much. When I was younger, I used to sing Country music. But my voice has changed so much. It went from country to Pop, to a bit of R&B and now it’s a weird combination of Pop, R&D and a little Indie. My artists change so frequently, but I would say overall favorite is Beyonce and newfound favorites are: Georgia Smith, Billie Eilish and Sabrina Claudio.
V: I love Billie, she’s one of my faves too! I really hope you go far in the music world because I can tell you are very passionate about it. It’s been great getting to know you and I hope the readers learned a bit more about you. If you want to learn more about Kirsten make sure to follow her instagram @kirstenbeach. And make sure to stay tuned for another interview here @femalesoffiladelphia.
If you have any suggestions for people I can interview, feel free to let me know by commenting on my latest post.