Cecilia Camacho You can say that has dedicated his entire professional life to creativity. There has always been a part creative in what she has done, and when she was hiding among large corporations and office jobs, she sought asylum in her own refuge, Cecile Collage, the most artistic part of his projects. Then came the big leap: leaving the stability of a permanent position to launch into creating CC/Studio and CC/MagazineThe Montreal International Jazz Festival was to blame. She traveled alone to cover it as a journalist, and returned with keen intuition and forces She was ready to try. Her desire to fight made her take the big leap of entrepreneurship and, although this word is associated with fear and obstacles, Cecilia summoned the courage of the entrepreneurial warrior and launched into creating her projects. Today, she can say that things have turned out well for her, and when she needs a push, Ilia's concealer and RMS blush, two basics from her Laconicum selection, give her the courage to continue. Yes, a blush has that power.
We spoke with Cecilia Camacho, founder of CC/Studio and CC/Magazine
Seeing how you started, we have to ask you this: when starting out, do you have to take a run-up or is it better to jump in all at once?
The most important thing, at least from my point of view, is to know if you are a self-employed person.. And by this I mean being aware of what your personality is. Because I know cases of people who, by character, have not handled self-sufficiency, multitasking, proactivity or frustration well, and have become discouraged or have simply realized that they prefer to work for others. Neither of these two options is better than the other, You just have to know yourself to decide to take the plunge.
From there, It is important to have a plan, which is flexible, since the paths of the self-employed are inscrutable… And it is also very important to have a vision, a strategy, clear objectives and establish an action plan.: both to create the business and to communicate and sell it.
My experience tells me that in addition to being prepared, it is It is very important to be resilient to cope with the uncertainty, changes and surprises that come with being self-employed, and also to be passionate about your project.. Desire is essential. At least in my case, it is my driving force. Doing things with enthusiasm is no guarantee of success, but it is a great motivation that makes you get the best out of yourself and therefore the results are with you.
That said, I'll stick with "getting a head start" lol.
"The most important thing, at least from my point of view, is to know if you are a self-employed person [...]. You just have to know yourself to decide to take the plunge and start your own business."
You started Cecile Collage, which you say is your refuge for your creativity. Does creativity need refuge in this fast-paced world?
Creativity is something intrinsic to me, but it is true that when I refer to something more artistic, my alter ego automatically appears. CecileCollageIt is the refuge where I go to let go, escape and do what I have been born with since I was a child, which is to make collages.. I mainly make collages that stand out because I use a lot of words, because I like that when someone faces one of them they feel that the collage “speaks to them”There are many hidden messages and meanings in all of them, which invite reflection.
And as for the relationship between the speed at which the world moves and creativity, I think that more than ever we should encourage it, both personally and professionally, and also make it the standard of any business. Because creativity is what differentiates us from each other and that is what makes us unique..
How did this artistic project come about?
From a very young age, and thanks to my mother, I attended extracurricular classes in painting, drawing and art in general. And at home, reading and crafts or anything that had to do with creativity were highly encouraged. In fact, my mother was very good at all kinds of crafts. I had a natural talent. So Let's say that my childhood marked my way of relating to art, and perhaps that is why it has been and is so present in my life.
Currently, I have to admit that I have the collages in stand by, but I know I will get back to them as soon as I can because they make me very happy.
"I think that more than ever we should encourage it [creativity], both personally and professionally, and also make it the standard of any business."
And how did CC/Studio come about?
When I decided to start my own business 6 years ago, I decided to keep the naming for which she was known: The Girl with the Bangs (the name of my blog). And for the first 4 years I kept it that way. The brands that approached me knew me by that name and it was much easier for me to start my entrepreneurial stage.
However, after a while, and especially when working mainly with foreign clients, I realized that for them it was unpronounceable and that I no longer felt identified with it. I came up with a new branding and a new range of services, which gave way to the birth of CC/studio - a studio specializing in strategic consulting, content curation and generation, and 360º communication for brands lifestyle - already CC/magazine - independent online magazine, specialized in art, design, culture, hotspots, trends, innovation and travel -.
