Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Stevey Jackson . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Stevey thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I wanna say the biggest risk I’ve ever took was quitting my job months back to pursue my modeling, acting, and social media content creating career full time. The reason why I say this is because, around that time before I quit my job I was having a hard time there. There were some things going on between me and management and it got to a point where it was effecting my work ethic & mental health. As I was contemplating on leaving this job after a incident between me and my ex manager that led me to leave the work place after clocking in for only 2-3 minutes, I was already getting signs from God to leave the job. I was contemplating on leaving because I was making steady income and it was the only way I could pay my bills at that moment. I also felt like I didn’t leave because I was very comfortable on where I was. And even after searching for other jobs prior to being there, things still weren’t working out in my favor. So during that night (same day I got into it with my ex manager), I was chilling with a friend and we were talking about everything that happened. I was very angry and I was really considering on quitting and not coming back into work the next day. In one part of my mind I was thinking on it, and the other part of my mind I was wanting to stay because I was scared of not having money in my pockets. But as soon as I went on TikTok that night, there was a word from God that this person was speaking. And the one thing that stood out to me and gave me confirmation was that the man said “And God is telling me some of you guys need to quit your jobs”. After seeing that me and my friend looked at each other with shock because we were literally just talking about the incident that happened at my job earlier that day. So after seeing that, I decided not to go in the next day. Prior to me not coming in that day they fired me and eventually sent me termination papers. I was pretty worried because I was wondering, what’s next? How will I make money? How will I pay my bills? But the one thing I felt on my spirit to do was to apply for unemployment. I eventually applied and I got accepted! I was very shocked, but I knew that it was God coming in clutch and looking out for me. Ever since I quit my job months back, I have been feeling more free and more rejuvenated than I ever felt before. I could finally have time to create my content, and also take on my modeling and acting career full time. While taking my creativity full time, it gives me more mental freedom/ideas to express myself and be fully who I want to be in the process. As I been fully getting into my career and letting God take full control, I have been granted amazing blessings and opportunities because of my faith and obedience. Opportunities such as being featured and having my very first article written about me with Voyage Minnesota Magazine, amazing brand opportunities such as working with a Christian dating app called Upward for sponsorship, being posted on SpyHouse Coffee’s IG page for a photoshoot I did, and with plenty of more great opportunities and more coming in the near future. What I’ve learned from this is that, faith and obedience in what God tells you can take you farther than you would go if you were to do it all in your own will. God really wants what’s best for us but we tend to be stubborn and think we’re in control all the time, which is not the case. The reason I feel like many times we don’t take that leap of faith is because we’re comfortable and scared of something new because it’s something we’re not used to. But if we just trust in God and take heed to his instructions, we would be surprised on how much better the other side to our situations really are.

Stevey , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Wassup everybody, my name is Stevey Jackson. I’m from Chicago, IL , but been living in Minnesota since I was about seven/eight. When I was young, I always was creative and expressive in my own ways. I used to love dancing and was very inspired by people such as Michael Jackson and Chris Brown. At a very young age as well I always wanted to be an actor and be on TV, so I would ask my mom if I could be on Nickelodeon or Disney Channel, but it never came to fruition. I would later on in life at the age of 15 create my first ever video. At that time there was a dance challenge that was trending and it was called ‘Hit The Quan’ that I hopped on and posted to Facebook. That video would then later blow up and go viral in a span of a day. When all of this happened, I knew that this was something that I really wanted to do to get my foot in the door to reach where I truly wanted to be. During that time there was a trendy app called ‘Musically’ (which is TikTok today) that I started making videos on. My account grew bing on there and accumulated up to 11.2K followers. I was not only posting videos on Musically but started going down the comedic/skit route with my videos on Facebook that would tend to go viral and give me lots of notoriety. As I went on years creating my videos, in 2017 I started my modeling career. I started off my first photoshoots with Minnesota photographer Vasia Johnson. Also leading myself to be signed to Meredith Modeling & Talent Agency in 2018. During that period I experienced homelessness. I would