Meet CI$$ Martin | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with CI$$ Martin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi CI$$, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk is a necessary factor in the proccess of achieving, and exceeding in anything. Not being afraid to take risk allows a person to give themslves the opportunity to fail, it builds confidence, knowledge, expierence, and at some point ultimately grants success. If I was afraid of risk I wouldn’t have put out some designs that didn’t so well, I wouldn’t have ever had some horrible video shoots or photo shoots, and I wouldn’t have failed at creative direction so many times. Without those failed projects I would have cheated myslef out of the opportunity of growth into becoming a great photographer, videographer, creative director, and successful brand owner. Taking risk is about overcoming fear and allowing yourslef to fail sucessfully, meaning not being ashamed to screw something up and understand that every proccess has a starting point and no one becomes great over night. The thing that will carry you the furthest about risk taking is continuing to do it even when you think you’ve gotten good. Risk allow you to continuioisly challenge yourself to be an even better version of yourself than you already are. No matter what anyone tells you fear is natural, even though I have run a successful brand for a couple years now I still fear that maybe one day people will just stop loving what I’m creating, or not like some of my design choices but I’ve learned that no matter what you do you will always have successes and failures but you can’t have either if you live in fear of taking a risk and you have nothing to compare things to for the future if you never do them. Without risk you never find your style, you never really know what you are capable of, without it you’ll never reach your full potenital, you will onlyhold yourself back. There is great reward associated with the proccess, in order to get the reward you’ve got to keep taking the risk when things succeed and when things fail. The benifits of risk are plentiful and the lessons from risk are priceless.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As of recently I am super excited about the lauch of my online store for my brand “who is CI$$”. It’s been 4 years since I’ve started this brand and we started with just hats as an advertising tool for myself and my photography/videography skills. The brand took a life of its own and now we have expanded to more than just hats. It’s been a long road full of learning it hasn’t been easy but ithas been worth it. I’ve continued to push forward failures and all, not being afraid to continue to invest in my business and brand as I have a desire to keep it growing. I’ve learned that you can’t please everyone and you shouldn’t try to; you’ve just gotta create things from the heart that you love and believe in and the rest will work itslef out. Ive created something that is fun in a freeform kind of way that is really for the people, this is a brand that encourages individuality, creativity, and freedom for oneself. I’m hella proud of that and greatful that people love and feel the work I put into creating an expierence that feels natural and for them.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to shoutout my colleagues that I attended SCAD with. I’ve watched you all work so hard and have had the honor of working with you all then and some still to this day. I have failed and succeeded with many of my peers and and I’m proud of their many successes and wins, they all grind so hard endlessly to top their latest project with something new. You all continue to inspire and motivate me through your work ethic and endless creativity. I just wanna tell you guys too keep grinding, grind harder, stay rested, and origional. I’d also like to shoutout God, my family, and my close friends/family, Sydney, Alexis, Ray, Jammie, Nae, Desmond, and Myles, for pushing me harder than anyone, giving me hard critique in everything I do and supporting me to the fullest even when I’m unsure of what I’m going to create next; I love ya’ll.

Website: whoisciss.com
Instagram: @whoisciss @cisstheartist