In your project, it is essential to be aware of trends, even to be ahead of them. How do you survive the incessant flow of information and the need to always be the first?
It is true that the speed and the huge amount of information that we all generate and consume make it difficult to select what really matters and contributes. But that is exactly where we (CC/studio · CC/magazine) We add value. We are experts in tracking current and future consumer trends, and we act as a radar for our clients.This means that we collect and analyse a huge amount of information from multiple sources in order to understand and tactically anticipate the movements of different markets.
As for “always being first”, I don’t think that should be the goal, it only creates fear of being surpassed by the competition. It’s about offering differential value, being authentic and truly contributing.
Markets are becoming increasingly crowded with brands. Their idiosyncrasy and way of doing things is what sets them apart from the rest. The “how” is the Ace to attract your audience. And that “how” translates into the brand image, the tone and way of communicating, customer service, the aesthetics of the stores/website/networks, the strategy… It is about a set of things and betting on the details to stand out, be seen and be attractive to our target.
You don't just capture trends, you also generate content for CC/Magazine, your publishing project. What's different about your online magazine? How do you select and provide information to contribute something more?
CC/magazine is an independent online magazine. One of our pillars is that “we are more about the good than the new.” Although We write about current or trending topics, always prioritizing the quality of what we write about. For this reason, and to give you some examples, we can write an article about an artist who was famous years ago, but who inspires us greatly and we admire him greatly, or even recommend a restaurant that opened 4 years ago, but that we still find sublime… It defines us. Content curation is vital and we only share what truly inspires us.
Regarding the way we select and offer information, the truth is that I have a huge archive, where I have a thousand and one references - photos, screenshots, ideas, phrases, book extracts, etc. - grouped by topic. Every week we share new content on the web and through the newsletter, and much of that content is also available in the English version of the magazine. The time has not yet come when I have asked myself: what am I going to write about this week? I am a voracious consumer of culture and art, so in this sense there is always something to be said. things to review and share.
Content generation is an insatiable monster: you can always say something else, social media always wants more. And this has become a problem for many brands that have decided to close their networks to take a break or to start over, alluding to information overload or even ethical conflicts with them. As a communicator and content creator, what is your opinion on this?
It is a complicated issue, because each case would have to be assessed and the pros and cons of having a presence or choosing to disappear would have to be seen. However, In the face of this type of crisis, whether for or against the networks, my response is always the same: “come back to you.”It sounds a bit mystical, but it's not [hahaha]. I mean thinking about your brand and asking yourself the right questions regardless of the comparison with other brands, the competition, etc. That is to say: do not look outside but inside, because that is where there is more clarity and honesty. And when you find yourself at that point, It would be interesting to ask yourself these kinds of questions: Why do I want to have a presence on social media? What objectives do I want to achieve? What use do I want to give it? How much time do I want to dedicate to it? What are my red lines? How many networks do I want and can I have a presence on? Social media does not have to be an obligation, but rather another communication channel to expand your brand. For this reason, the most important thing, if you decide to be on them, is to establish a content strategy and transfer the essence of your brand into this communication tool. followers and likes It's a different story. In fact, it's a melon that we could open another time... If you still don't feel that it brings you anything good or that the effort you put into it doesn't have the expected return, you can consider disappearing. But I think that, although the networks have many bad things, if we readjust the way we see them and relate to them, as well as our brand strategy and the "time/effort/results" equation, we can get a lot out of them.
"Social media doesn't have to be an obligation, but rather another communication channel to expand your brand. For this reason, the most important thing, if you decide to be on them, is to establish a content strategy and transfer the essence of your brand into this communication tool."
Where do you find the point of coherence and stability to not disappear from the social media scene and stay sane?
