Today we’d like to introduce you to Christina Tran.
Hi Christina, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started my journey in a completely different path than what it is today. From starting out in biology to pursuing creative ventures for work, my experiences have been diverse. I went through a lot of personal growth and self-actualization throughout college. When I knew I didn’t want to pursue a career in the STEM field, I had to completely change my way of thinking and perspective. I decided to completely go the other direction from where my career journey began and go into creative pursuits that led me into the world of photography and videography. I started by self-teaching myself photography and videography techniques through using my iPhone at first, which many people may be surprised about. I was being very resourceful and creative with the tools I had at the time and once I thought I had a good enough foundation, I committed and bought myself a camera with a versatile lens that I could grow into. From there, I really got familiarized with what proactiveness really meant and the concepts of persistence and tenacity as I pursued and made opportunities for myself. Now I am continuing my path as a photographer and videographer as I continue to navigate through adulthood. I am a dreamer with passions and ambitions that I will achieve.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My journey has not been a smooth road to say the least. Growing up as a Vietnamese American, I felt like it was difficult for me to navigate who I really was outside of my family’s thoughts and perceptions of me. Like many can relate to, my family wanted me to have a “successful” and stable career, which for them it meant a career in the STEM field as they thought it would be my greatest chance in achieving the freedoms and happiness that they imagined for me. With this, growing up I was led to believe that I “wanted” to become a pharmacist, so in my freshman year of college, I was a biology major working as a pharmacy technician. After around a year of experiencing a taste of what life might be like if I were to continue the path I was going on, I realized that the pharmacy path was not for me at all, which at the time, felt like my world was crashing down as I had no idea where to go from there.
Making that discovery was a big step into personal growth and self-actualization. I started to try and develop my own sense of self and do things that I thought would help me discover what I wanted to do in my career journey. Then, the world seemingly stopped as the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world all at once. Bouncing back from the pandemic was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, because life seemingly paused for everyone, I was able to be very present with myself, which helped me get to know who I was and what I wanted better. On the other hand, the majority of my college experience was online, and I was unable to form in-person relationships and connections with my peers and other creative minds. On top of that, post-pandemic has been difficult for many as the job market has been incredibly rough.
Ever since graduating college, because of all these factors, I had to get comfortable with the feeling of discomfort. I stayed consistent with pursuing and creating opportunities for myself through all the rejections I’ve gotten. Consistency is key, no opportunity is too small of an opportunity, and all you need is that one yes.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I currently am a freelance photographer and videographer. My beginning experiences going into this path led me to have experience content creating and doing creative direction as well. In terms of my photography and videography, I specialize in concert photography with additional experience with product, sport, lifestyle, and portrait photography and videography.
I am the most proud of how far my work has come from the beginning. I would have never imagined myself in the position I’m in today. I did not have a mentor figure when I started doing what I’m doing, and I think what sets me apart from others is my aspirations and persistence to pursue what I want to do and create my own path. I am not afraid to be seen trying.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
To be honest, I think risk-taking is really scary but something that must be done to grow and advance. Because of my upbringings, stability and being in a sense of “safeness” were drilled into me and something that I work to try and get over. My viewpoints on risk-taking is that I rather try to do something and learn from it rather than continue living with the constant thoughts of not doing the things I want or the “what if” questions that might linger from not taking action. I am in my early 20s, and regardless of the social pressures on college students and graduates, “needing to get their life together”, people in their 20s are still young and shouldn’t let those pressures defer them from taking actions that could change their life for the better.
One life event that many will take as a risk that I did is when I denied a full-time job offer. At the time, I had been interning at a local company, and they offered me a full-time position. However, I denied it in pursuit of wanting to achieve something much more than the company could offer me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://christinatsphotos.myportfolio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christinatsphotos/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinatran009/
