We were lucky to catch up with Ashlee Haze recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Ashlee, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I knew I wanted to pursue this as a career when a celebrity literally knocked on my door. I performed a poem some months prior called “For Colored Girls (The Missy Elliott Poem)” and it was my first instance in going “viral” for a filmed performance. I got a DM from Missy’s Twitter account asking for my address because she wanted to “send me something.” After weighing the options of sending my address over twitter or possibly missing out on (what I thought would be) an Edible Arrangement from Missy’s Management, I decided “why not.”
The Next day, I’m watching Jeopardy and I get a knock at the front door and it is Missy standing on my front porch with a Corvette behind her. After I close the door for pure panic, I invite her in and we talk for about an hour about craft and about her legendary career.
Shortly after, the press started calling and I was getting calls from major publications while at my desk job. I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to ignore the demand for more art too much longer. So at the age of 26, I “retired” from my day job and made the jump to be a full- time artist. It’s been 7 years and I haven’t looked back.
I also never did get that edible arrangement I was expecting.
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.
I’m Ashlee Haze and I’m a poet, spoken word artist & media producer from Atlanta by way of Chicago. I started my career by entering local competitions as a teenager and spent over 10 year competing locally and Nationally. After my poem “For Colored Girls who Don’t Need Katy Perry when Missy Elliott is Enough” went viral, Missy Elliott was so moved she showed up my house! Since then I’ve toured and performed over 300 shows, I’ve appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk Series alongside Blood Orange, published a book, started a media production company and launched a podcast. I’m the host of Moderne Philosophy, an educational podcast for creatives. My sophomore book “Smoke” was released April 20, 2020.
In March 2020, I got the dreaded call that all remaining tour dates had been canceled. Suddenly left with stories to tell, and no stages to tell them on, I began to think about ways to create art even if she didn’t have a live audience. Along with my friend and business partner, Mr. Louis Studios, I decided to shift my method of storytelling.
We have since created a series of products that showcase the power of creative storytelling, including a virtual production of my 1-hour special “SMOKE,” our first documentary “Poets for the Revolution (a poetic protest),” and our ongoing passion project, the Moderne Philosophy Podcast. After a while, we realized that PMG was not just a temporary solution, but an opportunity to create sustainability in production beyond the stage. Since then, I’ve teamed up with artists all over the south to create innovative marketing media for corporations and small businesses alike. Specializing in voice art, journalism, and copywriting, I spend my time finding ways to tell the stories not often told. With a background in procurement & accounting, I serve as a consultant to small creative business and offer clients a professional experience from concept to completion. PMG exists to merge production with philosophy, with a mission to create quality work using ethical practices to change the world, one word at a time.
I earned my B.A. in Philosophy from Georgia State University and named my company after the field of study I have loved for years. In 2023, I was awarded a Silver Telly Award for Copywriting and Voiceover for my work on the TV One Urban Honors Rollout campaign. I am currently working on my next album, short film, and manuscript all eponymously titled “KIERA.”
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My mission is to increase representation of creatives of color form the South in Media production and to do so with a foundation of love-based ethics and authenticity. Art can be highly political, and art until recent history was largely reflective of the lived experiences of white, hetero, Christian audiences. It became important to me that more diverse stories be told and to be done so with intention and care. Sure, it’s one thing to cast a diverse character or write one into a story, it’s another to do so with intention and care to the communities they represent. When I write a poem, a commercial, a podcast, an episode, etc I am constantly thinking about if these stories accurately reflect the experiences of the people I’m in community with and how telling this story might impact the audiences perception of my community. It is important to me that my stories regarding people like myself center generous assumptions and are rooted in care. It is important for me to write what is authentic and not what is expected or diluted for an audience’s comfort.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Society can treat art as a viable career path, in the way that STEM, Business, Law, and Medical fields are regarded. Art is always treated as the hobby that can only become a career for the lucky few. Arts programs are the last to be developed and the first to get cut. If society invested in art as business education, I believe creates would have more viable options than the traditional “Feast or Famine.” I live in GA which ranks about 48th out of 50 states for allocated arts funding. That means a full time artist here will likely not make a decent living in their home state. That’s why I tour and made the entry into advertising- I had to in order to maintain art as a career.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ashleehaze.com, www.philosophymediagroup.com
- Instagram: @ashleehaze
- Facebook: TheAshleeHaze
- Linkedin: Ashlee Haze
- Twitter: @ashleehaze
- Youtube: Ashlee Haze
Image Credits
Smiling Headshot & photo in front of mural- Mr. Louis Studios Orange hat- Brittany Nashell Images