We recently connected with Joshua Gray and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Joshua, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?
As a Bill & Melinda Gates Scholar, I often excelled in academic spaces, but I found true enthusiasm and excitement in experiential spaces—opportunities to gain real-world experiences around my interests. If I were to change the education system, I’d focus on bringing in more contextualized experience into curriculums, projects, or assignments. A business plan simulation in high school laid the foundation for my creative consulting services, a consulting project during the last year of my undergraduate studies for my Bachelor of Science in International Business degree launched my career in creative consulting & design with active clients, and comprehensive projects & exams during my doctoral program gave me an opportunity to design & develop learning services in the personal and professional wellness space. My educational journey exemplified the reality that you never know where experience will take you…you may discover a new skill set or develop a new business. So, I’d love to see an educational system that truly identifies learners’ passions and devise real-world learning experiences for their development.
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 academic, professional, and personal journey encompasses a range of experiences—however, I always find joy, fulfillment, and fun when I’m able to encourage, enrich, or empower others.
Today, I find that joy in the personal & professional wellness space by creating resources and tools for individuals and organizations to integrate into their wellness practices. Recently, I designed and illustrated a multigenerational coloring book, “Patterns, Prints & Positive Words: The Coloring Book to Live Grayter” and the upcoming notebook adaptation, “A Place to Put Positive Words: The Notebook to Live Grayter”
Empathetic with the need to relax, reflect, or retreat away from high-level responsibilities, these resources boost positivity through affirmations and reflections that aim to position individuals to live every day for everyday purpose. The multigenerational coloring book and the creative notebook adaptation leverage insights from my work as a creative consultant, my work as a doctoral student researching leadership & learning, and my general worldview of positivity.
As a creative consultant and designer, I found joy in designing branding materials for Fox, Allyson Felix, several Pepperdine departments, other universities, and a range of companies and entrepreneurs. As a doctoral student, my journey towards obtaining my doctorate degree from Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education & Psychology (Ed.D. in Learning Technologies) carves out a unique path as an author and creative. Beyond the experience giving me insights into the way people learn, use technology, and lead themselves or organizations, this experience allows me to authentically resonate with the stress, anxiety, or self-doubt that comes with high-level responsibilities.
Hence, these experiences fuel my desire as an author and speaker to encourage, enrich, and empower through positivity. I believe the first step in learning how to live and lead more positive lives is to make a decision to change the thoughts we think, the words we speak, and the decisions we make. Thus, no matter the context, I believe positivity & creativity is how you’ll come to know me. From my work as a creative consultant creating branding materials for organizations to my work as an author creating positive messages for individuals, my commitment to positivity and creativity drives my impact.
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
You know how I mentioned my journeys in life comprised a range of experiences. Well, several years ago, I opened an e-commerce space that offered apparel with statement messages or motivational notes—that was my first experience with selling a product as compared to my prior service-based business experiences. While I maintained confidence in the product I was selling and confident in the aesthetics of the user’s online shopping experiences, I was also nervous and worried about whether I would actually be able to sell a product. I sold a modest amount and broke even.
Several months ago, I tasked myself with launching a new product again… this time,…the coloring book, “Patterns, Prints & Positive Words: The Coloring Book to Live Grayter”. While confidence, nervousness, and worry were buddies in my brain again, this time I decided to bet on a marketing strategy that could generate sales and generate word-of-mouth advertising. I decided to pair the launch of the book with a formal announcement of my involvement with a doctoral program—the doctoral program announcement was another update in my life, but it was also a way to get the news of my newly launched coloring book in their faces or the faces of their friends.
This strategy helped launch the coloring book as the #1 New Release for Mandalas & Patterns Coloring Books for Grown Up
When I seen that chart placement, I remember jumping up and down as if Kris Kross was telling me to “jump jump” like their 1992 song. That #1 and the continued sales are testaments to knowing what works for you and you working for you by discovering your options, dreaming up a plan, designing out that plan, and living out that plan
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
When working in creative consulting and graphic design with an emphasis on digital graphics and digital communications, you can easily forget that there is a human that you’re trying to connect with. Hence, when shifting to providing resources for others, such as the coloring book or the notebook to “Live Grayter”, I had to unlearn the mindset that you’re only creating for digital consumption and that human connection isn’t paramount.
A recurring marketing approach really prompted the unlearning. Earlier on in my lifestyle blogging experience…I would often tease upcoming projects, or releases, with specific time frames such as…”Coming in Summer 2016”. And before you know it, it’s the Spring of 2018 and that project would still be in draft mode. As a fan of marketing rollouts or promotional campaigns, I would often see musicians tease an album with singles, studios tease films with trailers, or television shows with new season sneak peeks—as a result of my fandom, I would try to mimic that approach, but for me, the projects weren’t done. So I’d trek through weeks, months, or years ashamed that I didn’t meet an announced launch date or delayed launches. And while only a few people may have been excited about a launch, that shame would prevent me from working excitedly or enthusiastically. And while teasers or announcements can still be great, I now make sure that a project or product is finished before any announcement is made. That way, I’m sure I can deliver on a launch date or further enrich the integrity I cultivate for my place in the personal and professional wellness space.
The human connection is integral to branding yourself or marketing your services. There is a human touch in branding—it’s more than the cover of a book, the colors used on that cover, or the suite of colors that you integrate in everything you do. Branding is about the way you make people feel in everything you do, and the more and more you can enrich your integrity, the more and more you’ll elevate your impact.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thejoshuagray.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/thejoshuagray
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/thejoshuagray
- Twitter: www.x.com/thejoshuagray
- Other: www.youtube.com/@thejoshuagray