We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jalen Simmons a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jalen, thanks for joining us today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?
I want my legacy to be that I am the person that gave his all to help others and provided the service and platform needed for athletes, companies, brands, and more to get the recognition they truly deserve and grow as more attention is obtained for recruitment, promotion and memories.
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 Jalen Simmons. A kid who loves the game of basketball and Everything it’s given me. From relationships, Journeys, accomplishments, failures, heartbreaks, mental obstacles and joy that continues to carry me through everyday life. Jmixtape Productions was created through me and my family passion of the game. My Mother Sadiqua would film all of my brother Kobi Simmons, who ( currently plays for the Charlotte Hornets ) games when I went off to college and eventually he became the #1 player in Georgia and Top 5 in the nation. I came home and he brought up the idea creating a mix for him and I made it from my mother footage and using IMovies. It ended up getting 3k views on YouTube. As I gained traction I began making videos of his High School teammates Kaiser Gates (Brooklyn Nets) and Malik Beasley ( Utah Jazz) and more athletes began to ask. I would help student-athletes throughout my college career as a hobby and eventually began filming games, which lead to my father Demond who has coached for over 20 years traveling with his AAU Program Atlanta Celtics. He now directs his own program Team Dickerson in honor of the Late Great Coach Dickerson and led me to build relationships with coaches and players that I would have never had access to before. As a student-athlete that played High School, Collegiate, and have experience in participating in G-League Tryouts, Overseas Tours, and playing Semi-Pro I have a clearer perspective in knowing the obstacles you must go through to be successful in this game. This not only benefits me from a players stand point but also from a recruiter stand point as I have created a platform and built connections from being a player to these coaches, being a teammate to newly coaches and meeting coaches at games from filming. All of these traits hold value as I help student-athletes receive scholarships through the high quality production and service provided to give these players the exposure needed.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
What drives me the most is the fact there are so many talented student-athletes out there that don’t get the exposure needed. I see so many players with the talent and grades that get overlooked because of the area they are in or because they weren’t given a fair shot to be evaluated. I’ve seen this so many times and there are coaches that don’t put the work in to allow their players to be seen by college coaches. If you’re not putting the stats on MaxPrep, calling coaches, posting film, tweeting out game performances you are doing a disservice to these student-athletes and I’m here to fill that void. I want these athletes to have the best chance to get a free education and play the game that they love.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I built my audience by providing value. When I first started out I went to high school basketball games and would film and post whoever performed well. Giving these players exposure and also giving value to my community. I tried to make as many games as possible to get familiar with players, coaches, parents, etc. I wanted to be an outlet for these people to get the exposure that they needed. If you are starting a business the first thought should be how can you provide value. A lot of people start with how can I make money but that is the quickest way to burnout or lose the edge needed to create a sustainable business. If you have knowledge in a specific subject, if you have a service that you can provide, if you can volunteer in a community then do that. Allow yourself to a service to others and always ask how can you help people.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jmixtape.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/jmixtapeproductions?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jalen.simmons.92
- Linkedin: https://instagram.com/jmixtapeproductions?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/jmixtape__
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/JMixtapeProductions
Image Credits
BLAIRSEYEVIEW UpWard Now Casshyvee