We were lucky to catch up with Damon Bomar II recently and have shared our conversation below.

Damon, appreciate you joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

To me, success looks like pulling a vision/idea you have in your mind and making it a reality. It also depends on how you measure your values when it comes to success overall. Success is a grind in itself, but again, how you define it is all that matters. One day I wanted to work in sports, have my own hoodie brand and help people achieve their goals, next thing you know I found myself doing that in more. Long days and early nights are a real thing, especially when chasing a vision only you can see for yourself. All in all, everything starts and ends with your perspective in terms of being successful. You stick around long enough, be honest with what you are doing within your leading/lagging indicators, and give it your absolute all, I strongly believe you can do anything in this world when you put your mind to it.

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.

My name is Damon Bomar II, born and raised in Detroit, and I am a creative entrepreneur. My skillset ranges from brand and marketing to photography, dtg-specialist and of course graphic design. Growing up, I always enjoyed watching cartoons, playing video games and playing sports (mostly basketball). I didn’t think at one point in time that those things would fulfill my passion for the career I have built for myself today. I was always visually inclined by the art made for video games, sports cards/presentations and just seeing BIG designs on like billboards when traveling.

How I got into the industry is a story in itself and reflection of my brand and values. As of today, I am a Digital & Social Content Project Employee for the NBA, and the journey itself still keeps me motivated for more in store and doing more. Coming out of high school, I was a very artsy, academic and athletic student who just wanted to learn, worked as a cashier at a market close to home, but I wasn’t the person I am now when it comes to maximizing my minimums, knowing my value and leveraging my experience/network back then. Received invites to camps across all levels/division, had academic scholarships to schools outside of the midwest, I was just indecisive on what I seen for myself like any other high school graduate. I made a decision to announce that I was going to be a walk-on at Eastern Michigan for the basketball team, long story short, the roster was full BUT another opportunity came about that really set me up for success. I became a student-manager my freshman year of college, got to travel to road games (most notable Duke University), work with student athletes, coaching staff and people who had the same passion as me, living the dream right? Again, I was indecisive after how my first season went, academic wise my major didn’t align with the work I was doing or at least I found out that I really wanted to build my own identity, being a college student and all. A summer passes by after my first year, I was visiting some family of mine and behold Photoshop. They was working on some cover art for a client, I was intrigued by it and me being me, I wanted to learn it so I asked how much it was and stuff, got the Photography Plan (which was Lightroom + Photoshop) and had to come up with a way to cover the costs for it, so I started doing cartoons on my phone and a few graphics on there as well. Wasn’t my best work obviously, but my goal was to make enough to pay it off and ask my sister for her MacBook since she no longer needed it. Once I seen traction with people supporting my work from family, lifelong/school friends and even strangers that became pivotal to my career down the road, I knew I had to change my major before going back to Ypsilanti. Unfortunately, I believe, they didn’t have a specific degree program for Graphic Design, so Art BFA was the move, my schedule changed, stopped being a student manager after a month or two into the next season. Art supplies, very expensive to say the least but I had to invest in myself in order to get the. best from myself, especially as a broke college student in his second year. My first chance at being an artist came with working on TWO backdrops taller than myself for an event called NVRCH Music Festival which also took place during a Lil Baby concert on campus. I had no clue what I was getting myself into, someone reached out about being a vendor (shoutout to Honore’) I said yes and found myself spray painting and splatter painting, skipping class, passing out flyers of my business card (shoutout to my fam Tyra & Kyle to this very day) and just giving it my all knowing that it was going to mean something. One of the form of arts I picked up was doing sculptures, ironically enough, which stemmed from a high school project my art teacher had (shoutout to Sipos)that I enjoyed doing and wanted it to be wall art in a way, in my own style of course. Granted, I never posted them on my page as content (how things are now) but I got around campus fast and even peers at other universities wanted something of their school logo, initial or really anything I felt like I could do with the material given. It’s crazy how life works when things come in full circle, I just enjoyed doing DIY’s as I finished that project for the NVRCH Music Festival in the fall. I noticed on my Instagram stories that people who I wanted to work with (athletes/entrepreneurs/influencers) was seeing my projects and it just felt like I stepped into the world of content creation where you never know who was watching and I just kept posting my art assignments, sculptures and just seeing what stuck with people that eventually built relationships I had today. After that, it was back to reality of longer classes now, carrying my huge art tote for a project or two and Smash Burger after a long day. Once I took my first graphic design class, it was a challenge getting started being it was Adobe Illustrator and I had to kind of reset myself going into my second year with new faces and professors. I started hitting my strides going into the winter semester which inevitably led to the covid stretch of things, I wasn’t big on learning design digitally (very ironic later on) so in short I started a petition for credits to be pass/fail, not everybody is inclined for their program to transition to virtual and still having to come out of pocket for staying on a campus that isn’t supposed to be open. That was my version of a farewell to Eastern Michigan, it ended up working and I found myself at square one again, but I was about to step into the next pillar of my foundation which would be entrepreneurship.

