06 - Chriscilla Browing

32 minutes reading

You must have noticed by now that some of the Attagirls have familiar faces; you might have seen them on the TV screen before. Truth be told, as a homemaker and a person with a home office, a true homebody, TV is the thing that keeps me company. My morning routine includes switching it on so that I have human voices around me throughout the day, which I need most of the time. I am doing my cleaning or cooking and I can hear the convos. Plus, as a foreigner, it is a great way for me to learn new expressions, too. And then when I am having a little rest, I just sit down and there it is. Like everyone else, there are certain shows that I like and watch, like right now Presumed Innocent these days, or the survival series Alone, but it is the background noise to my days, too, without which I might feel pretty alone.

And that is how I spot some of my Attagirls, yes. Whenever I see or hear someone who impresses me in a way, I jot down names, details, and my research work begins. When I am convinced they would be perfect to introduce to the readers, I reach out to them. And then the result is available as part of my interview series.

Well, my June Attagirl is not one of them. It was her work I fell in love with first. Her art came my way, it kept popping up in my social media feeds, and I was like damn, that’s beautiful! As the photos just kept coming, I wanted to take a closer look at what I was really seeing. Who I was seeing. The creator has a sense of perfection, clear. She has a sense of beauty, that is clear, too. The shapes, the colors, everything is so properly designed. Now, we are talking about drinks and food (what a surprise…), and I feel like I would not even have the heart to consume the things she decorates. I’d just take them home and keep them in my vitrine.

After reading and watching everything I could quickly find about her online, I knew I wanted her to be one of this year’s twelve. I dropped her an email and when she replied, I felt so proud to have the chance to work with her. Dear readers, meet the artist from rural Virgina, working in Atlanta, GA, now residing in North Carolina. The delicate girl chasing her dreams, juggling motherhood while breaking her way into the fashion world she imagined for herself as a child. The lady of strength, determination and courage who, as a result of her strong vision of where she wanted to be, today is a most sought-after food and beverage stylist travelling all through the country to help give special grace and glow to various products of various clients’. A true, pure soul full of passion and love for life and everything she does. A beautiful example of freedom and authenticity. Chriscilla Browning.

Created with love – read with delight.

Chriscilla, welcome to the Attagirl Team! I like to begin the interviews with finding out who the little girl that turned into the person she is today was. It will not be any different today, so, who were you when you were a kid?
Hello Kami, nice to be here! [I can hear she is driving, and I can see the exact picture I read about her by the very studio she collaborates with and she is visiting just now, her long blond hair whipping in the wind, out of the window of the Silverado she is driving. Actually, based on her looks she could easily be on the other side of the camera, with that wild, long blond hair and the figure and face she has. She lets me know though that she has replaced the Silverado with a huge Toyota wagon since then.]

Well, I was born and raised in a small Virginia town, Waynesboro, in the Shenendoah Valley, on a farm. Ours was a hobby farm because I loved animals and wanted them around me, but my grandparents were true farmers. My hometown was very country and very remote, and I am not sure how other rural smalltown little girls were, or are today, but I was always dreaming about getting out and living in a big city. The way I saw it was that people staying in the town got married in their teens, and I did not find that desirable for myself. I wanted to go to a big city and become a fashion designer.

A fashion designer, no less!
Yeah, a fashion designer, no less. My grandmother was an amazing seamstress and she taught me at an early age. I was a sucker of sparkly materials and loved using them. However, I was pretty impatient, so I was not great at sewing for myself.

At the age of around 10 I got ahold of my first fashion magazines. I loved Seventeen, and all I wanted was to get on the cover.

A little girl with great ambitions.
Sure thing. And guess what, Seventeen ran a contest which I entered and I became a finalist in. I did not get the cover but a full article spread of me, with professional model prepping, hair and makeup – it was an unforgettable experience for a 13-14-year-old girl.

Seventeen, 1989

So we have arrived at high school age – how were things in high school?
I liked to dress like a businesswoman. Fashionably, following the trends, I liked wearing suits, I definitely was different.

Did you have any favorite models?
My ultimate favorite one was Cindy Crawford.

Mine too!
I even had the chance to meet her once in person, in college.

No way, get out of here!
Yup, she was our special guest in one of our classes in my first year, near Phipps Plaza where she must have been all day. She was arranged to jump over for a little lunch with us, college students. In all honesty I have no idea of what she was talking about exactly, all I remember was just watching her speaking, how she carried herself, and I was lost in the moment. Cindy, Naomi [Campbell] and Christy [Turlingtonl were the ones that had the most impact on me.

When your parents heard that you wanted to move to a big city, how did they react?
They were really supportive. I had a happy childhood, I grew up in a great family. They usually supported me in my endeavors. They did not want me to go to New York, though, they thought that city would be too big. So, I ended up in Atlanta, GA, at the American College for the Applied Arts. My major was Fine Arts, extended with photo courses. I loved studying, enjoyed my classes, I was planning to go to London which I thought was a must for someone wanting to work in the fashion business. But my story up there was apparently written differently…

What do you mean, what happened?
I got pregnant with my first kid, Skyler. He was unplanned but I was happy about his arrival, even if it turned everything upside down. I was with his father but we were not married so the feeling of shame completed the total chaos that had already described my life back then. And the marriage that came afterwards and lasted for four years did not make things easy either. Unfortunately Skyler’s dad had issues with substance abuse and even if I tried my best to make things work, eventually divorce followed.

