Everyday Extraordinary: Christina Davis

My name is Christina Davis, and I’m the owner of Steppin’ Out Studios, which is a full service video production company. 

I grew up in the Bay Area in a pretty traditional Indian household. My parents really wanted me to pursue a “practical” job, like being a lawyer or working in tech, and to have a standard 9-5 job — and for years, I did just that. After a decade working in big tech and at start-ups, I was financially secure, married, and even owned my own home.

I remember one day in particular, sitting at the outdoor campus of one of the world’s biggest tech companies, watching my colleagues play racquetball and frisbee on the lawn, when I realized — slowly, then all at once: I’m not happy. And if I have all these amazing things in my life, and I’m still not happy, then something major must have to change. I need to discover who I was, beyond who my parents wanted me to be. 

There’s only so long you can live a life that isn’t in alignment with who you are. If you don’t make the first move, life will make the move for you — and that’s exactly what happened. First, I was laid off from my job in tech. A few months later, my marriage ended. I moved back home with my parents and started my social media platform called Classtige, which was a fashion and lifestyle blog. Eventually, I realized I was essentially running my own business, and better yet, I loved the work I was doing. 

When the pandemic happened, my blog work dried up. I pivoted the video production skills I had learned as a blogger into a video production business for other brands, and Steppin’ Out Studios was born. 

And there it was: I had a business I was proud of, a supportive new partner, and an opportunity to build a life I loved in Los Angeles. However, this powerful reclamation of self came at a steep cost: I lost the support of my parents. It was a complicated moment; I was so enamored with the life I had built and the person I had become, and yet, I was constantly met with sharp criticism about my choices. I had to make a decision: I could continue to live for them and give up what I had built, or I could start living for myself. The only way I felt I could move forward was to cut contact with my parents.

I never thought I would be a person who didn’t have a relationship with their family, and that makes me sad. But now, every day, I wake up happy. I love what I do, I love where I live, I love the people I get to work with, and I love the brands I get to work with. I’m literally creating a life for myself that has everything I could ever want. 

Because I don’t have to give someone an explanation every time I do something, I can go about my life freely, and that’s an incredible feeling. In the past, if I told my parents something innocuous like, “I went to a movie,” their immediate response would be, “Why did you do that? Shouldn’t you be working?” I constantly felt like I had to justify my reason for doing anything, and it also caused me to feel guilty about doing things I enjoyed.

Life is really hard because people mean so much to us, and we want to make them happy. But sometimes, the desire to please others can come at the cost of abandoning yourself. You have to be aware of whether a relationship is serving you, and if it’s not, it’s ok to make adjustments and set boundaries. For many years, the fear of losing my family kept me from finding myself. Unfortunately, and for now, those two things cannot coexist. But what I do know is that I could not live an inauthentic life for one more day, and so at the end of the day, I had to choose me.

Though my actions might feel extreme for some people, I know for me, it was the right choice. At the end of the day, it all depends on the individual and what they’re comfortable with. There’s no one right way of living.  If you’re unsure of your next step, my biggest advice is to spend some time alone. You’d be amazed at what you’ll learn when you get quiet and tune in.