Amber + Kristen: AK Create
When I saw these two beautiful creatives announce the launch of their brand, I HAD to feature them on the site for you all. Amber and Kristen are passionate about helping to create better spaces in the Baton Rouge community through creativity and marketing. Please become familiar with these two women as you read this amazing write-up by co-founder Kristen White.
Amber (L); Kristen (R)
Background: Basically both of us were tired of hearing there's nothing to do in Baton Rouge so we decided to be a part of the solution/change. We had our first attempt our sophomore year of college. We were trying to form a group for minority women to celebrate each other, our first event was going to be a tea party and we wanted to start an outreach for young women in the Baton Rouge metro area. That didn't quite work out for various reasons lol. Fast forward to approaching our senior year, I called Amber and said that we should have throw a soul train themed party. It was during the time of the Alton Sterling shooting. There was so much tension in the city, so we just wanted to created a positive space for us. While trying to organize the party we quickly realized we were lacking money, so we decided to start a business. Coming up with the name was hard because we had to figure out what we were actually doing. We just wanted to create--create opportunities for physical positive spaces, create platforms for others, help create change in our community, etc. We had discussions about all of that, and decided to simply name ourselves A+K Create, because that was a statement that left us room to grow.
Mission/goal: To help encourage and build more creative spaces in Baton Rouge. We offer consultation for event planning, promotion and overall brand management. We want to grow to where we can execute our own events, but everything in time. Amber and I have been trying to do something for 4 years, we've been working on the A+K brand for almost 2 years.
Inspiration: Looking around and seeing how desolate BR looks when it comes to innovation, networking and creativity. Blackness and femininity play a big role in how we chose to construct our image. We wanted to mold our image our vintage looks, with bellbottoms, afro's and all. We draw inspiration from St. Beauty, Chloe x Halle, and A Taste of Honey. We like all of that and more.
The toughest part of having your own business is that a) you're the first employee. It's been a little easier because Amber and I are accountability partners in this. b) you have to do everything or it won't get done and c) staying organized. Lol organization has been a big personal hurdle for me and it's come back to bite me several times (me answering the interview mad late, for example). Amber recently bought me a new planner for my birthday, so we're excited for that lol.
The most fulfilling part of having your own business is ownership. Every now and then Amber and I reflect and we say "Dang, we did that, us." There's a certain pride in that. Nikky Scott, our first client is SO happy that we're finally promoting ourselves. We've been helping her grow the Yoga Noir Project since 2016 and we're getting closer to our financial goals with her everyday, so that's a pretty amazing thing for us.
We don't have any promotions as of yet. We're still an underground operation, not accepting new clients at the moment but you'll be one of the first people we let know when we do.
