Written by Kaitlynne Rainne. Photograph courtesy of Melisa Majdancic .
With the end of the academic year rapidly approaching, SCAD students across campus are finalizing projects and the graduating class of 2022 has been hard at work putting together their capstone projects and graduate exhibits. Graduate student Melisa Majdancic recently wrapped her thesis project – “Kinder.”
“Kinder” is a book of poems and prose that she worked on for the past two years and culminated in her Creative Business Leadership Master’s program. When I sat down to talk with her about the process, she explained that “Kinder” wasn’t always “Kinder.”
“It all kind of started in February 2020 before Covid-19 hit,” she said. Melisa struggled with her memory, so to help, her therapist suggested she write down things she wanted to remember.
“I took that and was like okay, let me start with the people in my life I didn’t want to forget about. I focused on things about them I wanted to remember, things I’d want to look back on in the future.”
Her process soon evolved into many little sticky notes filled with names of friends and specific details about them that started living on her wall. From there, the idea making a book was born.
“I never wanted to put it out there. I was very self-conscious about people reading my work. But when the no-guest mandate was lifted from the residence halls and some stopped by, they sort of sparked the idea.” Melisa described that she began to question what would happen if she put it together. Though she still struggled with the idea of people reading it, she shifted the thought to people living in it. The idea that whoever would read them would live in these memories made it easier for her to build the courage she needed.
Additionally, Melisa shared that when she started it, it was her third year at SCAD, before she began her master’s program and at the time, it was a creative outlet.
“It was something for me to do when I needed to step away from everything and I created a goal for myself to hit 200 poems, which I did. Much sooner than I thought I would honestly,” she shared.
“When I got into my master’s program and learned that our thesis was to build a business plan, I thought why not use the book. I still needed to do all the marketing plans and sales strategies, so it made sense.”
For the last two quarters, Melisa has been doing just that – working on putting together all the poems with their corresponding illustrations, marketing her book on TikTok, and combining all three of her personas to bring her thesis to life. Coupling her background in Themed Entertainment with her love of writing and recently added skillset of Creative Business Leadership, “Kinder” slowly began to take shape.
When asked what her favorite part was, Melisa shared that it was watching the whole process of it taking life at different stages.
“It really fascinated watching ‘Kinder’ become ‘Kinder.’ Especially since it didn’t start that way as I mentioned. Even the name, wasn’t always the plan. When I began putting the poems together, I started looking at relevant themes which ended up being transitional. It was a journey from childhood to adulthood with each chapter showcasing and embodying a different color and mood. It really aims to exclusively show readers that their emotions are important and that as adults we should be kinder to our thoughts and ourselves.”
With that, “Kinder” culminated on May 13, 2022, when Melisa self-published through Amazon and following was her launch weekend exhibition. The exhibition at the Cedar House Gallery paralleled that experience, allowing those who stopped by to walk through childhood and adulthood and accept those thoughts and emotions.
Now that May is wrapping up and “Kinder” has been out for a few weeks, the question is, what’s the next step? For Melisa, she’s accepted a job post-grad and has already begun planning her next book. As a teaser, she shared that it will be through the lens of location presented in black and white.
“I can’t wait to see what the response to that will be because this new book will be a complete 180 from “Kinder,’” Melisa said, and she also shared some advice as a parting note.
“To anyone looking at doing something like this, the best piece of advice I can give is to take that step. Separate yourself from it because if you could have connected to it, someone else will which I know is one of the scariest parts. But trust that someone will connect to it and why should you take that away from them.”
To purchase “Kinder,” you can do so here and keep up with Melisa on her Instagram and website.
Kaitlynne Rainne is the Chief Copy Editor for District. As an editor and a writer, Kaitlynne is passionate about storytelling in all genres of writing and helping others find their voice. Her work ranges from profiles, spotlights, and advice pieces. In her free time, Kaitlynne loves going on walks, making oddly specific Spotify playlists, reading and working on her novel.
