We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Anthony James a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Anthony James thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I don’t have a real story here to be honest, there are always trials and tribulations that come along with any path you choose, i’d say the most important skill for me has been resiliency. With that being said, honestly I wouldn’t change anything that’s happened. I’m sure every obstacle, every struggle, etc has happened as supposed to. My focus and excitement is always around continuing to learn and better myself at what I do. There’s no ceiling with it really, and that excites me. From the time I first started writing, to the time I picked up my grandfather’s guitar, sat at a piano, opened Garageband on my mom’s computer, etc – to now being in much more evolved creative settings, it’s been a really beautiful journey to grow in my skillset, and to grow in love with the craft even deeper. I’m grateful for what’s happened already, and excited to continue down that path.

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.

Standing where I am today I’d say comes from a combination of a few things. The fact that I have developed an obsessive work ethic through my athletic background, consistency that I learned pushing through my tougher experiences, and I think lastly just the fact that I truly love what I do. I love creating in as raw, & as genuine of forms as possible. I feel most in tune with myself, my soul and my purpose when i’m doing so. It never gets old.

I’m sure there are others in my space that possess these same qualities, and I want to give love to my peers and colleagues who are on the same journey with the same drive, passion and skillset. I’m pulling for their success as much as my own.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

For those who don’t know, I was fortunate enough to be a high-level basketball player for a long time, and played collegiately until I was 23 years old. Been eating, breathing and sleeping the game since my literal conception. Couldn’t get away from the game even if I wanted to.

With that being said, as i’m sure you can imagine, i’m an incredibly competitive person. I like winning.

In basketball, when you don’t win, or somebody else wins, it means you lost. Its win or lose, no inbetween. As I ventured into the music industry, I learned that its different here. If I don’t win right away, it doesn’t mean I lost. If somebody else wins, it doesn’t mean I lost. In fact, multiple people can win at the same time in this sport. My colleagues can be my competition and my teammates at the same time, which is really cool. Iron sharpens iron, I can maintain a competitive relationship, while also making it easier to be so genuinely happy watching those around me win. And that’s really cool honestly.

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

Honestly, i’m in no position to be giving advice on media presence/how to build a platform, as my platform is still relatively small. I’m still learning myself.

But if there’s anything I would say, its not to let that metric be your north star. Don’t lose yourself in that, your craft should always be the top priority. It truly is the most important thing at the end of the day.

Don’t worry too much about a lack of presence, or if there’s not the feedback you want from them. Become great at what you do, and eventually everybody else will catch up.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/anthonyj4mes?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@anthonyjames1966?si=5sdUoLOHlGQeY-Mi
• Other: TikTok – 95ajames

Image Credits
Ben Briz Tyler Winn Justin Westphal (JayWestFilms)