say it was probably one of the most roughest, but most humbling experiences I could have. It not only taught me to not take life for granted, but also that this world could be pretty cruel and hard at times. But I’m glad I went through it, because it made me tougher mentally, physically, and spirituality allowing me to grow better as an individual. I would then later by the grace of God actually find a stable home, and that was my very first apartment in 2019. At this time I was still making my videos, until 2020 when the pandemic hit that literally put the whole world to a stop. During the pandemic I started leading myself more to TikTok, and went to create comedic skits on there and reposting them to my Facebook page. As the pandemic went on that’s when I gave my life to Jesus Christ which changed my life for the better! Before I first gave my life to Christ, it felt like a calling, a supernatural push I’ve never felt before, and I just knew in my spirit to answer the call and fulfill all he had for me. That would not only cause people to see changes not only in my life, but also in my content. I then proceeded to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ on my TikTok page and doing comedic skits involving Christianity which led my account to grow in numerous of ways! My page a year later would accumulate up to 178K followers. With all of this, I’ve gotten the opportunity to work with so many amazing brands, and finally getting paid to make content as well. As my journey with Christ kept pushing forward, I got the opportunity to star on my very first TV show on Snapchat Originals called ‘Reunited’. This show was about people reuniting with their loved ones they haven’t seen in a long time. As I got to reunite with my father, I got to tell my testimony about my life and my homelessness, which put my foot in the door with acting and giving me an amazing chance to tell my story. I believe what sets me apart is the simple fact of just being myself and being true to who I am as an individual. Now a days we live in such a fake and artificial world to the point everybody wants to mimic and be like the next person. But when it comes to me, I’ve come here to inspire, and transform the culture with my art and who I am as a person. I just simply hope people can see my life and say that they could find some to be inspired by when they read and see my actions. The one thing I would say I’m the most proud of was overcoming the ability to stay strong during the toughest seasons of my life. Little did I know if it wasn’t for my Lord and savior Jesus Christ, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I would say I simply am blessed with having the ability to be where I am right now, still be alive, and continuing to do what I love and actually being able to live it out day by day.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Well, not to toot my own horn, I’ve always been a people person and very enjoyable to be around as I been told. I would say by me simply being myself, I would say that I just have that spirit that leads people to gravitate towards me. Growing up I’ve always been goofy. From being a class clown and always being different, weather it was the way I dressed, the way I talked, or the way I presented myself, I always wanting to make people laugh. And with all of that, I just implemented that into my art and it led people towards my content. The advice I would like to give to someone building their social media presence is to completely be true to who you are. When it comes to building your audience, people are looking for authenticity and someone that can be real with them. I would say if your not real to yourself your content won’t be as genuine to the audience. I also wanna say that consistency is important as well. The more you stay consistent the more relevant you become to your audince. If your never consistent or staying true to your craft, you will never see the growth nor the results your truly looking for.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I would say the most rewarding aspect of being an artist/creative is the fact you get to inspire and change the minds and hearts of people around you with just simply your creativity. I know for me, I want to bring more people to Christ by implementing Jesus in everything I love to do, because I feel like everybody needs God in their life to get them through the hardships they face on a daily. Another rewarding aspect is the fact I can be expressive in the way I create my art without worrying about the opinions of others because it’s a way I can be myself and let everything that was bottled in my mind/spirit onto my videos or in any of my photoshoots. I’m very grateful for how far I’ve come with this, and I can’t wait to see where I’ll be in the next couple years.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steveyj32/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/SteveyTV
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@steveyj_32?_t=8W23dzI1UjO&_r=1 Snap Originals ‘Reunited’: https://story.snapchat.com/p/3ba3bada-1d11-4764-962e-0811bf0b0891/3218459012380672?timestamp=8941&chapterid=3218459012382731?share_id=NjdDQTRE&locale=en_US Voyage MN Magazine ‘Hidden Gems’ Story: https://voyageminnesota.com/interview/meet-stevey-jackson-of-edina/?fbclid=IwAR1v6yvmVreUjHRp9ZNSHmwgQOtTaSLh17nEnTnJ8qU4vN9ioKyq_I5ZgCU

Image Credits
Javin Kerf,  Todd Austin, Stevey Jackson, Quinnton Leaks, Greg Thompson lll