We recently connected with Grady Olson and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Grady thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about the best boss, mentor, or leader you’ve ever worked with.

I have two, both my current bosses, Erik Gonzalez my Creative Director at Media.Monks and Victor Gonzalez who founded Gross Magazine, not related at all but both first generation mexican-americans. They both found me when I was still unsure how to navigate with who I was and how to express myself. But they saw something in me that I didn’t know I had yet. Most importantly they saw who I was and could be. They allowed but also really pushed me to just be as open and myself as I can. Both helping shape me as a human being and working artist. They trust me with what I think and really challenge me to think bigger. I honestly don’t know where I’d be without them, probably back living and working on this avocado ranch I used to work on writing poems for myself, smoking cigs, and mad at the world.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Well, I’m the Managing Editor of Gross Magazine, Creative Copywriter for Media.Monks, freelance write for other publications, as well as a poet and short fiction writer. I started getting published for my writing when I was an avocado ranch hand in Santa Barbara. I moved there and was studying poetry at the city college after dropping out of University of Montana on scholarship It taught me a lot. I just knew I wanted to write, I loved writing and creating. I never looked at it like a career really though, I was making good money at the ranch, then I’d bartend some nights, and then get published down in LA sometimes. Surf sometimes too when it was good. I thought that was living. Which I guess was. Once I moved to San Francisco to finish school was when I realized “oh, this is not like what I dreamed, there are so many great writers out there.” So I just had to find my voice and how to separate yourself from someone else. I got linked up with Gross Magazine and Vic through some friends and actually moved in with them off the bat. We ran the mag out of our house in the Outer Sunset for a while, it was wild. From there, I just started taking gigs wherever I could find them. For free, for 20 bucks, whatever. But always be a good person to have around, to be able to converse with everyone. I realized at an early age that regardless of the work or the project, at the end of the day, everyone is just another person that is doing a job. I think Gross Magazine and how we started in our garage in the Outer Sunset in SF shows that.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Get out and go to their shows. See their concerts, buy their merch, tell a friend. Spend the little extra money in buying their work, or jeez even just a follow and subscribe would be nice in today’s world. Not all art is this super expensive thing that only the rich have in their mansions. There’s so many gifted, working artists that are just trying to make a living and get by creating things they love. I know it’s so easy just ordering something you see online from a big company but just that little extra goes a long way.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I wouldn’t say I have one particular goal but I guess the summary of all of them that you could blanket is just try to spread the beauty of this crazy world, to try and answer that question we’re all looking for, that shared uncertainty which builds an artistic community. To help all these amazing artists and musicians and creatives to be able to show their work to the masses, so people can feel something.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.grossmag.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gross_mag/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grady-olson-375917140/
• Other: https://gradyolson.com/