Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jonathan Cosby. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Jonathan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about the best boss, mentor, or leader you’ve ever worked with.

I can already tell you that it was Bill Sholar – now retired Vice President of Operations of the legendary Johnson Publishing Company (Ebony and Jet magazines) based in downtown Chicago. That’s the best boss I ever had. Bill was about 6’1″, in his mid-50’s, slim, quiet and mellow, white short cut hair with a classic mustache. He had this cool paced walk like my father once had. He was always patient and kind to me, and I could fully relate to his temperament. As an intern and an eventual hired pre-media specialist, he taught me things that I hadn’t been taught in college. A few short years after graduating, it didn’t take long at all to consider him as my first [professional] mentor. Not only that, he was like a father figure to me. Before I transitioned to my next adventure in my life, I told him thank you for teaching me everything that he shared with me. His reply was, “You wanted to learn. I’ve learned not to waste my time trying to teach people who don’t want to.” I’m paraphrasing, but that’s as close as my memory can get to that private conversation. I wish I had spent more time under his leadership and shared more conversations with him. I hope to do so in the near future. Ten years later, at this stage of my career and life, that’s the boss that I remember and would like to emulate the most.

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 background and context?

So, from the very beginning, I’ve been drawn to the visual arts. As a child, hours were spent sketching popular branded logos, cartoon characters, portraits; making stuff such as the WWF (at the time) Intercontinental Championship belt, and I also made this replica of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle “playhouse” with cardboard and construction paper. This was the stuff back in the late 80’s/90’s. I also dove into making music, writing poetry, short stories and “church plays”. All of those creative fun little things carried into my adulthood, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Communication and spending the next 19 years honing my craft. My work has spanned across many different industries and projects, but the common thread has always been my love of imagination, design, improving artwork, and just… wanting to make fun and cool stuff. Besides having a creative mindset, the core reason that I chose this career path is because I understood the art of story-telling through imagery. Plus, it’s rare sometimes to actually do what you attended college for and earn decent income.

Paintings and sculptures in museums weren’t just paintings and sculptures in museums. There was a story in everything, whether short or lengthy. Art was, and still is, my love language, but so is listening and walking with my clients through the visions of their ideas about their organizations, businesses, and music endeavors as well. Simply put, I’m not just a graphic designer. I’m the guy who wants to be your cheerleader, learn about you, your story, and help you create and develop a visual voice, sort of speak, with the overly active creative brain that I have. I’m getting older, so it’s a little harder to keep going, but if I’m inspired, I’m all in – whatever I can do.

At this point of my life and career, there is nothing more fulfilling for me than guiding and mentoring the creative minds of the future. I find great joy in seeing a spark of inspiration ignite in a student’s, or non-student’s, eyes as they discover their own potential. As a mentor, it is my instinctive responsibility to not only impart knowledge and wisdom, but to also nurture creativity and encourage individual expression. By doing so, I help foster a new generation of artists, designers, and innovators who will continue to shape our world for years to come.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I was in college, one of my cute goals was to make stuff that will be beautiful, different, and make people smile when they see whatever I’ve done wherever it’s displayed. To this day, I’ve learned that there are some that really do care about art and love it, and there are some that don’t as much. And that’s okay. I’ve also learned that everything won’t be pretty or fun to work on, but that taught me to develop integrity and learn how to take care of everything that I’m asked to do. During some of my career tenures at various companies, I’ve learned that creative people are at the bottom of the business totem pole. This isn’t a reflection of all businesses, but if you have a creative career going through the corporate gauntlet experience, the most talked about thing within meetings and huddles are financial gains and praises to every other team except the creative ones. Honestly, it’s frustrating. We may get a little shout out here and there, but speaking for myself, it made me feel unappreciated. My thoughts have been that creative people are one of the greatest participants when it comes to representing companies. If there were no advertisements, logos, or other engaging creative initiatives, there wouldn’t be be many customers and consumers to attract. In spite of how I and my fellow creatives who have felt this frustration, it’s still about knowing the impact that you have and knowing how important you are even if you don’t get the praises. That’s called integrity. That’s what college can’t teach. But, even saying that, we all have our breaking points. It’s a balancing act.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I think the most rewarding and coolest aspect of being a creative person is hearing the “wow’s” from clients and their audiences/consumers. When I’m in the zone, I feel like a painter – just with a mouse and a keyboard. (Laughing.) I actually wish I had painting skills, but I’m just not that good at it. When I’m creating things for clients, I’m processing how to balance and structure text, color, moods, evoke feelings, and make something memorable and unique. Depending on what I’m working on, that’s not always easy to do. It’s the challenge that intrigues me. That’s where the art of it all begins. But, once a project is completed and I hear those “wow’s”, I turn into a giddy and bashful kid trying to hide behind something. I’m more of a “backstage” kind of guy. I realized that when you are an artist and you share your work, essentially you’re sharing your feelings. You’re sharing everything that you’ve carefully considered – your thoughts, your reasons, your enjoyment, your emotions, your frustrations, and your happiness during the entire process, and you hope that it’s all recognized, appreciated, and accepted – like a parent loving your Crayon drawings and putting them on the refrigerator. Making someone happy with your art means everything to an artist. It’s us being vulnerable, really. I’ve recently started producing music. My style is a blend of old school hip hop, jazz, blues, funk, soul, and gospel. These are the genres that make my soul feel good. Out of respect for legendary recording artists and musicians, I will never share anything less that exceptional. When I see friends, family, and/or strangers dance, smile, and bob their head, I’m that kiddy bashful kid all over again. It’s incredible feeling!

The bottom line is when you know who you are, hold on to that. Enjoy it. Go at your own pace. Whether people hear/see it or not, enjoy what you make. You were made to do that.

Contact Info:

• Website: jwilliamcosby.myportfolio.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/jwilliamcosby
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-w-cosby-b-a-3784088

Image Credits
(Photo 3): LaRuche Photo team (Photo 4): “Greasy” music single promotion (Photo 5:: Trans-Siberian Orchestra (Photo 6): With Smokey Robinson at Johnson Publishing Company (Photo 7): With Michelle Williams at Johnson Publishing Company