We recently connected with Alex Conover and have shared our conversation below.

Alex, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I used to work full-time at a start-up soap company where I ran the social media and did a lot of photography/design. It was ok, but I wasn’t especially passionate about soap or what we were doing. I looked around a lot for a new opportunity creating content, and had a very discouraging second-place finish with a dream job opening.

So I decided, two weeks before the school year started, to accept a position teaching digital video and design at Patrick Henry High School in North Minneapolis, the toughest part of the city. I worked in a school media center for a few years during grad school, but this was my first time running a classroom by myself. I remember thinking, “this is either going to go really well, or really badly.”

The obstacles were plentiful. Mainly, the only cameras that we were provided for 120 kids trying to learn video shooting/editing were these crappy, basic DSLRs from about 2006. Our district is notoriously underfunded, and many of our students have to learn with textbooks that have split in half and are taped together. The lack of resources is compounded by the challenges at home that many of our students face, including neighborhood gun violence, homelessness, hunger, lifelong trauma, and more. Now layer THAT with the COVID-19 pandemic and the riots in our very city following George Floyd’s murder by police. I’m confident that I started teaching during one of the most difficult times in American history, with resources that were far below acceptable.

It’s easy to focus on the challenges, but the bright spots stand out to me as well. I was mentored by a longtime career tech teacher, Dave Sylvestre, who was incredibly kind and welcoming. My principal, Yusuf Abdullah, was the best leader I could imagine for us during this time. He was a positive, focused, people-person leader who helped me immensely as I started out blindly in a new profession. And the students, they gave me energy every day. It was easy to be inspired by these driven young people who were hungry to learn, even during online pandemic class.

And as far as the lack of resources, we managed to raise roughly $10,000 from the community and my personal networks to help us buy four high-level cameras for classroom learning. It’s not enough, but we’re getting there.

The question of the career move going “really well or really badly” turned out to be answered as… it’s a good fit! Classroom management came along. Online learning ended, we got back into the classroom, and I now feel very comfortable with my teaching and curriculum in my fourth year. The fit is even better when you consider the fact that teaching allows me to still maintain a robust freelance practice in Minneapolis photography and design. The school day is over at 3:10 p.m. and we have summers off, so I am able to take on many projects and earn supplemental income through weddings, basketball coverage, senior photos, event photography and more.

I tell my students about the benefits of this combination all the time. I enjoy the reliability of a teaching salary and insurance along with the personal rewards that a career working with young people provides. I then get to take on freelance projects as I please, knowing that I don’t *need* to take any gig I don’t like.

Alex, 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?

For freelance creative, I do the majority of my work with photography and graphic design. I do a lot of basketball, live music, senior photos, some weddings.

My full-time job is teaching photography/video/graphic design at an underfunded, city public school. It’s a rewarding job that comes with a lot of challenges as well.

I tell my students all the time that this is a great situation, since I can maintain a very steady paycheck while pursuing freelance on the side and in the summer.

At the end of the day, I need something where I feel like I’m contributing to making society better in some way. I usually leave work feeling fulfilled, and I’m really proud of the work I do there. Half the time it’s not even about teaching my subject — it’s something else that my students need, like confidence-building, affirmation, guidance, etc. Knowing that I’m helping in that way helps me split off in my free time and pursue relatively superficial things and endeavors.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I worked in the NBA for two seasons, from 2011-2013. It was always my major career goal to be a sportswriter, and I got an interview through an alumnus connection from my small college. I’m forever grateful for that assist, because it launched a lot of opportunities for me. Just having “Minnesota Timberwolves” on my resume was a big talking point during interviews.

I ran social media (just Facebook/Twitter back then) my first season, and I switched to writing for the website in my second season. I had lots of memorable conversations with guys like Ricky Rubio, Dwight Howard, James Harden, Jeremy Lin and more. I got to ask Kobe a question during a post-game interview, and I snuck a photo that is of course even more meaningful since his death.

But the absolute dealbreaker with this job was that it paid minimum wage and had no benefits. It was some sort of league-wide position that they absolutely would not budge on. I even offered to work two of the jobs (80 hrs combined) just to get 15-something an hour. I was up for a promotion but lost out on it, something that still bothers me. Nothing else opened up locally, and I had to move on from working in sports.

I had two jobs after the NBA stint that were completely uninspired writing jobs. I got laid off from both of them. The first one was a 3-month contract where I failed to meet my story quotas (blogging for clients in pesticide and landscaping), and they closed shop later that year. The second one was a communications manager position with my alma mater where I was like the 10th choice for the job, but all the other candidates rejected the super-low salary. It was a bad experience with my supervisors, and my contract wasn’t renewed.

I cried in my car after that one. I felt like a big failure after getting forced out of three jobs and failing to capitalize on the NBA opportunity. Somebody even asked me around that time, “what happened” to my career, which was an awful thing to hear. I was around 26 or so, but I felt washed up.

Two things happened then — I started moving in two different, new directions professionally, and I think they were both great choices. I went back to school to start my MA in Graphic Design while also pursuing my photography on the side, and I got a job working in the media center at Minneapolis Washburn High School. Those were the first steps towards the professional life I lead now, and it’s one that I live with mostly pride, fulfillment and satisfaction.

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

I think I can answer this for both my creative work and teaching.

Creatively, I really value being able to pick and choose only side projects that interest me or are worth it to me. I know that if I were full-time, I would likely be taking on freelance gigs that are boring but pay the bills (one time I shot photos at a random kindergarten graduation). The bulk of my photography these days is live basketball and music concerts, two things I enjoy immensely.

With teaching design/photo/video to high school students, my full-time job, almost every day is rewarding. Sometimes I think about how I might be the only person that day to say hi to a certain student. I get energy from socializing, and teaching is the perfect job for that. I’m able to greet 100+ students into my room each day, and I take pride in making my space welcoming, calming and hopefully inspiring.

I’m in my fourth year teaching, but already so much has happened. I’ve raised thousands of dollars for sneakers for students and classroom technology — I have to thank my social media networks for their incredible generosity. One Christmas we bought a bunch of grocery gift cards and distributed them to families in need through social workers. I have a student with a bullet still lodged in his leg, and last year I had two different students with visible face scars from bullets. A former student died in a drive-by shooting last year, and I have to pass that location every day on the way to work, which can be emotional for me. Stuff is just heavier here in a lot of ways, but I leave work daily knowing that I contributed to the community and helped some kids get closer to graduation. I really value that, and I’m honored to work at this school.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.alex-conover.com
• Instagram: @alexcono
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/alex_cono

Image Credits
Brent Snyder took my main photo, I took the rest.