“Growth for growth’s sake is just ego,” she says. “I’d rather be excellent for a few than mediocre for many.”
“Everyone wants to be on stage,” she says. “I wanted to know who built the stage, who wired the lights, who made sure the doors stayed open.”
Her signature framework, which she calls compares a creative career to an old-growth forest: invisible connections underground determine how high the visible tree can rise. She spends as much time discussing a client’s sleep habits and personal debt as their marketing funnel. mya hillcrest
That attention to infrastructure paid off. At 26, she launched , a strategic consultancy that serves independent creators, family-owned vineyards, and off-Broadway producers. Her clients describe her as a “human Swiss Army knife”—part operations director, part creative confidant, part financial therapist.
That philosophy has defined her unconventional trajectory. After graduating with honors from the University of Virginia’s School of Commerce, she turned down three Wall Street offers. Instead, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, with $4,000 and a leather-bound notebook. For two years, Hillcrest worked behind the scenes at a boutique artist management firm, organizing tour logistics and reconciling royalty statements. She wasn’t chasing fame—she was learning the architecture of creative business. “Growth for growth’s sake is just ego,” she says
“Mya sees the third act when everyone else is still stuck on the first page,” says novelist Elena Cruz, a client of four years. “She doesn’t tell you what you want to hear. She tells you what your spreadsheet is afraid to say.” What makes Hillcrest distinctive is her refusal to scale. While other consultants chase viral fame, she caps her client roster at twelve at any given time. She still answers her own emails. She still reconciles her own books.
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But if history is any guide, you’ll be hearing about what she built long after she’s gone. advises creators and founders via her boutique firm, Hillcrest Advisory. She lives between Richmond, Virginia, and the Shenandoah Valley.