Xenia Marie Ross Viray: Following an Uncharted Path
The journey of a creative or a visionary is rarely a straight line. It’s more often a series of pivots, leaps of faith, and a relentless commitment to a vision that moves you.
In Sacred Hive’s MUSES, we sit down with creatives and visionaries from around the world who have inspired us with their unique spark and creative path. Admiring the way they’ve found their gifts and how to utilize them in the world, we can’t wait to share their stories with you to inspire new ideas, dreams, and ways of being.
Transitioning from a structured career to the unpredictable world of independent creative work is rarely a linear path; it is an evolution defined by pivots, leaps of faith, and the courage to dismantle the illusion of safety. In this first installment of MUSES, we sit down with Hephzibah Oyibo, the visionary behind Hephzibah Studios. A creative strategist whose work sits at the vital intersection of aesthetics and analytics, Hephzibah helps brands "show rather than tell" their story. From navigating the aftermath of a layoff to mastering the art of the of a whisper calling towards her own path, she shares how she traded perfectionism for action and built a practice rooted in consistency, intuition, and a deep understanding of the modern marketing landscape.
Xenia, welcome! Excited to chat with you. How would you describe what you do + who you work with/ideal audience?
My work is a lot like my namesake - Xenia, which means kindness to strangers, because they may be the divine in disguise. I have a passion and gift for seeing people's creative gifts through Human Design, astrology, and claircognizant channeling. I help sensitive creatives understand how to express their gifts and help bring their creative visions to life.
I am a passionate connector of ideas, worlds, and schools of thought that are separated by normative culture. My greatest art is creating containers of cross-pollination that offer much-needed space for authenticity, emotion, expansion, and wonder - all in service to activating my clients' magic and agency. No title described what I do, so I created one: Imagination Healer. All of my work endeavors to normalize telling the truth about the experience of being human.
How did you get here/what led you to this work?
I probably have one of the most non-linear paths of anyone I know.
When I was a teenager, I either wanted to be a writer or a scientist, and deciding between the two plagued me for years. I chose to study multidisciplinary writing in college and arrived in New York two weeks before 9/11. It feels important to mention that, because I consistently find myself at the locus point of world-changing occurrences like this.
I graduated three years before the financial crash of 2008, so I became an adult in a very unstable environment. I gravitated towards early internet companies and small neighborhood businesses, often run in a very DIY way by a married couple or a few friends.
Maybe this will give you a sense of my non-traditional path: I worked transcribing Houdini's letters for a book about Houdini's involvement in the CIA, was hired by a company that streamed music to hotels before streaming services existed, and worked at one of the most respected and first online fashion magazines in New York before people knew what an online magazine was. I have always been early; most of the jobs I got hired to do had no operations manual because I was the first one to do them.
After watching other people run their own businesses, it became apparent to me that entrepreneurial people are mostly making it up as they go along. This demystification of what it means to "own a business" encouraged me to strike out on my own.
In New York, I kept being offered jobs in fashion, despite having zero education in that area; I just used pure instinct. That was a teaching in itself. One thing led to another, and I opened a brick-and-mortar store in 2015 called Myths of Creation. A year into running my clothing business, I had a reality-shifting psychic reading and soon adapted the shop to include astrology readings, workshops for empaths, and all kinds of experimental things at the intersection of spirituality and creativity.
I closed my brick-and-mortar business in December of 2019, just before lockdown. The timing in my life has always been surreal. I used that downtime to sink further into studying Human Design and to develop my own body of work to support creative, multipassionate, and enterprising folks. Around this time, I stopped chasing after things and learned that following what I love always leads me to where I am meant to be. I started experimenting with offerings to help people think for themselves and to take creative risks, and open their minds to what is possible, and I've been doing this ever since.
What gifts or skills did you realize you possessed that uniquely positioned you to do this kind of work?
I have always been deeply empathic and intuitive. I grew up with constantly-changing configurations of extended family in a mostly white neighborhood as a Filipino immigrant. Having a different culture at home and at school really helped me understand how made-up and negotiable norms are early on in life. So I learned to meet many people where they are, and how to discern what is going on on an emotional level at a very young age.
