20. Homeschooling, creative exploration, and media production with Crystal Rata

What happens when you combine a culture of creativity, with a love of the arts and a passion for technology?

In Episode 20 of the B-side, I speak to Crystal Rata, a Senior Project Manager and Video Producer With over 16 years of experience working in media, digital and video production. Across the B2B, B2C, retail, music, broadcasting, law, finance and the advertising sectors.

Crystal and I talk about how she was raised on a farm in a small town called Taranaki in the North Island of New Zealand, born into a family of musicians and academics, and homeschooled by her mother who encouraged creative exploration.

We talk about how these foundations formed a passion for art and science. And led to her completing a BA in Psychology and Screen Arts from Waikato University in New Zealand, and a determination to travel the world to apply her thinking.

She shares how fate would see her land her dream job at Juice TV in NZ. Which led to a move over to Sydney, where she’s called home for last 14 years, working for iconic brands like MTV, Billabong, and Westpac, and for agencies like 72and Sunny, BBDO, The Monkeys, VML and others.

We talk about the benefits of having an eclectic skill set and the ability to adapt to a broad range of industries, technologies and specialisations. And how this has allowed her to pursue a wider range of roles and opportunities that would be much harder to land otherwise. And we jam on everything from social media, marketing, working from home, agency life, politics and everything in between.

Crystal is a soulful, genuine and incredibly talented creative all-rounder. It was an awesome chat, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, I know you will too. Cheers. You can reach out to Crystal Rata here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystalrata