We were lucky to catch up with Amal Black recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Amal, thanks for joining 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.
When Covid hit, I was met with the challenge of having to pick up where life had left off. I was working for Kay jewelers at the time and have been working so for a year. I was there after having left teaching for nine years looking for a New start at career and lifestyle. Fuels with the desire of wanting my own time in freedom to become the performer that I desperately urged to become. I was full of hopes and ambitions to find a new territory and was feeling suffocated thus when I got sick with Covid and overcame that I knew it was time to do something Drastic. Especially since the rent was due, I was down to my last $2000 and had no job and needed to figure out what my next move was going to be. I remember getting a text message from my younger brother who has played for the LA Lakers, the final season with Kobe and the Houston Rockets, and since then has been playing overseas. He texted us, letting the family know that he was moving to Dallas. High suddenly the next day see a post from a really good friend of mine in Dallas, who is a Job Recruiter here in the city. He had made a post saying that he is looking to fill a few positions and you didn’t have to have a lot of experience. I saw that is a sheer sign that the divine was trying to nudge me out of my circumstance. So I reached out to my friend applied for the job and did not even have to go through a background check drug screening or really even an interview I was pretty much hired on the spot. After several six hour trips back-and-forth from Memphis to Dallas retrieving my things and situated in my living arrangements in Texas. Now I had realized I had done something very significant. I took a job at a warehouse in order to secure a weekly salary to pay my rent long enough for me to then find a teaching gig that I ended up, holding for two years, which has now moved me into becoming a marketing specialist for a high profile organization, that is allowing for me to flourish and experience the business in a way that I only used to imagine I would be able to. Those jumping out of the box and leaping out of Memphis in faith to a city that I knew nothing about, and had not really ever visited, was a complete act of faith. And I’ve been faithfully walking since, and all has been growing and building ever since. I’m so grateful for having taken that leap of faith because it showed me that you are the catalyst to your transformation and life sometimes has to trigger you to transform. In those transformations, sometimes look like huge leaps of faith.
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.
Hello readers my name is Amal black. I am a savvy marketing specialist by day at the potters house/TD Jakes ministries currently however up until a year and a half ago I was an educator for almost 10 years. I spent majority of that time as a performing arts teacher grades K through 12 within the Shelby county school system back at home. I talk to years for a private institution owned by Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship/Tony Evans’ church.
I am a native of Memphis Tennessee and I am a graduate of Central high school as well as middle Tennessee State University, and I am still seeking my masters at life. I’m actually the first male to graduate in three generations on both sides of my family. I just had a birthday that passed that is very significant for me because it is my 36th birthday which means that I’ve made it over the hump of my 30s. This is land marking for me because coming from where I come from growing up how I have grown up seeing things that I’ve seen and growing through experiences that would shatter most. I have been resilient.
Amal is a storyteller to the core and uses multiple mediums in order to express his love for the arts. I got into the creative world from my launchpad of a high school central high. Go, Warriors! There I began to cultivate my natural nack for expression through theater under the instruction of the passionate Miss Marion Crooks. It was under her encouragement that I set out to compete in my first ever competition, which was the NAACP act so competition and I competed and place that year in the area of playwriting. My script “The Burdens of Melia” had actually won third locally that year. I recall walking into the competition room and being interviewed by the judges about my script and remember leaving the room with them having asked me how a teenager. My age was so pretty to search drama lol . Because the play delved into adult matters such as alcoholism, domestic violence, love, romance, triumph, and tragedy.
However, that year not winning ignited a fire. The following year I came back with a script that to this day I am so hurt that I cannot find a copy of because it actually got me to nationals the following year which was in Milwaukee. And I also got to bring along my family. Ever since I’ve tried to maintain that pride that I see within my relatives, friends, followers, students colleagues who support me.
Fast forward I went on to college and college is we are experienced the freedom of being in my dorm room and being able to invite my friends over for powwows where we would create music, videos, and memories. And that is where my brand Eye’m All Black Studios Inc. I was conceived. I know that the name seems funny. However, it actually is pronounced as you would my real name but is a but is a play on the spelling as to incorporate a key aspect of the branding, which is the “eye”. Which is represented by an eye that is peering into the distance. Suffice it to say everything that I did then in college I knew was going towards my artist development, professional development, and ultimately future development in media. In college, I studied mass communications with a focus in broadcast journalism and a minor in theater. At the time MTSU’s multimedia program was number one in the country.
