We were lucky to catch up with John Lake recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, John thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

Honestly, I am currently ending my time at a somewhat, “regular job.” I am the digital strategist for an artist management firm in the music industry, where I partially get to express my creative self, but I definitely long for more satisfaction and enjoyment in my everyday life. I want to be more creatively fulfilled.

This question is interesting because I am still in pursuit of being a full time creative, which prompts me to think about a recurring question and doubt that I face, “Am I really even a creative, and what does that really even mean?” and “For all of the right-brained career goals I have, how many left-brained tasks am I going to have to accept, to be successful?”

Personally, I think that being creative comes with numerous pros and cons that can be quite deceiving, it can lead to incredible fulfillment, or eternal suffering. Being in touch with yourself and your emotions, work ethic, and goals is the most important aspect of being a fulfilled creative, I’d say. I like to think that I was given these thoughts, emotions, and skills, to create, no matter what it is that I am creating. And with that being said, can sometimes lead to more suffering than a “regular job.”

I am in the midst of figuring it all out, always, but especially at this time in my life. I go back and forth between feeling happy and motivated to create and wondering if I’d just be happier, if I let go and worked a more atypical job. Sometimes though, with that relief of pressure, opens the room back up to create which can make it worth it and that is just a cycle creatives are better off accepting than resisting. Just like stability in schedules and incomes create happiness for non creative roles, that acceptance of opportunities coming in waves is being “happy” for artists and creatives. So, as a creative person, I don’t think I am happy yet, but I am working on 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.

I don’t know what is going on… ever, this is my brand. I am just trying out new things, seeing what connects with people, and sharing things that I am unsure of, because, isn’t that what we are all doing?

Something I do know though, is that I have successfully strategized digital plans for multiple businesses and artists in the music industry! I help analyze, understand, communicate, and execute an ongoing plan to translate the artist or brands vision through the screen, which is the paradox of the 21st century. But, just like my brand, right when we think we understand social media or “the algorithm,” we are proven otherwise.

Alongside my full-time job, I also enjoy being in front of the camera when the time is right. Some of my most recent endeavors have been, creating content for a music discovery app called “The Beam,” creating content for Snapchat alongside some companies, and then working on some exciting things that are to come. My social media primarily consists of discussing music & pop culture, posting content focusing on fashion & travel, and just trying to maintain a light-hearted, relatable presence while doing it.

An elevator pitch on how I got here: I ended up in the music industry because I always felt compelled to connect with people and help inspire people. I grew up “in the closet” until 2020, when I came out as a gay to my friends, family, and social media during my first year at Belmont University. With this, and many other experiences, I dealt with a lot of trauma, grief, heartbreak, loneliness, and mental health struggles throughout my life, which lead me to be quite introspective, yet yearning for connection and relatability.

So it’s not about the content for me, it’s about the connections. I use these tools as a bridge to get from where I am, to where I want to go. If the people I am supposed to be impacting and me are not fulfilled, then it’s not for me.

How did you build your audience on social media?

A few weeks ago, I had taken a video, for myself, putting my phone number on a guys car that I thought was cute at the gym. It was a very real, authentic experience that I was doing for myself and it was luckily on camera. I decided to post the video on social media where the story amassed over 3 million views, bringing so many people together.

Authenticity translates through the screen, through and through. I have created many videos, over and over trying to grab people attention or just get views, but they never work, and the second I am recording for me, or honestly, the videos always translate.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Always, listen to yourself, and this does not mean you’re always right, but the opposite.

I had been closeted my whole life until I was 18 years old, only fueling the fire that was already lit in my head. Subconsciously, isolating myself and pretending to be someone that isn’t me did not only put things on pause in life, but pushed me further and further away from who I wanted to be.

I wish I had listened to my body, mind, heart, and soul earlier on in so many experiences, but most importantly, life in general. Reaching out for help, being vulnerable, and learning more about yourself and this world is the utmost important thing you can do for your ideal state of being. I had to learn/unlearn that I truly don’t know, even an ounce, of everything, but, reaching out to people in my life, and seeking people out who weren’t in my life yet, to help teach me and walk through the fire with me, was a life saver.

Being in tune with yourself will work wonders in your life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linkr.bio/johnlake
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnlakee/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.lake.35728/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-lake-523a0b1b9/
• Twitter: https://x.com/johnlakeeee?s=21&t=jYj_qnoba_1O5BCPW_wMQQ
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@johnlakee

Image Credits

https://www.instagram.com/oliviacainphotography?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=MjI1ZGhjdWZ6dnI5

https://www.instagram.com/stryker_music?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZXhlNGI1MmlmM3Z4