Today we’d like to introduce you to JJ Harris.
JJ, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
From a young age, I felt silenced – an underlying feeling that my voice in society was not valued. Without knowing this or understanding what I was feeling, I developed a drive to break from this because I felt like I had something important to say. So growing up in Chicago, where I was being pushed towards going to college, getting the job, the family, the house etc, I knew there was more. And when I discovered art (producing hip hop at the time), I thought maybe that was my ticket to break out of the system and to be heard. I was right.
Fast forward several years struggling to make it in the industry, performing at local shows in Chicago, and putting out music on MySpace. I made my first video with my pocket camera and a Blackberry phone. That video went viral locally and opened me up to the power of video. Around that time, my hiphop group dissolved from communication issues, I decided I wanted to start over and really lean into my art. I ended up moving in with a college roommate who moved to San Francisco, bringing my newly purchased DSLR, which never left my side.
I worked in Sales and Recruiting by day, but my nights were completely consumed with photography and filmmaking. I struggled to balance both for a few years until I made the leap and quit my day job to pursue media full-time. It took maybe four years of hustling and honing my craft before I began landing major clients. Focusing on documenting events centered around Diversity and Inclusion and people who are disenfranchised. Now I produce a mixture of commercial video, web doc, and social content for myself and for clients. Some of my recent work centered around Black Lives Matter has been shared over 100k times across social platforms and has been featured in major publications.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s been far from smooth for me. I never had much support from my family in pursuing my passions, as it is not common where I’m from to go into media. But I persevered and did what I felt would have the biggest impact in the world. Probably my biggest struggle was when I was maybe a year and a half after I went full-time into filmmaking/photography. I did not yet have regular clients. I cashed out my 401k a few years back and I was basically staying afloat on credit cards.
I remember I rented a camera to shoot a pilot for a web series, and the client was supposed to pay me in cash that day. When I got to the shoot, they said they would have to pay me next week, which is no good because my bank account was running really low. I returned the camera, and when I tried to get on the train to get over the bridge from SF to Oakland, I realized I didn’t have enough money to even get home!
It was my biggest fear at the time of going broke, and I reached that place. But it strangely wasn’t as scary as I always made it out to be in my head. I ended up walking to a friend’s bar and he lent me a few hundred to got me through. A week after that, I landed my biggest contract I ever got up until that point, and business has been flourishing ever since
Techboogie Media – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My company Techboogie Media is a media production firm based in Oakland, focused on inclusive stories that uplift those disenfranchised in visual media. We’ve been around for nine years and have evolved from capturing events in the social justice and tech spaces to producing commercial, web documentary, and social content for many local and major brands.
As a black-owned media house, there are not many others that can provide the level of thoughtful and intentional storytelling centered around black and brown individuals that we can. Recent work we’ve created centered around Black Lives Matter has gone viral and shared over 100k times across various platforms.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
The characteristic that has been most important to my success is my willingness to dig deep to overcome my fears and shortcomings. We all have blind spots and ways we self-sabotage. I realized that if I didn’t deal with my shortcomings, I would never reach the level I want to achieve in my business and life. So my consistent drive to face my fears and uncover my deepest truths is what keeps me elevating.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://techboogie.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/techboogie
- Other: http://linkedin.com/in/techboogie
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