We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jeoffrey Arrington a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jeoffrey, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

Having really only pursued my latest creative endeavor of music composition and songwriting for the last few years, I can sometimes get caught in the wishful-thinking mindset of ‘what if I had started my creative career sooner.?” I imagine these advantages and milestones that that would now be temporally bestowed to me, if only I had better timing. When I struggle with this kind of self-doubt, I remember my most sincere and powerful creativity arises from inspiration that I could never force at a particular time. Also the opportunities that have allowed me to expand and realize my creative work were also of divine timing. I’ve learned to accept the timing of my journey, and to embrace the beauty and growth in the natural process. Creatively, I am right where I am supposed to be.

Jeoffrey, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I began my creative work as an Event Producer, which started by curating and producing ticketed events under my own brand, Mob Rep, before eventually providing event services to other brands and organizations. I am most known for experiential work using highly staged environments, and tapping local subcultures in very imaginative and unorthodox ways. I have worked with dozens of large brands and impact orgs to conceptualize and execute their events.

More recently, I have shifted a lot of my time and energy to music composition and production. I work with two other production partners under the name Raspberry Recordings on original music for artists, film, TV and commercials. In the last few years, I have put out quite a bit of music with Chicago artists.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I’ve never considered myself to be any sort of particular expert when it comes to social media, but something that I value and prioritize in my own use and small amount of success there is authenticity. Rather than leading with the goal of having a large following, I try to create and push out content that best and most authentically represents my creative skills, values, etc., to engage an audience that actually cares about those things. In general, I would rather have an engaged audience than simply a large one. I’ve found that if I stay authentic and consistent, my audience grows steadily and organically, and the high quality of engagement with that audience remains.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

As a society, I think that it’s super important to pay attention to, and invest in burgeoning artists. We tend to only pay attention to artists that have been already achieved status commercialization. It’s a lot easier to disregard someone whose work hasn’t been validated by the larger industry or social media landscape. We have to remain aware that every artist started out as under-regarded, and we have an obligation to uplift art that deserves a voice.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jeoffreyarrington.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mobrepjeof/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeoffrey-arrington-19156152/

Image Credits

Michelle Reid