What happened to your studies?
During these years I graduated from school, and I was taking a variety of jobs. I wanted to become a fashion photographer, so I started my career assisting photographers. My payment back then was $350 per day, not much, but I accepted the fact that I needed to learn the process and the little tricks before becoming a photographer myself. Interestingly, though, it became clear that I like the staging part more. I enjoyed preparing for photo shoots, making beds, decorating rooms, all those things, and after a time I started to assist the photo stylists instead of the photographers.

In this phase of my life I learned a lot, met a lot of wonderful people who I actually considered family. They were there for me like family when I was going through my divorce, or when Skyler was sick, or any other family emergency came up; they were very supportive.

During this incredible period I first became a full-time junior stylist, then lead stylist. However, my income was still very low and even with the evening job I took at a bar to make ends meet more still did not add up to much.

I know what it means to be a solo, working mom. Tough is not an accurate enough word to describe it. How did you get along?
After serious thinking and consideration I decided I would quit my full-time job as a stylist. I had the feeling I was being taken for granted. I could see freelancers working in my studio for a ton more money while I, who was there every day, no matter what, did anything that needed to be done, no matter what, was paid ridiculously low. So no matter how hard it felt, I knew I had to make the right decision to become a freelance stylist myself. I asked my dad for $3,000 as a safety net and I quit.

It's interesting it was your dad that you turned to. How come?
Well, by then my parents were divorced, too. By the time the kids flew out of the nest, they had grown apart. Now, the reason why I turned to my dad for financial help is very simple. He has always been a saver and known how to take emotions out of the equation when decision making is needed. He has the ability to focus solely on the issue and the possible solutions. To be level-headed and make a plan. And that was what I needed those days.

Makes sense. What happened next?
Fortunately, I did not have to wait too long for jobs. My past employers invited me back to continue working with them right away. And they gave me the larger amount of money I asked for, too. I worked like crazy to give the best impression, that was my ethic. To work like crazy and make the best impression. The nice thing about being a freelancer was that I could decide what I wanted to do. No more beds, no more clothes.

Food.

The studio had this fantastic freelance food stylist, Angie Mosier, who taught me everything about this job. That was my favorite by far, styling food. My life got the right turn finally. I worked my butt off, but I loved what I was doing so it did not feel hard. Did it feel like a lot? Yes. But enjoying what I was doing helped me overcome any bad feelings about my life being so busy.

When anyone is talking about this, I am always so happy. When you don’t consider your job a job and can approach it with passion, that is when I think you are in the right place. Sounds like you got to that place yourself and I am happy to hear that.

You are right, I did enjoy what I was doing, despite the long days and the sacrifices it took. I was in my element, content and proud of my achievements.

It was this period of time when I met my second husband, a freelance photographer from North Carolina. After a year of dating we got married and soon after that my second son, Miller came into this world. Now the thing was that I resided in Atlanta and my husband resided and ran his business in North Carolina, so he was traveling between the two locations and I was on my own with the kids a lot. I had to put my job on hold a little to be able to be with my children and be a mom, and that was good. However, I missed working, I loved my job and I missed it badly. After considering everything we decided that we would establish a home in North Carolina so my husband could continue running his well-working photography business locally.

It must have been hard to leave everything behind, the life you knew, your business partners and close friends.

In all sincerity I was not a hundred percent happy about the decision, but at the time it seemed to be the best one we could make. I truly felt a big part of me was left behind, and I had to start all over in North Carolina. It did feel frustrating. In my new home I took my time and put together a book of my work and started calling photographers. I got listed at a modeling agency as a stylist and I also got into placing Venetian-style plasters on clients’ walls, which was fun but had nothing to do with photography - it was a necessity, not a new passion due to the simple fact that there were not enough jobs available.

Did it ever occur to you guys to do business together? Given a photographer and a stylist in the same household and a photography business already established, it would be my first thought.
We did have some projects. However, he was focused more on interiors and I was focused on food.

Here, I will be completely transparent now. I won’t say it differently as it is, we are getting a divorce. The boys have grown up, and we have grown apart. We spent 22 years together in our marriage and today it is clear that our goals and views on growth have parted on the way. That is what we have realized. Bittersweet, because clearly I have arrived at a new phase of my life. Being who I am, tough, changes like this are an opportunity to me instead of a rut. And seeing this change as an opportunity is very exciting.

Chriscilla, I am so sorry to hear that. I understand it is a tough crossroad for you and I appreciate your honesty. I am sure a lot of readers have been, or even are right now, in the same situation. Knowing your thoughts about it is very helpful, if you ask me. Thank you for them. Loving someone is not necessarily holding them tight no matter what. Letting go is the right thing sometimes. Good for you, having been able to realize it. That in itself takes as much courage as acting upon it, if not more.
Yes, it is very hard to do business as usual, to be creative while you are shattered inside. 22 years is a lot of time with, of course, a lot of good memories. But life won’t stop, it can’t. We need to move on. I am able to compartmentalize, that helps a lot.

