Kristine Lo - Creative Director, Mindfulness Guide, & Photographer
Kristine Lo is a Creative Director, Mindfulness Guide, & Photographer based in Los Angeles. Her journey through a wide array of careers including successful fashion brand, finance, production, and marketing helped her navigate to photography and creative consulting. Photography brought Kristine many opportunities to travel and work with many brands. Soon she pivoted to providing holistic branding and support to healers and wellness brands. Kristine creates visuals and consults with fashion, lifestyle, and wellness brands through her creative agency Nature and Intent. Established in 2018, Nature and Intent “was the first agency and consultancy offering creative services to support a niche conscious and wellness community. We’ve worked with over 40+ brands, have created courses with hundreds of students, and most importantly being an example of creating with intention and integrity.” Nature and Intent also creates signature courses like an IG Mini Course and Holistic Brand Elevation Program. It is important for Kristine to share good in her work, supporting healers and wellness brands though brand awareness, content strategies, and consciously creating community. Currently, Kristine has begun offering Mindfulness classes and relaunched the Conscious Creative Workshop.
kristinelo.com
natureandintent.com
@kristinelo
@natureandintent
How did you create your career path and manifest your career?
When we first met I was an eager fashion designer creating clothing and jewelry. I learned how to sew in college but was self-taught in design, fashion brand production, and running my first business. While I was sitting in my studio in Downtown LA cutting chains and making jewelry, I realized I didn’t want to continue with this brand and business. So I made the very difficult decision to let go of my lease and end my business. I felt like a failure and that I was letting go of something that I really loved. But I also knew that continuing the brand wasn’t serving me financially, spiritually, or energetically.
I pursued other career endeavors in finance, fashion, marketing, PR, and production. Eventually, I landed a role as a Finance Manager at a Photo Agency in Venice. It was my first real full-time job and I learned so much. Being in a creative agency and production environment was inspiring even though I was crunching numbers and chasing payments for invoices Monday through Friday 9 to 6 p.m. I started taking Photography, Videography, and Social Media Marketing classes in the evenings and weekends. For 3 years, I refined my skills and built my portfolio. I also had clients on retainer for photography, content creation, and creative consulting. I saved close to $5,000 and quit to start pursuing Photography and Creative Consulting full-time.
2016 was the year everything changed. If felt like freedom going from being “chained to a desk 9 to 6 Monday through Friday” and then getting to travel, create my schedule, and said yes to all the opportunities that came my way. I would create content while traveling, shot events at Coachella, capture lookbooks, shoot editorials and also work with clients on a monthly retainer. I worked with fashion brands and startups and eventually pivoted to working with healers and wellness brands. I realized that people really needed that holistic support, not just photography and content. For healers and wellness brand owners, they needed support with branding, content creation, and developing a strategy. There was a lot of support for venture-backed startups and established brands but there was a need for holistic branding, content, and strategy for wellness community. So in 2018, I launched NATURE AND INTENT to house holistic creative services that provided the intimacy and guidance for healers, wellness practitioners, and conscious business so that our clients can help and heal more people.
In Los Angeles, NATURE AND INTENT was the first agency and consultancy offering creative services to support a niche conscious and wellness community. We’ve worked with over 40+ brands, have created courses with hundreds of students, and most importantly being an example of creating with intention and integrity.
Photo by Caleb Thal
How does wellness, holistic branding, and creative consciousness affect your work?
There's so much content, media, and noise online. I personally believe that it's important to be intentional with what you put out there whether it's a physical product or a service. Instead of adding more noise to the sea of saturation, I believe showing up authentically and with integrity is what will organically attract clients and aligned opportunities.
Holistic Branding is a unique process I developed that takes into consideration the brand and individual, their gifts, and their community. It’s being able to create a cohesive and embodied online presence that aligns with what you’d experience ‘offline’. The clients we work with range from Healers, Intuitives, to Conscious Wellness Brands. This year alone, we’ve worked with an Astrologer, Doula, Hypnotherapists, Nutritionists, Reiki Master, and a Sustainable Fashion Brands. We work with our clients to define their Brand Essence also known as their “Nature and Intent”. So, it’s sharing what makes them unique, special, and how they can uniquely help or heal their community. We focus on Branding & Embodiment rather than being sales-y, spamy, or being a pushy marketer.
My personal Conscious Creative journey was really trusting in my work. When I first started as a Photographer, I had about 500 - 1,000 followers. I focused on embodying and refining my creative skills. By showing up authentically online and offline, I attracted agencies, influencers, and brands who paid me to co-create for them. I didn’t have to ‘market’ myself because the work and aligning my online and offline presence attracted clients organically.
I still strive to work with the highest intention and integrity. Whether it’s through work partnerships at NATURE AND INTENT or personal projects. The slogan we have is to “elevate your essence and online presence”.
