We were lucky to catch up with Cameron Atkism recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Cameron, thanks for joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

Now that I’ve been pursuing my dream for long enough, I can honestly say that there is nothing more freeing than living life as a creative. Furthermore, being able to make money and potentially paying your bills from your art may be the most validating version of work/labor that exists. As an artist who still has a 9-5, I see both sides of the spectrum. I’ve even done contract work such as Instacart where I had an alternate version of “being my own boss”. For me personally, my happiness is rooted in being able to live comfortably and explore my interests and wonders. Through becoming a Fashion Designer, I’ve started to pave my own way of exploring life while getting paid for it. I’ve worked numerous jobs since the age of 16, before I even knew I wanted to be a designer. Looking back, no paycheck I’ve ever received from a job has felt as validating as receiving even just one of those notifications from Shopify telling me that somebody valued my art enough to make a purchase. It’s an indescribable feeling, but to put it in words the best I can, it’s almost as if somebody is telling me “You are enough, and your experience is valid.” Even when working jobs like Instacart or DoorDash where I can “set my own rules” or “be my own boss”, there’s still this sense of unfulfillment at the end of the day because you aren’t really doing what you want or dream of, you’re just doing labor on your own schedule. With owning a business, the hours extend are almost 24/7 but it’s all worth it when chasing your dreams.

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 Cameron Atkism (aka “Lord Gianci” or “LG”). I was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and currently live in the Detroit area of Michigan. I first got into fashion in middle school and the love for it just blossomed the older I got and the more access I got to it. I am primarily a fashion designer, and the sole owner of Gianci clothing (aka GianciWorld). I do everything for the brand, including the garment design, graphic design, handling the fulfillment/shipping of orders, and everything you can think of in between. Aside from the brand, I also do work for people such as musicians & other brand owners who want help with graphics or even just communicating with manufacturers about clothing.
The brand itself (GianciWorld) is an exploration of the human experience, touching on concepts such as the weather, existentialism, and our own stream of consciousness. I want myself and Gianci to be known and remembered for being vulnerable in my art, being able to wonder and explore things that most people aren’t willing or haven’t even thought to explore yet. So far, I’m mostly proud of the genuine connections I’ve made with my supporters through my work. I value that more than any monetary success and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A big lesson I had to unlearn in life was falling for the hype. That’s a broad lesson within itself but I’ll try to touch on every point in the lesson I learned. In today’s society, mainly within our youth, we’ve gotten so wrapped up in how to do things the fastest and easiest way. We want to be viral, we want to get rich quick, and we don’t have the patience to build the necessary foundations to sustain the lifestyles that we think we want so badly. What’s fame if we just fall off in a few weeks because we couldn’t keep the momentum? What’s the use in winning the lottery if we go broke after a year or two and we’re left with all these bills?

In the beginning I was just like everybody else starting out. I wanted to just blow up as soon as possible and reap the benefits of success from simply just “wanting it”. I watched the PinkFlamingoUSA videos (shoutout to them), I watched the Rolling Loud concerts, I watched the Fashion week vlogs from AWGE and Virgil Abloh (rest in peace), and I just wanted to achieve that status. I thought that just because I had seen what was possible, it would be easy or fall into my lap simply because I had the vision. I’m here to tell you this is not and never will be the case. After gaining some insight from a few important interviews (Tyler the Creator’s Hot 97 interview, and various Kerwin Frost interviews to name a few), I started to realize that I hadn’t had nearly enough experience under my belt to be able to sustain such success, even if it just one day fell into my lap. I learned that I have far more successes and failures to withstand before I’ve proven anything to myself, let alone somebody else taking a chance on me. If all you’ve known in life is winning or having things easy, how will you respond to failure? How do you know you’ll be able go through taking losses and falling short, and still be able to bounce back and win the next time? What are you gonna do when you bet it all on yourself and your clothes don’t sell and now you’re out of money and stuck with all this inventory? You won’t find the answer from somebody who hasn’t taken such a risk (and lost) before, I can tell you that much.

I’ve learned so far in my journey that you have to fall in love with the process, so much so that you almost forget about the end goal itself. Many successes in life come from the same formula – create a plan, build consistency within executing said plan, and be able to adjust to any failures or obstacles along the way. This formula is evident in all areas of life ranging from playing sports, getting in the gym, performing music, or even reaching academic success. In fashion, or really any creative field, it’s the same process. It’s not so much about the viral moments or the highlights, but rather having the backlog of consistency so that when those moments DO come, you’re prepared and can handle anything that comes your way because you’ve been preparing for it all this time.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

The main thing people don’t understand about the creative journey is the fixation they have on our “instability” or an unsureness of our future. While it’s understandable that an outside perspective (especially parents who want the best for you) might think this way, the reality is that the future isn’t figured out for anybody. You could be a straight A student all your life, have a set plan to become this specific doctor or engineer or whatever, and it still might not work out. And then what? To be afraid of what the future holds is pointless, and we as humans don’t have as much control over the future as we’d like to think we do. The way I see it, if I don’t know what the future holds I would rather bet everything on myself and do what makes me happy win or lose. The money will come at one point or another, and the only way it won’t is if you give up. You can never lose if you never quit.

Contact Info:

• Website: whatisgianci.com
• Instagram: @LordGianci (personal page, behind the scenes, sneak peaks, etc) @GianciWorld (all things Gianci)
• Facebook: Gianci World
• Linkedin: Cameron Atkism
• Twitter: @LordGianci
• Other: TikTok: @lord.gianci

Image Credits
Photographers: JPGLonelyStar, Dwight Reed III