There are Instagram experts who know the network very well and who know what you should do so that, for example, instagram position you better and show you more times. That means using all its features, publishing at the hours when your audience is most present, making more videos, posting long comments, interacting with the accounts you follow X times, uploading X photos to feed and X stories, etc… Something like what happens with the SEO. But to avoid going crazy and getting caught feeding “the beast,” the most important thing is to set our limits and be the ones who control the network and not the other way around. That or outsource its management to another agency and focus solely on its supervision. Whatever the case, the healthiest thing is not to remain subjugated to them and to distance ourselves. Networks are not a panacea and life is something else.
"In order not to go crazy and get caught feeding the beast [social media], the most important thing is to set our limits and be the ones who control the network and not the other way around."
Your evolution has always been within the realm of creativity in different formats. How do you assess this journey?
7 years ago I made an exhibition that I called “Life is a collage”And the truth is that this title perfectly sums up my life journey and life in general. Because a collage is just that: a sum of different elements that together make up a whole that makes sense. And that's how it has been. I have experienced many things, good and bad, I have been aware of everything, I have learned and I have enjoyed.
On the other hand, one of the things that has turned out to be a constant in this journey is that by doing so many things, apparently different, it has been difficult for me to define myself. This has caused that sometimes there have been people who have not understood very well what I do.And it's that we all, without realizing it, tend to use labels and be reductionists, and when we do many things and are multifaceted, then sometimes confusion arises. That's why now, when people ask me, I define myself as a Strategic Consultant and Creative Director, but I emphasize that I do not like to limit myself to a single discipline. In fact, what defines us as a studio is that we manage comprehensive projects using different disciplines/media/possibilities to broaden the field of vision and offer creative solutions to our clients.
The journey began as The Girl with the Bangs. What is Cecilia Camacho like now?
It's been more than 10 years and the truth is that a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then, hahaha. The essence remains, which is my enthusiasm, energy and the desire to create and share. Oh! And the fringe, of course. It will accompany me until the end of my days. But perhaps the biggest change has been the focus. Time has given me perspective and clarity to know what I want to do and what I don't. Delving into this aspect has been fundamental for me, and I think it is for anyone. And at the beginning of an undertaking, there are no limits, because there are a kind of clouds that fly over your head and are called "fear" and "need", which prevent you from setting them, even though that can cause havoc. For all these reasons, I feel that, after all this journey, the present is a good time. Of course there is uncertainty, but there is also experience, years of experience, many more resources than when I started, learnings and the same desire to continue.
As a trend hunter, we understand that you also look for something different in your life. You have chosen Laconicum on numerous occasions. What do you find different about us?
In addition to feeling very identified with the brand, both aesthetically and with the philosophy that you transmit, I love the curation of brands that you do.. And also the way you communicate the different products. I really like the tone, because it is close, honest, empathetic, but at the same time serious, in the sense that you speak with knowledge. And the “We like because” section seems to me a great success, which is very useful to decide on one product or another.
These trends you work with revolve around lifestyle, which is nothing other than well-being, a word deeply rooted in our universe. How does Laconicum bring you well-being?
For me, well-being is a compendium of things that involve taking care of myself on the outside, both my skin and the way I dress, and on the inside, through healthy eating, going to therapy, meditating, practicing yoga, training, reading, writing and traveling, which is my greatest passion. So Laconicum It helps me a lot with that first layer, which may seem superficial but is actually the prelude to everything else.
"I really like the tone [of Laconicum], because it is close, honest, empathetic, but at the same time serious, in the sense that you speak with knowledge."
Tell us about your laconic selection, products that you like and enjoy.
I love taking care of myself and good cosmetics.And I have to thank you for having discovered brands that I already consume regularly, such as ILIA, Pai Skincare, RSM Beauty, Sachajuan, Beached, mid/night 00.00 either Eve Lom.
Among my latest laconic discoveries are: sunscreen Natural hydrating sunscreen SPF30 by Grown Alchemist, the body cream of Aesop Rind Concentrate Body Balm, the oil cleanser for sensitive skin from Pai Skincare Light Work, the cream blush of RMS Beauty Lip2Cheek (color: Modest) and the corrector of ILIA True Skin Serum Concealer (color: Yucca SC2).
