We recently connected with Chris Brown and have shared our conversation below.

Chris, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I’ve always believed that successful can only be measured by the individual seeking it. Remaining authentic throughout your successes is extremely valuable. I feel the most important success behind any brand is trying true to your gut. Stay the course with your vision. A creative starts at the bottom of a circle, gains experience and moves through an education of their craft. It’s when you move beyond that and start going back down the circle, forgetting everything that you’ve learned, that you come back to a place where you’re trusting your instincts, and your unconscious voice.

Chris, 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?

While growing up in the ’60s, there were three forms of media available for experiencing the world outside of a small town in southeast Texas: television, radio, and – most influential for myself – print. Television gave me vivid memories of events such as the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show, the Vietnam war, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the debut of “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, and the first humans on the moon. Radio gave me Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, the Rolling Stones, and The Byrds. But it was LIFE, the weekly magazine notable for the quality of its photography, that set me on a path to publishing Refueled.

At eight years old, I created a magazine titled “TEJAS”; My intent was to mix the counterculture shift I saw happening around me with the humor and rebellion of MAD magazine. I hand-drew all of the covers and inside pages, wrote articles about folks (especially young hippies) in and around the neighborhood, and developed a comic strip; I then sold that eight-and-a-half by eleven-inch stapled sheets of typing paper to kids for ten cents. After my best friend saw the money I was making, he started his own magazine and we became this little community of self-publishers. I was hooked, and have been (quite often told) a little ahead of my time.

Refueled is really based on three things: community, heritage, and discovery. Most of the people that surround me are creatives – artist, musicians, actors, photographers, makers. My friends alone give me access to amazing content and inspiration. I strongly believe in cultivating and supporting a creative community. Collaborating and bouncing ideas off of others is very important to me and what I create – whether it’s art, a magazine, or books.

As mentioned, the era in which I grew up in was pivotal to not only the magazine but a great deal of my life as well; injecting my heritage and influences into the look and feel of Refueled is never intentional but always evident. I love when a friend introduces me to an album I haven’t heard, a restaurant I haven’t eaten at; I love discovering a copy of Kerouac’s “On the Road” with a cover I’ve never seen before. Those are exciting moments and drives a lot of what I do.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

This has always been a difficult question to answer, though asked many times. My answer has remained – be yourself. Share who you are, what shaped you, what inspires you. Tell those stories from within you and you will find your audience.

I am very in tune with my feelings and surroundings. I truly believe I was born a sensitive person for the sole purpose of creating; I absorb things differently than most people I know. I see beauty in the smallest things…in the strangest places. I cry at the simplest moments: the bark of a tree, a lyric, the smell of a campfire, or the perfect faded color of red. I store all these things away and access them at the appropriate time – consciously or not.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Passion for stories, passion for inspiring people and passion for sharing.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.refueledmagazine.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/refueledmagazine

Image Credits
Portrait of Chris Brown by Steven Visneau