Christina Hunte, On The Kreativ Edge

Today we will meet Barbadian Christina Hunte. She is a driven entrepreneur and one of a growing cadre of black women leading in business. She is the founder and head of Kreativ Edge, a boutique marketing firm serving local and international clients.

Christina’s participation in The Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) is testament to her leadership and drive. The Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative is one of many exchange programs offered by the U.S. Department of State. She was chosen as one of 250 persons selected out of 13, 000 applicants for the 2018 cohort. Here is what she had to say about her experience with the program: “We learned a lot about business, how to scale, how to maintain good business practices, ethics, legalities, and much more. Through the 5 week fellowship, we were able to visit many cities across the U.S. and network with business owners from the Caribbean, Latin America, and the U.S.A.”

Christina’s main business focus is marketing. Her interest in marketing started in secondary school where she was a business student. “While I was still in secondary school, I came across a business that fascinated me by the quality of their products and services. Even though I found the business really impressive, I couldn’t understand why the store was empty, and why everyone I knew wasn’t talking about this establishment. It was at that moment that I realised how critical marketing is to any business. It doesn’t matter how good you are, you still need a good marketing plan in place in order to thrive.” This interest developed into a passion as she had her first chance to implement some of her ideas as part of the planning and implementation team for her high school graduation. “With my newfound marketing skills, I began to see a need for better marketing as I interacted with several businesses across the island, and I decided to use my passion for marketing to make a difference, ” she explained.

Her drive and determination lead to the creation of Kreativ Edge. The name Kreativ Edge is complementary to the services she provides and actually came from an intent to enunciate a brand fueled with creativity and driven by cutting edge ideas and practices. “After lots of research and lots of feedback, I chose the name Kreativ Edge because the purpose of our company is to do things in such a unique way that you can stand out and gain an edge in your industry. At Kreativ Edge, we’re all about helping brands find their unique edge, and creating innovative campaigns to get their brands noticed,” she expressed.

A Challenge in Doing Business

Her success is not without challenges. She highlights one of the biggest challenges for her business is the difficulty and cost of doing e-commerce in Barbados. There are many platforms that allow businesses to accept payment through a website, but the majority of them don’t work in Barbados. There is also the added requirement in some cases of a U.S. bank account, which further complicates the issue. In addition, while PayPal is accessible, the 30-day wait time for funds to be cleared may create cash flow issues.

Her Drive

“I’m motivated by the idea that I can do something different, and add some value to the world. This is what drives me every day. My existence has to count for something meaningful. I want to go down in history as someone who did something that mattered,” she affirmed.

Christina sees success as a moving pillar, changing with each season and stage of life. At this point she defines success as working fewer hours and making more time for leisure. “Success is always portrayed as this vast thing, that includes ‘the biggest’, ‘the most’, or ‘the highest’ of something. For me, success is having peace of mind, and knowing that my efforts matter,” she added.

Advice & Encouragement

“Me as a role model. I always found that mind-boggling, because I’m still young, I’m still learning, and there are so many people who I see as role models. That was, until I learned that you don’t have to know all the secrets of life to be a role model. You just have to have something or be something of value to someone else. So in essence, that makes us all role models.

To anyone who sees me as a role model, I hope that my journey of learning, trying, failing, learning again, and improving can let you know that you can do it too. And never put anyone on a pedestal because none of us are perfect. Your role models are just people who decided to be brave enough to do a particular thing. Know that one day (sooner than you think), you will be that role model for someone else too! As long as you decide to just be brave enough to take action on your ideas.

My advice for entrepreneurs is ‘just do it’. Honestly. We always tend to think that we have to have the stars perfectly aligned in order to start or to take the next step. The truth is, life is the biggest teacher there is, and you can only learn if you take the first step, and allow life to show you what to do next. So in essence, don’t overthink. Just do it. Whatever idea you have in your head, just do it.”