After all of that, I felt like I was back at square one but let’s recap, I was a student manager for a D1 program, I found out I was into graphic design and I had a network to pull from, where could I go with this moving forward if it wasn’t going back to school. An opportunity came about, family business in Southfield known as The PrintHeadz and felt like that was my chance to really flourish as a creative, I started taking pictures for my high school basketball team, my friends and even of what I like to see on my social feed. Unfortunately, things have a way of working out different than drawn out, started off as warehouse manager and eventually became a DTG (direct-to-garment) specialist, so I was doing the fun stuff of printing everybody else’s design, consulting with customers and making sure inventory was accounted for both clients and walk-ins. It was an interesting experience nonetheless from the 1000+ shirt prints, same day turnarounds, calling audibles due to shorten print material, upgrading to two machines to work with, it was a lot. I felt like I found my footing and understood what I wanted to do with the resources available, start my own brand known as “Issa VIBE”. In shorten, I started this knowing that I wanted to have my own hoodies, got tired of paying an arm and a leg (realizing how brands really work and operate being I work in a space that would get asked for that kind of stuff) for brands that were already established. The acronym for “VIBE” is Visual Interpretation Behind Everything, that’s how I define creativity and connecting with people which eventually became my value for design as you are reading this today. That’s what paved the way for my platform that I have now where it stems from having “mindset material and valued visuals” across all facets of my brands, projects and relationships overall. Granted, it cut into my check at some point, but it taught me more for others getting started than myself as time went on moving forward. Was selling hoodies, doing the photoshoots, having friends/family posting, it made some progress then eventually I hit a patch financially and mentally where I didn’t have a marketing strategy in place that would generate the goals I had. I found ways to help others and eventually dug myself out of that hole once I realized that I needed to focus on one thing first instead of being a jack of all trades, which in fact got me started but I was suffering to a degree. A business decision was eventually made later on during my time there, I went back to school (Full Sail University), built my website of passion projects I have done, was doing photoshoots/freelance working. I received COVID myself and decided to no longer work there in order to pursue my goals to design for the Detroit Pistons. Which is crazy to say, they had an opening at one point but I didn’t have any relative design experience so now I am about to enter my “design arc” of things. Once I knew the window for internships, being the Fall and Summer, I set out to get the experience needed that I didn’t have design wise since my passion was already there.

