We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful John Blakley. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with John below.
John, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
My Parents raised me to seek out and embrace hard work, be disciplined in anything that I committed my mind to and to always give God the praise and honor in the process because, “I am what I am by the grace of God” (1 Corinthians 15:10). One of the many ways my parents showed me love, all the while enforcing that “anything worth having in life does not come easy but only out of hard work, discipline, consistency and faith in God” , was giving me opportunities that I was then and now grateful for, to name a few – Taekwondo, KUMON, basketball programs and camps, swimming, track and piano lessons. These opportunities, in their own unique way, required of me to have grit, patience, critical thinking, problem solving and great teamwork skills. Although I learned these soft skills and more in such environments, these skills are transferable and spilled over into other areas of my life, helping me to obtain my Bachelors of Science in Chemical Engineering, work well within corporate America and build up and sustain my YouTube podcast – JSpeaks.
My parents were also not fond of electronics – growing up I had a phone but hardly ever saw it, the power cords to my gaming consoles were always missing and on the weekdays, I watched TV sparingly. My parents emphasized the importance of reading, writing and doing anything productive or creative away from a screen. They hated seeing me glued to a screen – it is easily one of their biggest pet peeves. Anytime a screen has my attention for longer than ten minutes it makes them itch, uncomfortable and they always let me hear it. However, due to how they raised me, to this day I do not own a console and my TV is basically furniture at this point.
Moreover, my parents were very didactic when it came to my diction. My Dad would always say, “when someone asks you how you are doing do not respond with GOOD… food taste GOOD… you are great, well, and or fine”. My Mom too would say things like, “stop saying ‘anyways’, the proper way to say the word is anyway” or “stop saying ‘you know what I mean’ after every sentence” and would cut me off mid-sentence and abruptly correct me whenever I used slang, she would always say, “whatever you practice in this house, you will repeat outside of this house so always speak properly”. Additionally, both of my parents took seriously how I presented myself and interacted with others. My Dad assumed responsibility for my physical appearance, he taught me how to iron, tie a tie, pick and wear a suit, color code my clothes, shine my shoes, wear cologne and most importantly – “never leave the house without wearing a BELT!” My Mom took ownership of teaching me social and cutlery etiquette and proper table manners. My Mom would say things like, “give the person a firm handshake, look them in their eyes, smile and say it is nice to meet you”, “listen to understand not to respond”, “when you sit down at the table immediately put your napkin in your lap”, “stop biting your fork!” and “stop smackiinngg!”
Furthermore, my parents taught me the importance of giving, both directly and by example. My parents were quick to give of their money, time and resources and they did so with a cheerful heart. Seeing that repeatedly over the years changed my perspective on life. I would always seek out opportunities to give personally to others and through organizations that I held leadership roles in. I always wanted it to be a lifestyle for me but at the time I did not know how to go about it professionally but thank God, here we are. I now use my talents, energies and soft skills to interview professionals, nonprofits, business owners, therapists and the such in order to connect, educate and empower the world one spotlight at a time. It is my vision to leave a lasting impact on the world that challenges people to think, consider and better themselves. My parents would always tell me, whenever I would get an attitude about their parenting tactics, “you might not see the importance in how we are raising you but one day you will thank us … one day you will see that everything that we are instilling in you, introducing you to and distancing you from is for your benefit and to help you to become the man that you are destined to be”. I would always suck my teeth and roll my eyes when they would say this but thank you Mom and Dad. I am grateful for your patience in raising me, I get it now.
John, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is John Blakley and I am the Founder and President of JSpeaks – my YouTube Podcast. The core purpose of my channel is to proliferate positive, motivational, educational and informational content. What makes my platform different from what is out there is that I am determined to give voice to the 99%. Starting out and in the beginning stages of JSpeaks I took a long moment to study some of our great talk show hosts such as Oprah Winfrey, Trevor Noah, Shannon Sharpe etc. Something I noticed about all of them is that they tended to invite onto their show, and deemed “worthy”, people who were glamorized in society – Hollywood stars, famous athletes and artists, high net worth individuals, anyone who went viral for any particular reason etc. I am not discounting these individuals and I am sure all of them had to work hard to get to where they are now but I truly believe that there are hardworking, passionate, caring people everywhere who get overlooked because they do not have a million dollars in their bank accounts or a million followers on social media but are still making a huge impact within their respective communities. I sincerely believe that these people deserve to be recognized, congratulated and spotlighted so that they can motivate others to do the same and not quit!
