Maddie Buckley
Staff Writer
Q: Tell me about yourself
A: I’m motivated, passionate; passionate about achieving my goals and helping other people achieve their goals. One thing I’ve noticed about Connecticut, being born and raised here, is that while opportunity isn’t limited, there’s a need for more collaboration, there’s a need for more belief in other people that are around you. And so I make it a big effort of mine to expose what actually exists in Connecticut. Like I feel like its a rose garden, ya know? We have so many unnoticed roses that live here, but it’s a whole rose bush
Q: What was your inspiration for Kulture Mag? How did it come about?
A: So my degree is actually in biology. That was always my goal to be a doctor, save lives. And so by my senior year of college- cause I’ve always been creative I’ve always had the creative interest, I’m inspired by creatives themselves, and so senior year of college I asked myself why is it that I wanna be a doctor? And asking the question why is always important; If you wanna spend the rest of your life doing something, make sure you enjoy doing it. And so senior year I realized that working in medicine, I’d be helping people whose decisions affect how they are now. So if I started a media company because 80% or 90% of what we digest through media controls somewhat of our narrative and the narrative of society. So I said, you know what? Let me build something, build a company, a media company that can influence and inspire, that can fill the voice that exists in society and fulfill the needs of the generation that will be the changemakers in the world.
Q: Who specifically inspires you?
A: Kanye West is a big inspiration for me. My mother, my friends, like I’m inspired by Jamie Tobias. He’s my best friend but he’s also the photographer. Ya know just seeing his motivation, his determination to be successful. Like we grew up together and we’ve always been very supportive so like having those supportive people around me. I like Elon Musk, I’m inspired by him and his motivation. Ya know the list goes on and on. I’m inspired by Lisa [Farrell]!
Q: What is your favorite thing about speaking publicly and what is your goal?
A: That I was sitting in that audience at some point and the most influential moments happened to be when I was in the audience listening to those speakers that was like five years older than me. Because we all have our own definition of success and say you see a Steve Jobs or like an Oprah or whomever, they’re in like their 50’s and 60’s so we see success only as that sometimes not knowing that success at 18 is different than success at 20, 25. Not knowing that there’s all different levels, like to some degree I am successful. You don’t gotta be X, Y, or Z, You just gotta be you. I feel like that message is needed to get across and should be preached every day.
Q: There are some students that consider Kulture Mag to be politically charged- How would you respond to this?
A: Honestly that’s not really for me to determine. I think Kulture Is full of everything so at some point you’re gonna see some of that. I don’t make any specific stance on things, but everything is a compilation of different types of writers and their beliefs and values. I think everyone should have a voice and all I do is amplify it. So it’s up to your to actually put aside your biases and take it for what it’s worth and see the value in it. And so that’s my thing, just presenting this to the world
Q: What makes Kulture relevant in today’s world?
A: Well culture itself is present in everyday life. Like culture dictates a lot no matter where you go. Like you could be a food enthusiast- you’re part of a food culture.You may go to other countries and taste different food and that may influence how you move and now you wanna travel. Culture will always be present, and my thing was that I’ve seen so many different cultures of this younger generation that didn’t really have the space to identify. So I said you know what? Let me create a brand that can- that has the ability to represent every culture and allow them to have a voice in it.
Q: What advice would you give to the students?
A: Find out what your four is. And what I mean is every four years you transition, so every four years you go from elementary school to middle school or high school, every four years we have the olympics, so what is your four? How are you gonna spend the next four years of your life? And what you’re doing now, for the coming four years, you can’t do for the next four years. You level up. My advice is to know yourself, know who you wanna be, love yourself, and be the best you.
Photo Caption: Valentine speaks with students following his presentation to the school. April 12, 2018. Photo courtesy of Maddie Buckley
