Creative Chat with Katharina Geissler-Evans, founder & editor-in-chief of heiter magazine

We have had some wonderful creative businesses enrol on our Online Course and come along to our Pinterest Workshops. We have so enjoyed connecting with them online and in person and thought it would be great to share our Creative Chats with you here on our blog!

We have reached out to these artists, designers, makers and small business owners to share their business story with us. Details of their creative process, where they find inspiration and the highs and lows of running their own business.

Our 11th Creative Chat is with Katharina Geissler-Evans, a fashion stylist, joyful living advocate and founder and editor-in-chief of the independent publication heiter. Together with her husband Ben and their two children Julius and Clara, she currently lives in an old Austrian farmhouse.

Tell us about your magazine and what is the story behind it?

heiter is not just an ordinary independent publication; it is so much more! It’s a lifestyle, or perhaps even a life philosophy, and there is a really lovely and supportive community behind it. The idea for the publication came to mind in 2016, just after I had gone through a very stressful time in my life. In order to help myself out of that situation, I made it my mission to look after myself and do things that felt good. I took myself for coffee, bought myself flowers, spent some time drawing, and went for walks along the nearby river. Those seemingly small moments of joy (or “heiter moments,” as I began to call them) made such a difference to my well-being. They helped my energy, optimism, and love for life return. I was so amazed by those results that I wanted to share my discovery with others. Soon after, I worked on the pilot version of a “heiter” print publication, and I started to post on social media and the heiter blog, too. Print production is expensive, and because of that, I didn’t have the courage to publish print until 2022. That year, I ran two crowdfunding campaigns. The second one was successful, and that helped me bring physical copies of heiter to life. It felt wonderful, especially when seeing them dotted around indie lifestyle and magazine stores in the UK and Continental Europe and then knowing that they were also sold in a handful of places in the US, Singapore, and Taiwan.

The same week issue 1 launched, I had our daughter (who is our second child). I didn’t realize what a big undertaking looking after two children and running a business was, so I ended up taking a little break from my hectic work. This year I am back, and heiter issue 2 (“Homecoming”) is planned to launch this summer. It’s going to be an issue that’s close to my heart, and I couldn’t be more excited about sharing it with the world!

“To me, happiness is about being true to yourself. It’s about sticking up for you as a person and your values. It’s about doing what you fully enjoy instead of just following what other people do.” – Katharina Geissler-Evans

What does the word ‘heiter’ mean and what does it mean to you?

heiter is German for cheerful or joyful. I’ve always loved the word because it’s a little bit old-fashioned and rare in the everyday German vocabulary. To me, happiness is about being true to yourself. It’s about sticking up for you as a person and your values. It’s about doing what you fully enjoy instead of just following what other people do. For me personally, there’s also a sense of freedom and lightness that comes with heiter, and I love it for it.

What is your background?

I was born and raised in Austria and trained there as a nursery teacher, but I always knew that that wasn’t my calling. In my early twenties, I left for a fashion internship in New York and then moved on to London, where I began to study Fashion Media at London College of Fashion and work in the fashion industry. I met my husband during that time, and after a few years living together in the UK, we moved to Germany, where I also focused on my fashion career. I had several roles within the e-commerce world, including copy editing, styling, and marketing. I even began consulting with a few independent fashion and lifestyle brands. Nowadays, I only consult with the business owners from the heiter community; they have personalised sessions as part of a membership (The Heiter Society), and I really enjoy that. Now and then, I still work as a freelance fashion stylist (with a focus on independent and sustainable brands), and I use my overall knowledge and expertise for heiter.

Where does your content inspiration come from?

A lot of it is my personal experience and everyday life as a woman, mother, and business owner. I also find inspiration through our family travels, museum visits, and my extensive collection of coffee table books and magazines, but also on walks. Pinterest is another great way to get inspired, particularly from an aesthetic point of view. I think it’s also important to remember who I am and what my style and values are. For everything I do, I try to remember what the things are that make me feel heiter. There wouldn’t be much point in creating something that doesn’t feel right.

Can you tell us about your creative process?

When it comes to the print publication, I usually come up with the theme first. It’s always a theme that’s close to my heart and relevant to me at that point in my life. I then try to see if there’s already existing content that fits in with what I have in mind and that I can recycle. For the rest, I brainstorm and see what comes up. It’s a fairly loose, creative, and fluid process. I have a clear picture when it comes to the aesthetics of heiter, and it’s important to me that the words and pieces that go in are hopeful, encouraging, and valuable for the heiter readers. I’ve met many creatives throughout my heiter journey and even before that, and I have a good feeling of who I can trust and whose work aligns with what I want to communicate. It’s really important to get different contributors on board, especially because the definition of heiter is such a personal one. If I only talked about and featured the things that bring me joy, things would get very one-sided, and that’s not the purpose of the content. I do get involved with writing and storytelling, and I always style and direct the main fashion editorial shoot for the individual issues. I, of course, make the final creative decisions, but it’s crucial to feature the works and opinions of other creatives and coaches, too.

