Meet Lily Karnavas | Entrepreneur & Film Videographer & Podcast Host

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lily Karnavas and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lily, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I was born and raised in Encinitas, a San Diego suburb, my favorite place on Earth. No other town has yet to replicate the unique energy of Encinitas; it feels like a preserved California surf town from the seventies yet has a new emerging scene for health and wellness. I am incredibly grateful to my local surf community, as filming and surfing alongside them are one of the biggest reasons I love home. My intimate experience with the ocean, having grown up surfing, swimming, and bodysurfing, inspired me to bring to market a three-ingredient eco-friendly surf wax to local stores during my junior year of high school. Although I am no longer responsible for the development of the wax, it taught me how to leverage my passion to create an impact product/service.

Aside from my hometown, being raised by my entrepreneurial mother has dramatically impacted my motivation, drive, and purpose today. Seeing my mom work three jobs in dramatically different industries across finance and fashion proved to me that you can be whatever you want in your life and change your path at any time. This lesson motivated me to create my podcast, She-Preneur, as I highlight the intersection between the business, technology, and beauty industry because you can do it all.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Pursuing a creative career has been an absolute no-brainer. I have been creating since childhood, using my Barbie dolls to make stop-motion films and upload them to YouTube. This passion for film manifested differently throughout the stages of my life, from the stop-motion at eight years old to my beauty blog “It’sBabsBeauty” when I was twelve, studying film at Oxford University at fifteen, and most recently, exploring the medium of Super 8 (35mm) video film in my high school years. My father, who grew up in the seventies, would show me analog photos of him skateboarding as a kid. I remember seeing these images’ nostalgic grain and saturated color and wondered how I could create the same effect: no filters and no editing apps. I have now been shooting 35mm and Super 8 video film for four years now, my work inspired mainly by California surf and skate culture, with unique Super 8 cameras from Germany, Japan, and the U.S. While this was mostly a freelance hobby, I remember the first time I was asked to help shoot an advertisement for one of my favorite brands. I thought it was the best moment of my life, aside from when a video from my Youtube blog, ItsBabsBeauty, hit 1,000 views when I was twelve. Lol.

While film has been an excellent outlet for my artistic creativity, my podcast, ShePreneur, is another creative medium with a more entrepreneurial side. I founded ShePreneur in the Winter of 2021, having a slow launch and needing to be more consistent than I wanted. I re-launched ShePreneur on Spotify almost a year later and have been diligently working on growing the brand since. Developing a brand takes work, especially as a full-time college student and a marketing intern. However, it is possible; I organically grew my following from 200 people to around 1.1k in under four months. The secret to this natural growth is about showing up daily. Another critical factor to success is understanding your service/product can always be better; upon this realization, I have rebranded the colors, fonts, and tone of my content two or three times until reaching an aesthetic that sustains engagement and is timeless. Learn to love the grind and never be afraid to reach out to a potential connection for advice, input, or an interview, because what’s the worst that can happen? They say no, no big deal.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Encinitas’s food holy trinity, VG’s, Lourdes, and Fish 101, never fails to hit. After long Pipes surf sessions, you can find me eating a maple long-john at VGs in Cardiff (arguably better than Leucadia Donuts). Lourdes chicken tortilla soup, when you’re sick, is prime and beef taquitos with extra cheese and guacamole for an after-work grub. I would recommend hopping on some bikes and touring through Encintias’s rail trail that extends from Carlsbad to Encintias alongside the beach. Need to cool off? D Street beach is a great place to go for a quick dip for newcomers into town. I spend a lot of time in Oceanside, another beach town North of Encinitas, where I would recommend visiting some of my favorite antique and vintage shops there like Captains Helm, Sea Hive, and Ransacked.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to dedicate my shoutout to both my parents, who have always been incredibly supportive in all my endeavors; Kolette Morehead for being like my big sister and helping me navigate my personal and professional life; my close friends and my Encinitas community for helping inspire my artistic work.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shepreneurpodcast/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-karnavas-8a48bb20b/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_dpmPWtpHJQuhGhaMhi5Ng

Other: Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilykarnavas/

Image Credits
Photocredits: @AbstractSeagull – Jake Roth (motorcycle helmet photo) @Kolette Morehead – Thumbnail