Carrington builds content enterprise: Directs US nail-art provider’s social media, co-manages Jimmy October

CONTENT creator Richard Carrington is working hard and dreaming big.

Carrington's goal as the creative director and founder of the Keith Austin Digital Agency's is to have his company ranked amongst the likes of Ogilvy, McCann and Lonsdale.

Named in honour of his late father Keith Austin Carrington, the company provides a range of services to people who work in the creative industry.

"My middle name is also Austin," said Carrington. "I am happy I used our names."

"Our main areas of expertise are branding, digital marketing, web design and web development. And those main categories consist of an extensive list of other services."

Carrington said the capital used to start the company was from his pocket. "I was working when I started the company and invested most of my salary into starting it up."

Keith Austin, Carrington said, "Sets itself apart in a few ways, but mainly because of my hospitality background, I am big on quality customer service. I think that has paid off in creating more sustainable business relationships and gaining more clientele by referrals."

He said the company abandoned the set prices and packages approach and instead, decided to meet clients where they are, based on their needs.

Launched in 2015, the company started with Carrington and his sister Melissa being the team.

Asked which of his projects fills him with pride since then, he said, "One of them is Immortelle Beauty. It is the client of which I am most proud to collaborate with."

Immortelle Beauty is a locally owned body-care brand specialising in bath and body products made in TT.

Carrington said he has been collaborating with Katherine Nurse, its owner, since the business's inception over six years ago. "I am honoured to have grown with Katherine and the brand."

Another client he's proud of is the digital application Nailstry.

It's a connection made through "pumpkin-vine" family who put him on to Nailstry's founders. Carrington manages Nailstry's social media accounts. Nailstry itself is a rising startup, that uses augmented-reality technology and artificial-intelligence tools to help customers find the perfect art design for their nails.

"This was my first US-based client. It is a press-on-nails market app. I am always excited to work with anything related to technology. The application works by incorporating the user's camera to estimate the size of their fingers for the best nail choices."

A major venture for Carrington is his management role for "new calypso" artiste Jimmy October – known for his song Magic with soca star Kees Diffenthaller of Kes the Band.

"We met while I was working for Anya Ayoung Chee. I reached out to him as a potential opening act for J Cole when he came for Tobago Jazz Festival in 2016."

After meeting October and discovering more of his music, Carrington was so inspired and impressed by his talent that he wanted to contribute in some way to helping the artiste grow.

"From the get-go our collaboration helped us grow in our own rights. I was able to have him open for J Cole at Tobago Jazz. Memorable things to follow was his collaboration with American DJ and music producer Steve Aoki for the song No Time in which we had to produce our piece of the music video locally. We've made it to South by Southwest Festival 2022 in Texas and a lot of other great wins in between."

"It is only recently that I have been using the term 'manager.' I was more than happy being his assistant – helping him manage his day-to-day tasks. The title of manager felt heavy for me, because I didn't think what I did entailed as much of that.

"Jimmy is such a great creative that people mostly approached us, more than me working on proposals and approaching entities. A lot of that came to us. So a lot of it started as us managing
opportunities that came our way."

Asked how the pandemic affected the business, he said the wave of more companies attending to their digital presence worked in the company's favour.

"Most businesses had no choice so they came for assistance. Whether it was for social media, branding or photography. It was a busy time. And for that, we were grateful. It made us realise some things internally, which forced us to rebrand a bit in December of 2022."

The restrictions did not disrupt the team's mode of operation since they worked remotely since inception.

Currently, the core team of five are creative director, graphic artist, content strategist, web developer and photographer/videographer. "However, we have a long list of collaborators in those same areas and more that we work with from time to time when we are at capacity internally."

Carrington said when the company began it focused on event management and promotion but since December 2022 the focus officially shifted to digital media and marketing.

The 34-year-old from Macoya said he was always encouraged to enter whatever field would make him happy. As a teenager he dreamed of being the general manager of a restaurant or hotel when he finished CSEC at Holy Cross College in Arima.

Carrington, who grew up in La Horquetta, said,
"While I come from a family of professionals, a number of family members being in fields such as engineering, my sister
Melissa and I were the only ones who leaned toward creativity...

"I always had the creative blood running through my veins, which I got from my dad."

Carrington's father, Keith Carrington, who died in 2016, was the stalwart leader of the Mt Hope Connection – a fancy sailor band born from Jason Griffith's Belmont band.

"I have always had that passion for creating, but was unsure of the most suitable outlet for me – but I discovered it over time."

Carrington studied at the TT Hospitality and Tourism Institute where he studied hospitality management. He then went on to study event management at the George Washington University in Washington DC followed by completing a distance-learning programme, receiving certification by the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry certification in public relations, marketing and advertising.

"They all helped me handle what is required to produce fresh projects and navigate the many moving parts of a project. And having studied marketing and advertising was crucial, since that's a primary service the company provides."

Carrington said remaining motivated isn't hard because he loves what he does, however tiring it gets. "I am always looking forward to seeing how projects will come together. I have days where I do feel a bit of burnout, but I take responsibility for that ­– but when it comes to the work I am not lacking in motivation."

A major challenge Carrington said he had to overcome on his professional journey was contending with imposter syndrome.

Imposter syndrome is defined as a psychological state in which someone doubts their skills, talents
and fear being exposed as a fraud
.

"I doubt myself, my skills and abilities more than anyone I know. I am my biggest critic. But through therapy I battled it and my anxiety, though not crippling. A lot of the anxiety I experienced stemmed from that same self doubt."

Carrington said he is excited by his job and looks forward to sharing more of his skills with clients in need of digital marketing, branding and web design. "I want to also put more energy into myself and my personal brand such as products. I can't say what just yet, but there are services I'll be providing, but definitely, and the end of the third quarter this year some interesting things will be dropping."

Asked what he would say to aspiring entrepreneurs Carrington said, "Everyone is different.

"Everyone's backgrounds and lives are different but I feel like life is so short, and I believe people should die happy. Having lived a life of doing what makes them happy.

"I don't want to tell people not to worry about the money, because it may be challenging. I started off with little and no capital, but I had a vision.

"I am not rich. I am from the middle class, like most of Trinidad, but I remained motivated because I had a vision, so I continued putting my heart and soul into it. When I just started the company, I spent a lot of time building my website and other tasks relevant to building a business.

"Chase the dream, wherever it is, even if it is on the other side of the world. You want to be happy in this life. Life can be tough. You may as well enjoy the journey, because you never know when your life will end."