We recently connected with Elii Ormond and have shared our conversation below.
Elii, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
Painting and Drawing was my first passion growing up. As a child I use to want to work in animation and have my own cartoon series. I had the name for the show, designed the main characters and everything. Making my childhood cartoon Into a tangible show is something I still want to do in the future. The older I got the more I felt like I was dreaming too big, so because of that I then decided I would just be an art professor at a college as my career. That was until I found out I would have to get my masters to do that and I was never a big fan of school growing up. I did get accepted into the only college I wanted to go to, which was “FIDM” in LA for Digital Media my 11th grade year of high school, from their early admissions program but by my senior year I realized I didn’t want to go to college anymore and I wanted to become successful in my career without needing a degree to do so. In 2017, my 10th grade year of high school is when I started modeling for the first time. I was inspired to get into modeling from my oldest sister, who had a fashion based blog at the time called “Abstract My Perspective”. We knew a photographer who went to our church with us at the time, so after church every Sunday my sister Brio and the photographer Annette would go out and have photoshoots for my sister’s blog . I started to tag along with them on their shoots and seeing how fluid and confident my sister was in-front of the camera was absolutely inspiring for me. At that time I was 16 and I wasn’t confident with myself at all. I saw modeling as a way to express myself and become more comfortable with my body. Once I started modeling I fell in love with it and I haven’t stopped since. I’ve now been modeling for 7 years and I’ve been doing it full time for the last 4 years. January, 2020 is when I started writing music for the first time. I’ve always loved music my whole life but never felt confident enough or capable to make my own music until 2020. That year was the year I decided to believe in myself more then I’ve ever have in my life and do all the things in my life that would make my inner child happy. My friend Fanyana is such a talented songwriter/singer/rapper and having someone like her that is so close to me making music really inspired me to start. Once I started writing music, it became so therapeutic to me and I fell in love with the whole process of making music. Music quickly became one of my biggest passions in life. I feel like I’ll be making music the rest of my life regardless if I become super successful from it or not. It’s something I love to do for me, it does bring me an immense amount of joy when I find people that resonate with the music and the art I create though. Since 2021 I’ve put out two EP’s **Things Have Changed**, “Getting Higher” and 3 singles “Better Off With Me”, “Delay” and “Add Silver” out on all streaming platforms. I’m currently working on new music now, taking my time on this next project and I’m loving what I’m creating!
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 Elii Ormond. I’m a 23-year-old Recording Artist, Model, Visual Artist, and Creative Director from Cleveland Ohio, living in Los Angeles California for the past 5 Years. I make Alternative R&b and Alternative Hip Hop music, I’ve been modeling for 7 years now, drawing my entire life, and constantly finding new ways to express myself. You can stream my EP’s **Things Have Changed** & “Getting Higher” as well as my three singles “Better Off With Me”, “Delay” and “Add Silver” on all streaming platforms.
Growing up people made me feel like I had to pick one thing and lower my expectations in life. I never want to be boxed in or limit myself when it comes to all the things I’m passionate about. My inner child would be happy I’m pursuing my dreams and still being creative in anyway I can.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson I had to unlearn was that my worth is not determined by how much money I make. In 2021/2022 I was working so hard in my career and I started to feel inadequate and less than because I felt like I should be financially in a different place due to all the hard work I was putting in. I had to separate my self worth from my finances and that was such a healing and freeing thing for me to do. In 2022 I released a self directed modeling project called “At My Lowest, Still At My Highest” the project talked about my struggles as an independent artist, my mental health and how I navigated experiencing some of my highest highs and some of my lowest lows in the same exact season in my life. The project consisted of 9 photoshoots and a behind the scenes video of my shooting process that is on my YouTube channel now @Elii Ormond.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is creating something that came from your mind. Anytime I execute a concept how I’ve seen it in my mind, it boosts my confidence that I can create what I envision even more. I’ve never actually wanted real children but the art I create are like my children to me. Another thing I find rewarding as an artist is when my music resonates with people, relates to their experiences and their feelings they have in their own lives.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/Eliiormond
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eliiormond?igsh=MXRoaGc0Y3RveHoxNQ==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/LJvoQKX5UFkMVJtS/?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Twitter: https://x.com/eliiormond?s=11&t=_lUJs7q5qHqkYSBf5nR7fQ
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@eliiormond?si=pZ5PVsRrwQbJuxVn
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/GZ8LrhAwrY65nNP48
- Other: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/elii-ormond/1561372910
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2Os8hs9qp2e1Bcj8BZrlwE?si=fn204js2Q86Gbs_VYa_EQw
Image Credits
Maya Holt
Tessa Thewes
Fanyana Odhiambo
Danica Carver
Brio RaShawn
Vanessa
Shelly
Four Victoria