Corliss Trishna: CT Creations

In one of my work trips, I bumped into someone who I’d never thought I’d write their story. Not really bumped into since we work together but I hadn’t really booked an appointment for this one. Someone once told me that as a writer you’ll seat in a jav and all of a sudden start talking to the person next to you and just want to take out a recorder and tell their story to the world. This wasn’t substantially similar but who thought I’d get a story on the other corner of the country?

Corliss or Collo as we call him (because that ‘r’ and ‘l’ is a problem) is a videographer, a creative and motion GFX Designer. You can however get all that from his Instagram bio. I get to know his story on a warm Sunday afternoon in Kakamega county. We’re seating through one of the Great Debaters Contest Debates. He’s in charge of videos for their social media page and I’m the time keeper. (I’d say bell ringer but that’s no job description). We’re having a conversation, it’s not small talk because Collo hates small talk. As this happens he takes out his phone and shows me this cool video where he takes letters popping up on the screen with a tagline of what they mean. Y for example represented Young and Yearning.

The concept behind it is to have the letters of the alphabet mean something every day so that when you wake up in the morning you have something to ask yourself, like ‘what’s my A today?’

He airdrops the videos to me and I promise to share them, which you may have seen on my Instagram. If you missed them some are on his Instagram here.The conversation goes on, he makes sure his edits are okay and I have to ring my golden bell every three minutes to tell the debater their time is up.

We delve into school and work life. He studied videography and he was quite a student. Class would end at 3:00 pm and he’d be in school till 9:00 pm warranting the head of department to send him away. He hasn’t had it easy, which speaks to his humility. His job has him in and out of the office and he enjoys what he does.

Aside from his day job that has seen some shows make it to your tv screen, he has his focus in the right place. He for one has done Bidanya Barassa’s YouTube intro that is one of a kind. You have to take a look here. He works with vloggers and bloggers and he is great at his job.  I’d definitely recommend him if you’re looking for a designer. Fun fact is he’s a certified baseball umpire. He has worked as one. A jack of a number of trades.

Now all the glits and glam doesn’t always start from a high note. Taking me back to one thing he said that went against everything I thought I believed. He believes that life isn’t hard. From someone who has been independent from his days in high school and worked through paying his fees, that’s not something you’d expect as a mantra. Collo believes that set backs are a stepping stone and once you find a purpose and you’re passionate enough, then life definitely isn’t hard.

Remember when I said he didn’t have it easy? He didn’t, especially when he lost his mum and life needing him to step up. When tragic life events like this happen you see who your family is. He’d talk to his uncle for help but nothing much would get things moving.

At this point I’m totally immersed in the conversation and I butt in saying I definitely have to feature him on my blog. He agrees. Then we start talking about people. He mentions the entitlement we have today as young people. He pointed out how social media is completely different from real life. People aren’t who they appear to be.

I’m now scribbling notes on a notepad and he’s telling me about how important it is to surround yourself with people who believe in you. People who want you to do better. People who affirm and support you. This may sound like advice that everyone gives you at some point in life (which it is) but we don’t see the value of it until all the fun is done and things are messed up. Then we realize no one is there.

The most outstanding thing about this conversation was the passion Collo has for the work he does. He is one person who loves his job and does it to his best which may not play well with his colleagues because he ends up being the favorite. In his wisdom, he mentioned that the earlier you discover yourself the better.

Collo is doing well, and his job always has something he can learn from. His big moment he says was when he was picked out to do a project worth quite a number of millions. Part of him thought he couldn’t do it but his support system has him pumped up with confident, his girlfriend at the front of the line (of course you didn’t think he was single). They have something pretty solid and that’s about all you get to know.

He doesn’t ride solo, he has mentors and one of them is Jack. He tells me Jack can create water from nothing, literally, which is an editing concept I can’t even start to explain. There is so much that can be done in his field and everyday there’s something to learn.

He doesn’t believe in staying in one place of work. He stays at a company for a couple of years and moves to the next. When he said this all I wondered is  how do you just get another job? Collo says its embedded in creativity. It may not have been an answer to the question in my brain but creativity is pretty much of a big deal in his field. Moving from company to company gives him an opportunity to grow himself and needless to say companies like this.

I kept ringing my golden bell as he edited videos that made their way to the Great Debaters Contest Instagram Page and the conversation went on, all that was missing was probably a cup of brewed tea with enough sugar for two sugar lovers.