Hillcrest | Mya

“I’m not anti-social media,” she clarifies. “I’m anti- performance . There’s a difference between sharing your work and performing your life. One builds connection. The other just burns attention.” In a culture obsessed with the front of the house—the awards, the announcements, the applause—Mya Hillcrest has built a remarkable career by falling in love with the kitchen. The mise en place. The prep work. The quiet Tuesday afternoons when no one is watching.

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. mya hillcrest

She has no publicist. No TikTok. No Instagram grid curated by a team. “I’m not anti-social media,” she clarifies

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. One builds connection

“I was taught that if you’re going to build something—whether it’s a bridge or a career—you start with the foundation no one sees,” Hillcrest tells me over tea at a quiet bookstore café in Richmond. She dresses in understated neutrals, her only jewelry a thin gold bracelet engraved with coordinates pointing to her childhood home.