Check Out Jaedon Rooney’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jaedon Rooney.

Hi Jaedon , thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Growing up in an industry family there are certain standards that everyone expects you to either do or fail at achieving. Once I hit middle school I started to fall in love the industry and the inner works of everything. So I began working shooting some behind the scenes with people like A listers from Brandy and J-Lo to local people that just needed something filmed. I wanted to do anything that can just put me behind a camera. Then one day it clicked that my love wasn’t just filming but telling a story that is when everything began to flip upside down for me. I always had been an avid manga reader but I’d never believe I would be making my own one day…well until I did. One of the main inspirations that led me to write my story Zala The Cursed was actually when I watched the show One Piece. I remember watching that for the first time and I just couldn’t stop it was like a drug to me, I kept just clicking next episode over and over again till I had realized I binged the whole thing through my whole Junior and Senior years of high school. When I had seen Eiichiro Oda achieve making one single story that just carried so much weight through culture and society I knew that is exactly the thing I have to at least try to achieve. I started writing as soon as I got out of my Senior year in high school “building the world” is what I had called it back then but it was my excuse to just keep watching more and more anime learning new writing strategies. My parents believed I was locking myself in my room just being a weird kid not socializing but I really just enjoyed escaping to all of these new worlds like Konaha or Soul Society. For me watching these shows were the best education I could ever get because Constantly on the edge of my seat I’m learning more and more about this craft that I love. After that day I began my journey on creating my story Zala The Cursed, touring around from convention and convention to show the world my story.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
As I tell my life story a lot of people assume it was a simple journey that I had to take on by myself, but my way was rather inconventional. For the longer side of my life to be able to learn my craft and work in the fields that I do, I had to isolate myself for so long. I taught myself independence because for so long rather than going out with friends or doing anything distracting I always found the most peace by myself working. My own isolation also comes with a lot of self doubt it’s a hard thing having to wake up and motivate yourself to do such simple things but in the end being your biggest hype man is the best gift you can give yourself. Growing up as I did it always left me in a sort of bind because I went to a Private school named Friends Academy in New York, then went to a public school in Los Angeles. Being from both worlds I was always stuck with either being too white or too black. So when I was younger I was never really accepted into any group specifically. I struggled to really find my own lane because I was such a strange kid, I mean I wore costumes when it wasn’t even halloween. I just became obsessed with escaping to a new world that wasn’t this one. So my imagination grew and I found my escape in other art forms especially writing. Not being able to fit into any crowd was something that was a blessing and a curse because in the end I was able to learn things about both crowds. In a way it made me almost bilingual in both crowds interest. It is a shame that there are seperate interests and lifestyles but I had to learn that quickly when I was younger. One distinct thing that I remember from when I was younger in New York had to be when it was halloween, I wore a spiderman costume and thought I looked so cool, but some kid kept telling me that I am unable to be spiderman because I was black (this was before Miles Morales) and it made me realize that racism isn’t as agressive as it was in the past but it is still there, it is just hidden now. Hidden behind so many forms and I hope to break those barriers on my journey.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have done a lot of things on my artistic journey, I started as an editor, developed my own manga, and then created my own rap label in a branch label from Warner Bros. There are other things that I’ve done in between but these are what I am most proud of. At the beginning I learned editing in my film class in high school and was able to turn it into a business. I learned about all the nooks and crannies of the editing software Davinci Resolve and decided to start hustling taking on random editing gigs left and right to get some pocket change. Then from there I became obsessed with each part of filmmaking even more, I thought it was a love for directing (just like everyone else in the world) but instead I learned that I just absolutely love story telling more than anything. That specific love brought me to just writing random stories and ideas constantly on a day to day basis which led me to finally write the story Zala The Cursed. Writing that was the deepest I’ve ever gone for any type of work I’ve done even till this day. Zala is the story that I am most known for because I have been showing this book at conventions and sold out, along with designing my own clothing for the brand. My biggest strength to me rather than saying writing specifically would actually have to be my imagination, I believe what is inside my brain can never be replicated. Then as I made my manga I learned about this connection between rap and my culture with anime and how deep rooted it goes. So I started going around Los Angeles making my name meeting young talented artists and producers building a new path to connect these worlds. One day I was lucky enough to develop something everyone became interested in called Lythium. Once I made that label I learned just how far you can go with just an idea and how you can make the world and everyone believe in what you believe as long as you stay strong on it. While the label was a big achievement for me, still my most proud moment would still have to be creating Zala The Cursed. The reason being is because I really created that from ground zero, from the sketches, to story, to world building. I’ve developed every single small piece of Zala The Cursed. The story of Zala is something that can’t be repeated or made by anyone else because of all of the specifics that I made and in a way it is a bible of my life and my own journey…Just in a very blown up anime form. The story is something I’ve spent years in developing a private wiki page about and I wrote about 150 full books on. So I believe that is always going to be what I am most proud of. The weird thing is even though I wrote so many pages I still believe that the biggest thing that sets me apart from everyone is my will and my goals. If I want to do anything I will do it, and there is not a thing that will stop me.

What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
One of the most important lesson that I have learned is that sometimes you cannot control life. As much as it can be good it can always be bad too, and sometimes it can get even worse. While it can get so much worse you can’t give up because if you give up on what you want then there is no telling what you could have done. I always believe that it gets really bad before it gets good in life. That is the biggest test so sometimes you have to stay on what you believe and keep pushing.

Pricing:

• Manga: $10

Image Credits
Photography on 1st and 4th – Xavier Luggage
Photography on 2nd – Olivia Wright