Samarskaya for Brian Smith

(Spring 2017)

Ksenya Samarskaya makes words look better on the internets. She’s done it for Apple, YouTube, AirBnB, Snoop Dogg Marketing, and 999 other groups. She is on the AIGA New York board and runs an innovative dinner series.

What are you working on and thinking about now? When I was younger, I discredited a lot of things that came easy for me, assuming they came just as easy for everyone else. So now, it’s a lot of trying to own that. To lean into it and articulate it and refine it further.

Do you have a work ritual? I get all the best work done in the mornings. I try to get up before anyone else knows to find me. Late morning I finally let myself take a break. Shower, lunch or errand it up, often meet up with a client or a collaborator. Something that’s both a reward and a pivot.

After that, there’s no ritual. It’s all down to energy levels and obligations.

How much of your work is autobiographical? I tend to think that all work is autobiographical. We always infuse a lot of ourselves into whatever we do, whether it’s by inclusion or omission. What we notice. What we don’t. I’ve noticed my work gets stronger and stronger the less I try to pretend to be a neutral party, and the more of my biography I fold into it.

How do you keep your creative spirit alive? Well, the world isn’t perfect yet — so there’s work to be done. That’s motivation.

Additionally: good music, fast beats, movement, flirtation, changes of scenery or perspective.

What lesson keeps appearing in your life? That you can’t plan very many things into the future. Trajectories only make sense when looking backwards.

First published in 2017 on briansmith.biz