Karen Civil Quotes
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I didn't have a resume when Lil Wayne hired me. I didn't have a resume when Beats by Dre flew me across the country to be their 12th employee. I still don't have a resume!
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All I cared about was 'TRL.' I was studying communications at school, and one day before class, I heard about the 'Search For An Apprentice' program.
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The blueprint, for me, was having an understanding of self because this business will try to make you somebody other than yourself or make you change with the times. A lot of times, people will want you to do everything for free, work for free, to be down to do this after you paid your dues.
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I'm doing activations with companies you would never think of. Not to say this in a braggadocious way, but I'm not putting myself in a box. The only thing that goes in a box is Chinese food and your sneakers - not me.
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I just knew I loved music, and I wanted to do something in music, but I couldn't sing, I can't dance, I am an introvert. So I was like, 'What exactly is there for me to do? What can I do?' There's all these questions, there's all these things that are telling you 'no' instead of 'yes.' Those are the things I dealt a lot with, my insecurity.
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As an Elizabeth native, I believe it is my duty to give back to my community. Our youth is our future, and it truly takes a village to raise a child.
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When I had dial-up, my mom got me a phone so I wouldn't tie up the phone. She used to really pick up the phone, push some buttons, and hang it up so the connection could mess up. Now, it's a joke with her, like, 'Look, the Internet's 24/7. I have WiFi now.'
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I'm just me. I'm that cool girl who - as I like to say, I have that Carson Daly effect, where, if you watched 'TRL,' he was able to do interviews with NSYNC, blend right in, and then he would do interviews with Cash Money and blend in there, and you just naturally liked him.
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I come from a great home and fully supportive family that helped to nurture my dreams. A lot of people don't have those same things in their household.
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Now, I'm not 100% there, but every day I wake up, I'm happy being me, and I just feel fulfilled.
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I fell in love with hip-hop a little bit late; I grew up on Another Bad Creation and Kris Kross. But my mom got me a TV in my room, and I remember seeing Biggie's 'Give Me One More Chance,' and I was like, 'Oh, this is how a house party looks!' I really, really fell in love with it when Tupac created 'Dear Mama.'
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Society sets us up to be everything but ourselves, but I want to take a moment and say to people, love yourself. Find your purpose. You are unique, and that makes you great. I pursued my dreams. You can do it, too.
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Never stray from life's purpose. Refrain from counting someone else's blessings instead of your own.
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I did the 'right' thing and got a corporate job on Wall Street. That did not last long. I felt like I was throwing all my years of hard work and relationship-building down the toilet. I eventually quit, went and bought a camera, and built a website. That was the birth of KarenCivil.com.
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That's the wonderful thing about picking and choosing who we want to work with, because I've been in situations where I've worked with someone, and they thought they were gonna be on the cover of 'XXL' in two months. I'm like, 'That's not how it works.'
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Now, metaphorically, I sit at any table that I want. I can sit with the jocks, I can sit with the gang members, I can sit with the politicians, I can sit with the CEOs. My brand can fit anywhere.
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Nothing is ever quick. You have to grow an audience, keep them engaged, give them a reason to keep coming back so it will never be an overnight success. Have patience!
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I give people on my team the opportunity to excel as well, and I think that's what continues to keep me ahead. I may not be able to show or do an interview; I give them the opportunity to run the show, and that has been working.
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I believe in the power of play.
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When I first started blogging, it was about getting out new music and capturing artists working in the studio. This was before artists were so social. They weren't so hands-on then.
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I tell people to use me as example of what they can do if they don't give up. I like people to see me as a 'girl next door' who conquered and went after what she wanted.
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You work hard, you sacrifice for everything you do, and in one second, someone can tarnish your name - someone can bad-mouth you, and someone can say things. People let all of the good things gets washed away because someone spoke ill of them.
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I just tell myself I gotta get up at 8 A.M. I don't even use an alarm clock.
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Giving back has definitely kept me grounded. Stepping outside of yourself to serve a group or community of people who are in need in some facet has a way of doing that. I don't ever want to grow to a place where giving back becomes a foreign concept.