Meet Carol Martinez

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carol Martinez.

Carol, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Ever since I could remember, as a child I had always been into art. I loved drawing and painting. In fact, I continued drawing throughout my high school, leading up to my college years. I grew up in a small town called San Jacinto, which motivated me to pursue my passion for art near the orange county. I graduated from Biola in 2014 and obtained my B.F.A for graphic design and drawing. However, during my time in college, I decided to invest into my very first camera and ended up experimenting capturing photo/video content to help me with my graphic design and drawing courses. Little did I know, I would end up growing a deep passion for videography and photography.

A year after graduating, I was hired as a full-time graphic/web designer for a publication company in Carson, CA. Six months later, I was then hired by The Salvation Army in Long Beach to design layouts of their contemporary lifestyle magazine, called CARING MAGAZINE. During my time at Caring, I was working on my own freelance side business doing photo, video, and design projects that friends and family hired me to do, eventually two years later, as I developed my clientele near the city of LA, I was able to become full time freelance within two years of getting hired at CARING MAGAZINE.

I would do a variety of visual projects such as website design, wedding videos, portrait shoots, family shoots, social media graphic posts, and pretty much anything that had to do with visual branding.

I began developing my own style and started sharing my own personal content on my Instagram. This eventually led me to more clients as they became familiar with the type of work I was able to produce. As the years went by my reputation began to grow and I began to work more with social media influencers. One of those influencers was close friends with Kyrie Irving and that mutual connection eventually led me to work with him. He took favor over my work and asked me to travel with him during the summer to capture most of his vacation content with family and friends. This also included recording and editing his free agency announcement video, where he announced he would be playing for the Brooklyn Nets.

It’s been quite the artistic journey for me, but there’s honestly nothing more gratifying than being able to work with what you’re most passionate about, telling visual stories, with a great purpose.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No, it definitely wasn’t smooth. But I think the obstacles are what make you stronger. Some of the struggles of being a full-time employee is that you don’t have much freedom. As an entrepreneur, sure you have freedom, but that freedom can also be dangerous if you aren’t very disciplined with your time, as you don’t have anyone to supervise you. The more you practice, the better you get, the more experience you gain.

As the years go by, you also become familiar with managing your time, setting your prices, setting up contracts, networking, and continuing to be as considerate and kind to your clients in order to build healthy work relationships.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I do a variety of visual projects, mostly with social media branding. I create content for small or large businesses. Projects vary, whether that be a series of photos/videos a month, or a one-time promotional video post for social media platforms.

I would say I am most known for creating video content that brings awareness to a variety of brands. I think what sets me apart from others is that I’m not focused on competing when it comes to creating content. With my clients, I do my best to capture their vision as best as I can and make it come to life, just as they imagined or better. I am always willing to grow in my craft and willing to learn from other professionals who can help me become better.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
My plans for the future is to continue creating my own creative content on my social media platforms. I hope to grow my own brand and share with others my experience and journey of being a content creator.

I also have my other creative content that I enjoy producing, recording and editing, it’s an account that I have with my grandma @carolandpita. I hope to continue growing and bringing awareness to the elderly population. I feel like most of the time, we tend to neglect the elderly and through my videos I hope to portray an energetic and fun energy to both the elderly and younger population.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.carols-visuals.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carol.deee/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carolandpita
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/carolandpita

Image Credit:
Image with Kyrie Irving is taken by Ata Movassaghi

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