I could see early on that cultural context and meaning are fluid. That belonging means different things to different people. This made me more comfortable living outside an easily explained identity or career.
Since I was very little, I was endlessly curious and experimental. Whenever I learned something in one subject, I wanted to know how that translated or connected to real-life experience. What I observed was that most of what I learned in school wasn't actually usable or actionable in real life. This helped me hone my ability to see the world through my own eyes, instead of conceptualizing intelligence as rote memorization.
I was also always very good at learning systems and spotting patterns. When I combine this love of synthesis with my sensitivity, adaptability, and a preference for originality, it makes me suited to take unknown paths, which in turn, equipped me to be an astute guide for people creating in an unknown world.
“No title described what I do, so I created one: Imagination Healer. All of my work endeavors to normalize telling the truth about the experience of being human.”
What are you currently learning on your freelance journey?
It’s easy to get caught up in perfectionism, but many times the most powerful thing to do is just commit and act.
What is your creative process?
I do morning pages most mornings, and I think that really helps clear space and allow insights to emerge. Achieving this state will differ for everyone, but being calm has been the best way to access my creativity. Some days that is a walk, yoga, or journaling - but whatever will ground me is typically the best way to allow my creativity to emerge.
How do you source inspiration?
I have to leave things alone and go do something else. Ideally, something completely unrelated to whatever I’m struggling with.
What is something the creative process has taught you, or something you've learned about the creative process?
Creativity is neither something to force at will, nor is it some sporadic evasive thing. It’s always there, but we have to create the right conditions for it to emerge. I think that’s the key to more consistent creativity.
What are you paying attention to when conducting client work or creating a campaign? What informs your work? or where are clients typically at in their journey when they're ready to come to you?
Clients typically have a healthy level of brand awareness and an organic following and want to take that to the next level. The brands I’ve seen be most successful with performance marketing already have a loyal client base (regardless of size), and they are willing to experiment. I’m also paying attention to a client’s openness and receptivity in the process because the most successful relationships are with people who see that the relationship between performance marketing and the rest of the business is symbiotic, rather than treating it as a magic (and immediate) fix.
“Creativity is neither something to force at will, nor is it some sporadic evasive thing. It’s always there, but we have to create the right conditions for it to emerge.”
What do you feel is the unique gift or lens you bring to your clients and in your work?
I’ve worked with numerous brands at different stages of growth, different budgets, different audiences. I know what variables consistently lead to success, and my skillset sitting at the intersection of creative and analytics means my creative direction always has a very clear why.
Are there any predictions you have around how the ad or marketing space might change in 2026? Any advice for business owners or creatives this year in growing their business?
I think we’ll see even more of a rise in experiential marketing. Ads won’t solely be used for getting people to purchase; we’ll start to see an increase in brand storytelling and teaching the audience for those willing to play the long game.
How do you personally measure success in your business and creative work?
Fulfilling work is collaborative work and work with clear learnings. We can’t always control how things will perform, but if we set things up in the right way, we can ensure that, regardless of the outcome, we learn something that will help us for future projects (at the very least). Exceeding revenue and ROAS goals are very nice to have.
Rapid Fire!
SUN, MOON + RISING? Virgo Sun, Pisces Moon, Taurus Rising!
DEFINE YOUR CREATIVE SPIRIT IN 3 WORDS. Multidisciplinary, Experimental, Intuitive.
CURRENTLY OBSESSED WITH… Functional spirits. I’m especially obsessed with Aplos - it’s nice to have options that taste good, are pretty healthy, and also help take the edge off.
READING, LISTENING, WATCHING? I know I’m late to the party, but Scandal…I love drama and mess, just not in my personal life, so we love healthy escapism.
ONE PHYSICAL OR DIGITAL TOOL YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT? Physical: I’d lose my mind without my journal, digital: Pinterest. It’s truly my favourite social media.
ONE SENTENCE, OR LESS, ADVICE FOR OUR READERS. This is heavily influenced by The Artist’s Way, but start asking yourself how you can accomplish what you want, rather than whether you can.