The DMV Daily Interviews: Treasure Donaldson, Creative Director

One thing I can say about DMV Natives is that when we see an opportunity for growth and development, we are going to seize that opportunity. As I continue to showcase many hardworking individuals from the area, today I had the pleasure of speaking with Treasure Donaldson, who is a 21-year-old Creative Director from Baltimore, MD.

Q: What is your name and tell me about yourself?

Treasure: My name is Treasure Donaldson, I am 21 years old. I was raised in Baltimore Md and now reside in Atlanta GA as a full-time creative director. I attended the Fashion Institute of technology briefly before starting my career.

Q: What motivated you to become an artist/creative?

Treasure: I was always the creative kid, innovating things, repurposing clothes, and making mood boards; so I think I was drawn to being creative it wasn’t an active decision I made.

Q: Walk us through how you’d develop a concept for a client.

Treasure:  My process is different for each project and I’m always learning to grow and reinventing my process. When working with projects in the music industry, I’m super involved with my clients whether that sitting in the studio while they make music or getting to know them personally as an artist. Research is everything and research often leads to inspiration for me. The music plays a big part too, the words, beats, cadence, etc all help build the story or aesthetic in my brain. I love the Artist that let me get super involved, it makes the job so much more fun

Q: What’s been your biggest creative challenge?

Treasure: My biggest creative challenge would probably be the moments when I have to come up with ideas for a bigger artist on the spot. One of my funny stories is when Future asked me to come up with a video idea for a song on the spot in a studio full of people, the pressure was insane. I think those moments when you have to make executive decisions and trust your intuition with a lack of time to second guess yourself are the most challenging but also the most defining.

Q: So I know you just became the new Creative Director for Lil Baby and had designed his Rolling Loud set. How did this opportunity come about?

Treasure: Lil Baby actually reached out to me personally and said he needed a Creative Director on his team for his shows and I whipped up something that night and the rest is history.

Q: What creative work do you do in your own time?

Treasure: Well I’m currently working on my first short film which is expected to release at the top of 2022 I’m super excited about that. But in my free time, I’m always creating ideas just to get them out of my ideas so I have projects backed up waiting to be executed when the time is right for them.

Q: How do you best offer constructive team feedback?

Treasure: I’m super honest and transparent with my time. So they have learned what I like and what I don’t like, and I try to create systems for everything. I truly try to make their job as easy as possible by laying out a blueprint. When it comes to my clients I’m the same way, they all know I’m going, to be honest, rather than agreeing with everything they like.

Q: Have you ever received negative feedback from your team? What happened?

Treasure: I  wouldn’t say negative but defiantly some pushback. Every idea or concept isn’t perfect and I make it a safe space for my clients to discuss what they like and don’t like and adjust accordingly.

Q: What tools/resources/ideas help your work?

Treasure: My favorite tool of all time is Pinterest! I tell all my aspiring creatives that will be your Bestfriend. From finding inspiration or finding pictures to display the vision in your head it’s the best thing ever and the algorithm is impeccable. Mood boards are a must for any one of my projects!

Q: How influenced are you by current trends?

Treasure: I wouldn’t say I’m influenced by the current trench but I do take time to study them. I’m more influenced by older trends and how to innovate them. I can say it is so important t research keeps yourself well informed on what’s going on in your field of work. Keeps you on top of your toes, especially with this generation being so sensitive to the development of ideas and who “inspired” who.

Q: What would you do if your most important client did not like your work?

Treasure: Dissect what they don’t like going back to the drawing board. It’s never any hard feelings when people don’t like my work even though that doesn’t happen very often. Criticism builds character! My feelings are only somewhat involved when it’s my personal project but curating for others my number one goal is to make them happy so whatever that takes I’m willing to do.