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**cues Lauryn Hill** It could all be so simple… and with Bri it is!

I love working with people who have vision and are passionate about the work they do. Briyonah McClain is one of the greatest creative minds that I know. Her fervor is evident in the caliber of her work and her quick ascension to a director-level marketing role! It’s an honor and a privilege to introduce the world to who i’m touting as our generations’ Clarence Avant of marketing. (#GirlBoss)

Bri was born in Jersey and moved to Atlanta right before the 1996 Olympics. She attended Georgia State University and started her scholastic journey with Dermatology. At some point in  the coursework, she started to question if it was her passion or just something she was interested in at the moment.

One of her professional fears was to dive into a profession that was super routine; her personal perspective was that the monotonous nature of dermatology was not the best fit, so she decided to look at marketing and fell in love. Then the wheels started turning. She started to intern for Frank Ski, and as a result, she started to get her proverbial feet wet within

the marketing world. The exposure lit a flame, but things were placed on pause for a brief stint. What did this pause entail you ask… She and her sister went to teach English in China for 10 months (liiiiitttttt!!!!!). She came back to Atlanta, became a store manager, and her sister sent her a job opportunity for an events manager role at SheaMoisture, which took her to NYC.

At that point, the company was still in their infancy. Bri was now at a black owned startup and coordinating major events. With wind under her wings, she was now flying full speed ahead. Then the company underwent reorganization, and her role was eliminated in the process. However, greener pastures were ahead.

She’s now one of the big dawgs at Kiss Products, driving brand activations and campaigns across the US, Canada, and Europe. Her day-to-day consists of building brand partnerships and leading experiential and creative strategy for events like Rose’ Picnic, CurlFest, and Beautycon.

Can you tell me more about your current role? What do you like most about it?

Well I love the role! Event Planning is my thing in life and career.

One question that I ask myself regularly is how can I remain true to myself, exceed in my role, and create opportunities for people of color while working in the corporate world? My resolution was simple; be the true creative you are, and make sure everyone feels represented. In hair & beauty, people of color and the LGBTQ

community don’t often see themselves in a brand, and I wanted to change that. Not just with our creative executions but also the entire brand experience and the ambassadors we work with. It’s a big deal these days, and it’s my job, so I try to take it a step further to ensure representation is at the forefront of everything I do. I also make it a point to collaborate with women owned-and-operated organizations and production agencies which you don’t often see in the event industry.

On a more personal note, you mentioned that you’re a twin (super dope and news to me… ) How did being a twin impact you building a personality and ultimately affect your style?

From a personality perspective, we are day and night. My twin is usually more reserved with how she dresses… very business casual. However, we are both creative/artistic. As for myself, I have always been into fitness and athletics so my style very much followed. I live an active lifestyle and enjoy being comfortable first so I trend towards sneakers and oversized clothes… athleisure is what the kids call it. Overtime, I found unique ways to marry my casual comfort style with statement pieces. Then I started to play with patterns, shapes, and textures, and as a result, I have been able to flex to business casual. What’s wild is it only stretched further after moving to New York. I gained an entirely different level of inspiration to say the least!

Our moniker is work 9-5, Live 5-9. Does that resonate with you? If so, what does it look like for you on the day-to-day.

Because I travel so much, it requires a prioritization for me to manage family, friends, and work. The beauty of my role is that I have the autonomy to create my own travel schedule, and I get to select the locations. So whenever I travel for work, I try to make sure that they are places that I would like to go personally, where friends are, and where I can generally have fun! It’s all about balance when you travel extensively for work. You have to have fun while doing it.

From the day I met you, you have always operated in the creative spaces, and it’s important for the world to note you shaped the creative vision for this shoot! Tell me about your inspiration.

I wanted to incorporate bits and pieces of my personality and interests into every look:

• White backdrop: I love nature, plants, Black culture, and pairing random things together. Flowers and baby hairs, like WHAT, but why not?! This shot was like a blank canvas for me, and I wanted to paint an image with the things I love most- but not really paint because I suck at that. Plants and flowers are to me what pets are to some people. Black culture- I’m [very] Black (lol) and proud. We are some of the most creative people I know, and I wanted to capture that in this shoot. My glam squad and I designed a flower brow and complemented it with some sick baby hair to celebrate that love. It was so dope!

• The Green backdrop: I love monochromatic color schemes, pastels and springtime- this felt like that! This color choice was especially important to me because of what I associate it with- relaxation (also something I am prioritizing all 2020). It made perfect sense to incorporate eucalyptus in this shot which happens to be one of my favorite plants and my favorite essential oil to meditate with. 

• The Nude shoot: Completely inspired by my love for music… Specifically the Janet Jackson shot. It’s grown, tasteful, unapologetic and sexy. (https://www.pinterest.de/pin/346214290086613899/)

What do you do for fun?

I am a doer of things lol:

• I have a green thumb, I love to grow things. Collecting plants is my hobby. 

• I love hosting people, recreating recipes, both food and cocktails.

• I love fitness and weight lifting- that’s actually how I got into cooking and crafting clean recipes out of my mom’s recipes.

• I do creative direction and pitch creation in conjunction with photo styling

• I love to travel 

• I do hair on the side

(Only thing she doesn’t do is sleep lol)

If you could meet anyone today, that could change the trajectory of your life who would that be and why?

• Believe it or not my friends’ entrepreneurial journeys are the most inspiring to me. They’ve really shifted my perspective on what life truly means, and how far one can go if we just bet on ourselves. I don’t think I would’ve taken on different opportunities in life if it weren’t for them. I was hoping to have a celebrity in mind but it’s hard for me to take major inspiration from celebrities. They’re so out of touch with us common folk, but if I had to choose, it’d be Rihanna. Her story is truly inspiring, and she really doesn’t give AF lol. She’s raw, creative as hell, honest, and always true to herself (and I mean ALWAYS true). That’s how you live life coming from nothing to killing it in the music industry and building an empire almost single-handedly. That is BOSS AF. 

Bri, it was nothing less than an honor and a privilege to feature you as our WkendHER! I love the way you fully invest in your endeavors and your light will continue to shine in all that you do. Thank you for allowing us to highlight you!

To A Life Worth Living,

The Wkender