How to Navigate Being a First as ...

How to Navigate Being a First as a Creative with Chris Peay

Explicit
Behind the Creative by Dr. Kristelle Beecher, PhD, MBA
S1 · E14
Dec 15, 2025
34:11

Episode notes

In this episode of Behind the Creative, Kristelle (https://www.instagram.com/drkristelle) sits down with Chris Peay (https://www.instagram.com/chris.peay), co-founder of Cxmmunity Media, the Black-owned media agency reshaping gaming, entertainment, and culture, for a conversation you haven’t heard before.

Chris opens up about his journey from collegiate athletics to sports marketing, music entrepreneurship, and ultimately building a creative company at the intersection of culture and community. As the first in his family to graduate college, he reflects on the invisible pressure of being “the first,” the responsibility that comes with it, and how those expectations can quietly shape our personal and professional decisions.

Together, Kristelle and Chris unpack what it really means to create boundaries as a first-generation leader, how to balance family responsibility with creative ambition, and how to unlearn guilt and shame while honoring your creative calling. They also explore how Chris has redefined success over time and how his lived experiences have become a core part of branding his brilliance.

This episode is a powerful reflection for anyone navigating entrepreneurship, creative careers, or the weight of expectation while carving a path no one else around them has walked before.

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Lead Producer: Dexter "Furg" Fugerson

Music Produced by: Devin O’Bannon / Black Irish Entertainment

Artist: Devin O’Bannon

Keywords

Creative careers
creatives
entrepreneur
mindset
Behind the Creative
Career transformation
millennials
Millennial entrepreneurs
BIPOC creatives
Independent creatives
Creative identity
culture shapers
culture
entertainment
blerd culture
blerd
Chris Peay
Cxmmunity Media