That being said today, currently as we talk about special projects, I would like to put forth that my website is one of those because it houses not just my products, publications, and services, but the foundation of what will be my future company. Through this company, the dream is to take what I do as a freelancer now offering marketing publishing and notary services to individuals in small businesses and scale it.
On my website, you will run into music from my EP called “Thirty-One” and other tracks. You will also run into my baby, which is the actual publication of the script. I mentioned was my first script, ever competing with called, now, “The Burdens of Melia & The Man”. It is available on Amazon. It’s a bittersweet love story that those who have read the script, read, it are taken by it, and would like to pursue filming it as an episodic. That is in consideration. You’ll also find my most recent publication, which is a representation of my passion for merging music, literature, “Scent-iments”, and fragrances all in one. Available also on Amazon is my, “Make It Linger” Novelty Notepad. This golden sleek, covered table topper is a derivative of what was only supposed to be a song, entitled the same. “Make It Linger” (produced by Leon Richardson who is @SupaProducer901). Talk about a special project one that had a few full circle moments throughout its crafting. One full circle moment that stands out as special is the fact that Leon too is a graduate of Central High School, and is a hometown connection that over the years without being connected, was still maintained through social media, and Music. When I needed a beat, I reached out because I saw a post of Leon’s, and I knew that because of our rapport and our circle in school I could lean into reaching out and trust him throughout the process. Through that we crafted a really nice song for those who can relate to being enchanted by someone’s aroma. Therefore, I would like to say that readers may also just go look me up on YouTube, Amazon or Google, by searching Amal Black. Before warned that I make music for the dancers and the lovers and the 9 to 5ers with an edge lol. Therefore, there’s a multitude of textures you can get out of my catalog. A good one to jam to is my most recent drop, “Up, Down, Do It” or “What You Need” ft. another indie artist and producer from Memphis, Bam Artistic (@Bamartistic on IG).
Lastly, I’d like to mention that I am in now, a film, entitled “Intentions” which is a Gin Blanton of ginger snap productions, film (operating here in Dallas, TX). it is now on Prime Video, Tubi, and more. I am a comic relief in this movie. I play a security guard who is accompanied by his security guard partner. And the scenes are pretty funny.
Acting is a passion of mine, and I hope that you all will continue to follow me and my journey into TV and film. You can also catch me on lifetime’s true crime series, “Text Me When You Get Home.” I was in the season two finale, and our episode covered the Alexis Murphy case.
At the end of this year, you will have a chance to see me in an episodic called “Back to Basics”, written, and directed by Mr. Keenan Vigne of Vigne Productions. This series unfolds on an HBCU campus and follows the lives of a few of the schools students, staff and stakeholders. I play a neurosurgeon who is interested in investing in his alma mater that unbeknownst to him is in crisis.
I look forward to seeing these projects unravel, as well as have hope for readers to find the music, literature services and continent that I have out here published. My goal and dream is to have more engagement on my website www.eyemabsincpublishing.com as I continue to publish more work and increase my own exposure. I myself personally I am another one of my special projects and I am on a continuous mission to develop into someone who is more capable than I was the day before. And I would love to have people be able to speak to the hard work and dedication that I put into the things that I create.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
The struggle of working a 9 to 5 and being an entertainer at heart is plight for the creative. There are a number of sacrifices that come with choosing to maintain the bills and do what is responsible versus doing what is desired. That is especially when speaking of expenses and the projects that you seek to invest in. Not only investing in your projects financially, but in sheer time. Non-creators may not understand the amount of time we spend curating these creations, and that there is value in the skill sets that it takes to do such. Also to that you can be an artist and colorful person while also being very professional and scholarly. These aspects of a person can live within the same vessel. it is good for those who are not living the creators lifestyle to be patient, with artist types, because many of us are holding the keys to a lot of professional solutions. On this journey, I have learned that non-creators speak a different language and a lot of times find Creatives to be inspiring and it is win a non-creative makes a creative feel seen, well interpreted, and appreciated that they get some of the most beautiful, innovative, timeless work out of us creators.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The greatest reward of being an artist or creative, is experiencing other people experiencing your work. There is something cathartic about seeing how people respond to something that you put a lot of expression into. And that is motivating for me. Another is as a marketer seeing your strategies, Bare-fruit, and being able to measure the results of your growth.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.eyemabsincpublishing.com
- Instagram: @eyemabsincpiblishing
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=38423433&mibextid=tPfjzR
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amal-black-581087184?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@amalblack4785?si=axF8Ea8lO3axYEi6
- Other: TIKTOK: @amalblack1