Scrolling on Instagram, come across a design ad and just heard back from the owner of the agency and found myself getting brand design experience, really design experience in itself because it was just sports this and sports that when you go to my page. Felt like I was figuring stuff out again, have more under my belt, had a stream or two of income and I knew I wanted to create my own safety net where I can say “I did that for me and nobody can say otherwise”. After I introduced myself, I was tasked to doing a 30 day design challenge, which I already did but I found out in fact there was a market for the kind of design I was doing but my goal with EBEPR Studios (credit to Erica) for the opportunity with experience overall. I found myself working with different personalities of clientele and businesses to where I understood deign better than when I started and being there, all I wanted to do was get design experience then found myself enjoying the journey. Being a social media graphic designer really challenged me to really understand the importance of meeting the need of the client and creating an experience through design for their market/product overall. One minute it was YouTube thumbnails/banners, updating IG reels another minute, creating multiple assets to market an event through all platforms including Twitter, Eventbrite and LinkedIn for different clients. That carried over quite well in my career to this day and I just got to a point where I had to bet on myself. Reason being, not everything is about money, but my values lied within creating valued visuals and meaningful relationships since that was what got me to where I am today. After a few months with different clients no matter the relationship and needs they had, I eventually no longer desired to be apart of the agency no more. Again, nothing negative per say, it was just time to go make what I want a reality once the work started slowing up and I just found out what I wanted to specialize in as a growing and ambitious graphic designer. Summer came around, got back to doing freelance (photoshoot for Wayne State University Scholar’s Program) and passion projects (sports collages based around what is taking place) to add as much relative designs to grow my media page at the time. Around mid June, a friend of mine for years through video games + the sport itself of basketball, Tray Maddox Jr. was coming back home, after playing in the NCAA Tournament for Cal State Fullerton, to finish out his senior year at Western Michigan, and had a camp coming up. I honestly, again, had no clue what I was getting myself into, I enjoyed the camps I got to see in person when I was in high school at Hype Athletics, the atmosphere for the game itself and it was for a good cause being how much Tray supported my brand/plans, it was only right to collaborate with him for his FIRST of many camps to come. Within that, I made the flyer to promote the event, designed + provided the vendor for the shirts for everybody to wear that day including his own, captured content and volunteered wherever I could to ensure that the youth and Tray’s camp was a success. By all means, this propelled me to want to work with athlete’s brands overall and just the nature of putting things together with like minded individuals with sports. At this point, I think I have everything necessary to really push myself into the fall season of things with my hoodies being sold, my content is gaining traction and most importantly, the designs look better than the previous, all you can ask for as a designer right?

As the time came around for applications to intern with the Detroit Pistons, I updated my website portfolio, added everything needed, did my resume/cover letter with everything that was relevant to the role itself as a design intern and myself moving forward. By all means, of course I was nervous considering I didn’t apply the first time I seen it but I had more confidence than ever in all areas. I was a checking my emails more than I ever did, eventually found out from HR (shoutout to Gabby) I landed an interview with the creative director, senior graphic designer and VP of marketing (separately), I was just speechless as ever. Crazy enough, my power was out the day I had my interview with the creative team so I had to do my interview downtown, I had my notes, I was at my sisters desk at Ford Field just hoping I didn’t fumble or leave anything off the table. Working for my hometown sports team with the history it had, it meant more to me than anything else growing up like I met my favorite football player/athlete in Calvin Johnson Jr. life couldn’t get much better but you just read the previous parts of my story, so being at the Pistons was enough for me in itself. After I did those, some time went by, one day I took a nap and woke up surprised as ever finding out I got the position, I didn’t tell nobody but all I kept saying over the phone was “are you serious?” like in shock and disbelief that I really went on this journey and got to my destination. I honestly did not know what to do with myself, I was just getting work clothes since it was in person as an internship and it was for the full 2022-23 NBA season so I had to make sure I represent of course and show why I was selected. Walking through the building was so crazy, seeing the timeline wall of the company’s history, the front office of an NBA team and just the aura of being a basketball fan for so long was a 1-1 experience. I meet the other interns, did the icebreaker, met my supervisors and just really soaked everything in my first week, especially meeting the intern class in itself. I was as diligent as can be and eager to learn from day one, it was so much to really breakdown and go into but I can say I did a project for just about every department from CSR, Basketball Ops, Group Sales, Corporate Partnership and more that the company had to offer and learned a lot from my peers (shoutout to Jack + Daniel + Ray + Alex + Kevin) worked with PistonsGT (shoutout to Duane + Grace + Mike), Motor City Cruise ( shoutout to Tianna + Noah), Pistons Dancers (shoutout to Nat), HBCU/NPHC Night (shoutout to Justin + B-Mo) and the entire marketing floor for giving me a chance to be apart of something special. A season goes by, my portfolio is booming, my LinkedIn account with my network of other professionals and more from design, marketing, sports industry and more, I was confident that I would be coming back for another season but God had other plans coming out of that season in May 2023.