What could also be interesting is the way I conceptualize and plan a photo shoot, too. I use Pinterest to create the mood, aesthetics, and even details like potential model poses. Sometimes I find fashion brands that I want to use for the shoot there; other brands come to my attention through other online search engines, PR agencies I regularly work with, and social media.

What do you enjoy about running your own business? Which parts come most easily to you?

As a mother of two, I enjoy the flexibility of running my own business. Apart from a few exceptions, I can work around my family and take off whenever I need to. I also find joy in the fact that I can talk and write about topics I am genuinely interested in and that I get to use my creativity in different ways. I think the curating and styling part of my job comes most naturally to me—building connections with others, no matter if that’s contributors, vendors, community members, or guest speakers for our community workshops and events.

What don’t you enjoy, what do you find difficult, and what are the challenges?

Print as a medium is very expensive, and it’s always a struggle to get the budget for a print issue together. Staying positive about it all, not giving up, and constantly trying to get the funds together takes up a lot of my time and energy, which doesn’t always feel good. As a one-woman show, I am often behind with my to-dos, and I need to have loose deadlines. Not every contributor and vendor appreciates that approach, and I get chased when some content takes longer to publish, email replies are delayed, etc. As a recovering perfectionist and people-pleaser, this causes me quite a bit of stress and is therefore the part of my work I dislike the most.

How do you juggle family life and your work?

I try to have a clear separation between my work and family life. A lot of my work is done online and on my phone. I don’t want my kids to see me in front of a screen all the time—and then perhaps get the feeling that my phone is more important than the two of them. It’s not always an easy undertaking, but I try to squeeze all of my work into the morning (when the kids are at childcare). There are some days where I do more work when the kids are in bed and on weekends when my husband can take over, but luckily, this is mainly during launch seasons and not every week. Juggling it all feels hard, and I don’t know if it will get easier anytime soon, but I try to remember that everything in life is a phase. It’ll pass. When I feel overwhelmed, I try to calm my nerves and mind by taking out a few minutes for myself so that I can do something heiter. Stepping out into the garden for a few minutes often helps, as does pausing to make myself a cup of herbal tea or coffee.

Do you have any news you’re excited about and you would like to share with us?

As mentioned above, ‘Homecoming’, the second heiter print issue, is going to launch this summer. In fact, it is already available for pre-order now! The beautifully curated, 96-page publication was created in collaboration with more than 30 other creatives. It comes with an array of interviews, essays, fashion editorials, photography, how-to pieces, prompts, and more. It will inspire and guide you and help you get closer to finding home within yourself, in your work, or perhaps in a new country.

I’ve created an exclusive free shipping code for the Curly Carrot community. So, if you pre-order the new issue, add it to your basket and apply CURLYCARROT at checkout. The code expires in mid-July 2024.

What are your passions and interests?

I am passionate about helping people find their own “Heiterkeit” (which is the noun that comes with heiter) by encouraging them to live life according to their values and what brings them joy. I want them to know that they deserve to be “heiter,”  even though the world around them is in chaos. My other big passion involves fashion and getting dressed. Firstly, I feel strongly about showing others that a sustainable approach to clothing is not just plain and limiting. It can actually be stylish and fun. Secondly, I try to make the point that people can wear what makes them feel heiter and allows them to be themselves, even if that goes against trends or makes one stand out. I do that not only through my styling work but also in the way I dress myself.

Personally, I find joy in home styling, photography, drawing, cultural visits, and time with my family. I am fond of unique fashion, skincare, scented candles, hot drinks, and audiobooks.

“The other big takeaway was that Pinterest is a great tool for my keyword research. Not only do I use those keywords for individual Pinterest posts, I also sprinkle them across the heiter blog, which really helps with the heiter searchability and reach.” – Katharina Geissler-Evans

What was the best thing you learned from our Pinterest course and one-to-one session that has helped your business?

What comes to mind first is the fact that I can easily re-use and share existing content, which is very welcome in my “full-on-everyday life” as a mum, wife, and business owner. The other big takeaway was that Pinterest is a great tool for my keyword research. Not only do I use those keywords for individual Pinterest posts, I also sprinkle them across the heiter blog, which really helps with the heiter searchability and reach.

Images by tobetold by Lena Kinast

Discover heiter online:

heiter website | heiter on Pinterest | heiter on Instagram

Order ‘Homecoming’, heiter issue 2

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