Let’s talk about the requirements to become the top tier professional you have become. What principles have you gone by, what are your values when it comes to work?
The most important one is to meditate every morning. I listen to inspirational material to control my attitude, to get the proper mindset for the day. In my world attitude is everything and the one thing that we can control in any relationship, business relationships are no exception. This is why it is essential for me to set it right before work.

Another important factor is my hard work ethic. Consistently showing up, being present. With discipline. My motto is, whatever needs to happen to get the work done must happen. For me work is never a 9 to 5 thing. Many times I add my own dime if the budget of the client is not enough for my vision. Going above and beyond is the way I approach my projects. Proper communication, looks, respect of the people I work with are a must, too. And extreme patience. Adaptability. Crucial for this kind of work. On many occasions five to six people are flooding me with their ideas at the same time. I am listening to them, taking all the info in, as well as feedback to my opinion. Sometimes I have a lot of guidelines and no freedom and then that is how the job needs to be fulfilled. I am a paid service provider, clients come first. And failure is not an option. I am very goal-oriented.

I also have a principle that I keep in mind. If I cannot control something, I won’t worry about it. It helps me focus on what really matters, which, in my job, with so many ideas whirling in your head needing to be organized somehow, is essential.

I do a lot of research about my new client and the product(s) I need to work with. Familiarizing myself with my work subjects is a must. Which is tricky when it comes to working with meat…

Because…?
Because I am vegan. [I laugh out loud.] Thanks to my hypothyroidism, which I was diagnosed with almost 20 years ago, I shifted my life in basically two weeks after the initial freak-out and started an eating regime very gentle to my body, which excludes rice, pasta, bread, dairies, eggs, and sugar. I love hot teas, fruits and veggies, raw or grilled, and thanks to my travelling lifestyle and the routine built over the years, my meals are never boring. I do not feel deprived in any way.

So, what do you do when it comes to styling meat products? Do you reveal that you are vegan to clients who want you to work with meat?
Absolutely, and never has there been an issue with it. I have acute smelling and I can tell by just feeling the smell of the meals what it is like and what they can go well with, as in decoration. I am a stickler for authenticism, so it is really important to understand the product, the vision, the strategy and all.

Nice! Now what is still to come? What is your destination now?
My really big dream is to become internationally renowned. I would love to visit Italy for work one day, for instance. It is a slow path but I feel it has begun. An Israeli event planner has reached out about me designing cocktails for one of his events. That is a start!

hat is, wow, sounds very exciting! Now, much-much stress, that’s how your life sounds – not necessarily bad stress but certainly a lot to process and fulfil. I can imagine you feel hyperactive or super tired on a long, hard day. What is your way to unwind, relax?
I run.

Oh! I love to hear that! Tell me more about it.
In high school I was in track. I loved it. But as an adult I started 16 years ago, to get fit. Strong-fit. My daily dose is 8 miles and I would not even call it running, it is just slow, peaceful jogging for the fun of it. In the last couple years, though, I have been plateauing, so I have added lifting. Not in a gym, in my home, mostly. I have my own dumbbells, I work out with 15 lbs. I can easily toss them in my trunk, together with my jogging gear, so no matter where I go, I can have my workouts without an issue.

Religion is another thing that means a lot to me and helps me relax  my mind. I don’t mean organized religion, I don’t go to church every Sunday, no. I grew up going, but as I grew older, I disconnected with the church as it is. It is more like a deep, personal relationship with God. Every morning I say my prayers and gratitude, for instance. And every time I feel there is nowhere to turn, praying helps me release what I cannot control. Helps being in tune with my day. For example if I leave for a job in the morning and realize I have left my phone home, I won’t panic or cuss or freak out. Just turn back and think that nothing happens without a reason. Maybe by leaving my phone home I avoided an accident on the road.

Lots and lots of things have happened in your life, you have been through so much, good and bad, and I love that calm, smart way you have been talking about it all. Full of life and maturity. Freedom, by doing what you love, by living how you love. Freedom, by knowing where you are going, thus being able to handle hardships properly. Full of ambitions, goals, not giving up ever. Attagirl! If you had to give the essence of your life learnings to those still beginning their journey for a life tailored for them, what would that be?
Always step out of your comfort zone. Your comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing grows there. Step out, reach out. It requires a lot of courage but it is so worth it. We all know how life ends – what is there to lose...?

Thank you, Chriscilla. Perfect closing words, ones I go by myself. It was a wonderful experience talking with you, thanks for the time you spent with me. Every minute was a diamond.
Thanks, Kami, for the opportunity. I am proud to be part of the Attagirl World.

If you want to find out more about Chriscilla, please click on the links below.

LinkedIn
Instagram
Website Salt Paper Studio + Productions
Website Daniel Ray Photography