We recently connected with bbboris and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, bbboris thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with 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.

The biggest single risk I’ve ever took, and continue to take, is to continue to have faith in myself and my vision and create on a day to day basis, despite all of the forces that work against that. For me to be in the position I am now I’ve had to face discouragement, disbelief, and doubt on a daily basis. Not only from others, but worse still from myself.

Most of us that have ever set goals and aspirations in our lives are familiar with the voice of doubt. This applies to artists, entrepreneurs, and anyone else trying to achieve success in a non-traditional or non conformist manner . Whenever we choose to set out and invest in ourselves and our dreams, we begin to hear the voice of doubt. Doubt is a quiet annoyance at best, and at worse its a deafening voice of insecurity, fear, and anxiety tellings us “You can’t do it. Stop. Give up. They we’re right” and on and on…

I think when some people come up against that voice they let it bring them down and discourage them from growing and creating towards their aspirations. It takes a lot of courage and bravery to enter a situation saying “I’m going to stick to what I know and feel is right for myself no matter how others treat or talk about me”. I think its even more amazing when you learn to do it day in day out after countless rejections and failures. This choice to follow your dreams and stay true to your creative vision becomes the biggest risk we take over time. I’ve personally risked relationships, career moves, and more for the freedom to work on what is important to me, and ultimately what I believe is important to the world. I risk my life in more ways than one, day in day out, to be fulfilled, purposeful, and and truly creative as an artist, a business, and a person overall. If you’re reading this and it resonates, know that you’re not alone, know that you are loved and respected, and know that the reward is truly worth the risk if you commit to it.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Boris, aka “bbboris” online, and I’m a musician, entrepreneur, philosopher and more. If I were to speak candidly, like I do with friends over drinks, Id say the way I became who I am today is by choosing to not limit myself to the boxes that others try to put me in.

Overall my work spans a few albums of music, a growing music record collective known as “M4BMU$IK”, a design consultancy known as SmileyFaceStudio, and a few other smaller projects in the media and tech spaces. The underlying essence that drives all my work is a desire to manifest truth, love, and beauty into the world.

For example, one of the projects that I’m most proud of is a community event that myself and a few friends organize called #feedthestreetsSD. Every year @M4BMU$IK and @misunderstoodsouls.co team up with our friends, family, neighbors, and greater community to help serve the homeless, distressed, and vulnerable in San Diego on Christmas Day. For a month leading up to Christmas Day we collect donations to buy warm clothes, toiletries, and a delicious hot meal which we hand out on Christmas in the spirit of loving our neighbors, caring for our community, and uplifting each other. By doing this we hope to provide love and support to our communities’ most vulnerable men, women, and children at a time when they feel most forgotten. Feed the streets San Diego is going into it’s 3rd ‘official’ year and we are aiming to deliver more meals and relief than last year.

When we were first inspired to do the event we were pretty lost. All we knew is that we wanted to give back directly to the streets and people that surrounded us on a daily basis, and we wanted to give a platform for others in the community to do so as well. We had no prior experience organizing or fundraising in the past, so we were learning as we go for sure. Where to get food? How to hand it out? To whom do we hand it out? How do we raise funds? Should we draw public attention and how? All these are questions we’re getting better at answering year after year. We’ve learned that events like these are complicated to put on, and as the event grows, we definitely feel a responsibility to guide that growth in a sustainable and authentic direction thats remains truly focused on giving back and strengthening local bonds.

Time and time again there comes a point in my life where I feel the need to be creative in the service of truth, love, and/or beauty. Sometimes that can mean a song, other times it can mean a charity event. It can be as simple as a home cooked meal for grandma or as complex as the blueprints to an empire for an inspired team of change makers. No matter what I do, or how people call it, the important thing to me is that it’s impactful, powerful, and real.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

NFT’s are meant to be like art. Meaning the vast majority of NFT’s (and art in general) is worth nothing or will eventually be worth nothing, and a tiny fraction of them will hold value and even gain value, much like a Van Gogh or Monet gains value.

Many people who thought an NFT is a good investment just because its an NFT got burned in much the same way many novice art collectors get burned when they buy ‘hot’ pieces of art at galleries and auctions only to later find them losing their value for whatever reason.

NFT’s themselves might not be overly interesting to the general public outside of a few instances, but the blockchain technology underpinning it has tons of potential to change the world in the years to come.

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

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is being able to see the best parts of us go out into the world, become tangible, and touch the hearts of others. Not everyone has the chance to experience and feel that type of connection with themselves and others. It is truly a gift worth sharing.

Contact Info:

• Website: smileyface.studio
• Instagram: instagram.com/itsbbboris
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/borisbee
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/itsbbboris
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bbboris

Image Credits
Matthew Reynoso