That is when I noticed what was truly missing from mainstream talk shows and that is – “relatability”. I believe it is hard for the common person or viewer to relate to guest appearances who have garnered so much fame and fortune. I am not saying that their accomplishments are bad and not worthy of praise but I do believe that there is a modicum of disconnect. We spotlight way too often people who have already “made it” and I think it is time to spotlight those who are “trying to make it” and are working just as hard, if not harder than celebrities, to make a transformative difference in their respective communities. That is why I decided on my tagline, “Real People. Real Conversations. JSpeaks” and strive to live up to it with every episode I roll out. The conversations and people that I have on my channel represent authenticity, relatability and your everyday, hardworking American who is trying to make it. It is my charge to find these changemakers, creatives & entrepreneurs, nonprofits, business owners, therapists and the such and spotlight their stories, impact and knowledge for the greater good of the world! With this reasoning being the bedrock as to why I started my channel, it is my mission to connect, educate and empower the world one spotlight at a time and it is my vision to leave a lasting impact on the world that challenges people to think, consider and better themselves.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
It is hard for me to give a singular answer as to what is “the most” rewarding aspect of being a creative. I do not want to disregard the guidelines of the question completely but to be concise I will provide two answers – a rewarding aspect that has affected me, the host of JSpeaks and me, John Blakley outside of JSpeaks.
The most rewarding aspect about being the host of JSpeaks is devoting my time, skills and energies towards doing good for humanity by releasing quality content and conversations that serve to be positive, motivational, educational and informational. I am not only enriching my viewers with conversation topics that they might be unfamiliar with or have not considered but equally important I am spotlighting my interviewees so that they can garner the attraction and attention that they deserve. I tell my interviewees and people all the time, JSpeaks is not about me, it was never about me – I am just the vessel. There are so many great people in this world who should have been interviewed years ago! Someone has to do it, why can it not be me? My definition of success is to see how many people I can make a positive impact on – not necessarily quantity but quality. My goal is to be a qualitative influence on people and have my works and words ever expand their consciousness, well-being and faith in humanity. It has also been rewarding being a community catalyst and introducing my interviewees to one another, expanding their networks and igniting relationships and partnerships that have led to tangible opportunities for both parties!
The most rewarding aspect of being a creative that has affected me outside of JSpeaks is to finally be in a space in which I can truly own my own voice. To me “owning your own voice” is to be your true and authentic self. When one can do this successfully it changes the way that he or she shows up in life. When your confidence in yourself supersedes your fear of failure and or judgement it causes you to make all kinds of space to be all that you are, all that you have always been and all that you are destined to be. It has been an absolute blast to have full autonomy and freedom with how I want to roll out each episode! I host my interviews in different locations across North Carolina, introduce my interviewees uniquely, put together different teasers for episode releases and customize YouTube thumbnails intentionally to reflect the interviewee. I have never had a job or opportunity to truly afford me with such a liberty. Of course, my work comes with stress, that is unavoidable, but it is the type of stress that is manageable and welcomed because I am doing what I love and work with a fabulous team!
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
Social media can be misleading – there is so much work that goes into uploading content that people do not consider but take for granted when watching the final product. My life completely revolves around my 9-5 and JSpeaks. Leading up to interview day, my free time is dedicated towards being prepared for the interview – coming up with, practicing and mastering my interviewees introduction as well as coming up with sincere questions and committing them to memory. This might sound miniscule but I can assure you that it is not. Public speaking is the most difficult soft skill and even for me, going on two years with JSpeaks, it is still challenging – and by no means do the cameras and lights make it any easier.
As far as editing the actual production, that is not a small task either. It is funny, people think that after an interview is done being recorded it is ready to be released. Everything that you see on the screen and hear during an episode is intentional – nothing is by accident. The lighting, contrast, saturation, B-roll and wording that comes up on the screen is all deliberate and most importantly takes so much time to get it just right. I went to school to obtain a Bachelors of Science in Chemical Engineering not a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography so this is still new to me. Nonetheless, I am embracing the hard work and excitedly learning as I go!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.aboutjspeaks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jspeaks__/profilecard/?igsh=N3U5aDczaXAxeGhy
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557552613463
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/104949516/admin/dashboard/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Jspeaks6623
- Other: Newsletter Mailing List: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1fa0XsTr65WW0crIlMmO6_s1M2t7dFtYGDATFEQh8sz8/edit?pli=1
Image Credits
Demonica Stanley