Following my time with the Pistons, I got in contact with world known shooting coach and influencer, Chris Matthews, better known as “Lethal Shooter”, and wounded up doing design projects for his side of content. Of course, most of his content was video based, but there was a need for his long-form content, events he appeared and announcements he had in his world of work. The relationship grew and is still strong to this day, he really helped me redefine my value and my worth after going through a stretch of applications for the leagues, teams and sports overall, truly reminded me to “stay locked in” as much as possible to say the least. I started back posting my work again on LinkedIn and next thing I know, my next two opportunities came about from consistently posting the content I wanted to see and storytelling. First place I landed was with SLAM Media as a design intern (10 weeks), got to work on the OKC SLAM Cover 247 rollout, editorial artwork and most importantly social content for both WSLAM as women’s college basketball was starting as WNBA season wasn’t ending and SLAM itself in different avenues from spreads being designed by me to a yearbook content series + more. Unpaid or not, I enjoyed what was offered at that time with the people I got to work with during that time. My second place I landed, very exciting and new opportunity, came about with YahooSports as a weekend contract designer (few months) where I found myself making social media content, templates for game coverages such as the NFL/NBA, winner graphics for the Australian Open, NBA All-Star Game and editorial artwork for the Super Bowl and NFL Combine. The team itself was so unique of expertise and cohesiveness, almost like joining the Avengers in a way, my manager (shoutout to Amber) was amazing from start til today making sure I was thriving and learning as much as possible in the space where it feel like I had role that helped everybody around me. Then everything changed when I got an email to work for the NBA and here we are today writing this story on how I got here.

In totality, I am most proud of the network I curated and the mindset I built, God willingly, to really pursue my dreams to work in sports/media in someway. Having my own brand, having my work shared by athletes/influencers in the space of sports and media, a portfolio that reflects my passion and most importantly the village/foundation I have through all of that + the places I can say I worked with, there is nothing more to be proud of than the journey itself. As I wrote for my senior quote as a HFA Dearborn alumni, “Everything happens for a reason”, it was the realest thing I ever heard and reminded myself daily when getting to where I am today, no matter what was left out or untold good/bad, what’s meant for you won’t miss you.

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

I think the most rewarding aspect is turning nothing into something. As cliche as it sounds, chasing a vision only you can see is a REAL thing. There were times where I’d do so many designs they underperform then out of nowhere, it blows up bigger than you imagined from an insights/engagement perspective or the artwork you did of that influencer/athlete or whatever sees it, your entire energy changes. The amount of relationships in my life I built simply from having the perspective I have as a creative entrepreneur + experiences, it is very rewarding coming across people who understand where you are going and of similar aspirations. Like you have your day ones by environment and day twos by experience, all of them seeing me at different points in my life to where I am now, keeps me going and wanting to pour into people no matter how many blessings, opportunities and connections I come across. Without question, the people you meet along the way to me is the most rewarding aspect and of course, it will always be the quote that sticks the most, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” every single time!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

As I perhaps mentioned before, I am big on learning if not self-improvement, so reading books. journaling and going to bible study helped me cleanse my mind and unlearn things that no longer support where I am going. Being someone who overthinks and sometimes even over-plan/play my part in stuff, you need to have a circle of influence/information somewhere in your foundation. For me, I learned that applied knowledge is more valuable than attained knowledge, in other words, I don’t have to know it all to do it all. For me, I just focused on going to church more, finding books relative to what I am doing, podcasts and even content creators who understood where I was lacking in. One book that I can say shaped everything for me was “The 12 Week Year” and in shorten, you shatter your goals faster than a new year resolution in 12 months. A podcast that really got me over the hump when starting Issa Vibe and working at the printshop was the Secret to Success Podcast by Eric Thomas and just hearing the “nugget of the day” on top of just his story and his team as well, especially after meeting him at one of his events at MSU, was everything to me. Those impacted and improved my way of thinking not only with what I do, but how I go about doing everything in general.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.damonbomarmedia.com
• Instagram: @itsdamegotvisuals // @damonbomarmedia
• Linkedin: Damon Bomar II – https://www.linkedin.com/in/damonbomarii