How do you choose brands to work and collaborate with?
When I was just starting out as a Freelance Fashion & Lifestyle Photographer and Creative Consultant, I said yes to every opportunity. I did event photography, product shots, videography, social media management, and more. In alignment to my wellness and self-healing journey, I soon started working with more healers and wellness practitioners. When I get on Brand Discovery calls with prospective clients I consider a few things to see if they are a good fit for our services. 1) Aesthetics - it’s important that the brand owners we partner with desire to create visuals and branding similar to what we’ve developed. It’s so easy to work with anyone who has a company or wants a website. But the style and aesthetics have to be aligned. 2) Energy Exchange - we look for clients who value elevated branding & content with high-caliber execution. Branding and Content takes time, money, and energy so it’s important the clients can afford and can invest in building a brand or elevated content. 3) Clear Communication - we always outline scope of work and deliverables up front. The discovery call process is also actually how I gauge if someone is able to commit to scheduled meetings, can communicate via email, and see if we have a common understanding. I treat creative work partnerships as a sacred agreement. Sometimes I call myself, “Brand Doula” which means I am holding space for the birth of a client’s brand and offerings.
What are some of your favorite projects?
We have 3 main 1:1 creative service offerings: 1) HOLISTIC BRANDING (Brand Name Consultation, Logo/Web Design, Strategy, Content) 2) COURSE PRODUCTION 3) CONTENT CREATION (Photography, Videography, & Social Media Content).
We’ve launched several brands, produced dozens of courses and hundreds of #ConsciousContent. My favorites to date:
Holistic Branding which included brand name consultation, web design, content strategy, and photography for ABA Therapy practice called, Rooted in Play.
Course Production for a Reiki Master and Hypnotherapist to produce her A TOUCH OF Reiki I Course.
Launching an online membership for a Psychological Astrologer, Danielle Beinstein that will have courses, monthly New & Full Moon workshops, and a community platform with an app.
What do you want to accomplish in your work?
My intention has always been this vision of creating a ripple effect of good in the world. I believe that supporting healers, wellness practitioners, and conscious businesses share their gifts and offerings can heal and heal more people. This is manifested through our partnership to increase brand awareness, develop content strategies, or produce online courses. We also developed several signature courses to support conscious brand owners who are just starting out and may not yet be ready to work 1:1 with us. Our courses include IG Mini Course, Content Creation Course, Conscious Creative Workshop, and Holistic Brand Elevation Program.
Our community has grown to over 4,000 IG followers, 700 community, and 40+ brand partnerships. Just the handful of courses we’ve produced for clients and our own course has helped and healed hundreds of people. We also receive feedback from our community and IG followers who never worked with us how our content is changing they way they are showing up online with authenticity and integrity. Because of my own intention being manifested, I hope to continue to expand our community and create a bigger impact.
Who and what has been instrumental to your personal and creative growth?
My spiritual and sacred practices such as Mindfulness, Kundalini Meditation, and Tea Ceremony have personally supported me. I also believe in nourishing yourself through intangible experiences like travel and retreats can widen your perspective.
Before I launch my Boutique Creative Agency, I knew I didn’t know what I didn’t know. So I invested $2k to seek support from a Business Consultant. She supported me in getting clear with my offering and creating structure in my business. That laid the foundation for NATURE AND INTENT and I’ve also invested every year in courses from self-care, business, to mindfulness. I recently graduated from UCLA MARC as a Mindfulness Facilitator and it has changed my life.
I always value education, experiences, and embodiment as the foundations for how to live what I like to call your ‘nature and intent’.
How did you have to pivot your work during quarantine?
Before March 2020, we were doing in-person client and team meetings. When shoots and projects were cancelled and postponed, I went on survival and pivot-mode. I knew people still needed support with branding and showing up online. So I launched the Holistic Brand Elevation program with 100 people signing up for the webinar and 40 people around the world tuning in live. It was so cool to know that we can reach far beyond our geographic location. During quarantine, I also taught my clients how to set-up their iPhones and tripods to capture their own photos and videos. We had dozens of Zoom productions that gave our clients the confidence to show up more regularly online. This year really allowed me to refine our services and the clients we partner with. There is always room for growth and learning, but grateful for the opportunity to be of service.
Do you have anything upcoming like any upcoming projects you’re excited about?
I recently just graduated from UCLA MARC as a Mindfulness Facilitator. I'm excited to start offering for Mindfulness classes as well as relaunch my Conscious Creative Workshop. I launched this Creative and Mindfulness workshop in 2019 for women to cultivate more creativity, compassion, and connection. My intention for anyone who joins the workshop is to embody their conscious creativity and live their ‘nature and intent.’
Photos courtesy of Kristine Lo
Profile photo by Caleb Thal