We recently connected with Jovan Williams and have shared our conversation below.

Jovan , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Yes, I have earned a full-time living from my creative work. It was a leap of faith, confidence and assurance to myself as I left my hospital job as a food service worker at St. Lukes Mount Siani Hospital in Harlem, NY. I had previously started a brand with a late beloved friend of mine. As I learned the ropes and went through the growing pains of developing, creating and producing that brand, I gained some knowledge of designing for a niche market, promotion, advertising and customer service. This was just the beginning of my true independence as a creative.

My exit strategy wasn’t so simple. All throughout my 2 and a quarter years at working in the hospital. I hustled while also doing my work hours. I sold clothing, IPTV on media boxes and even Chinese herbal wine mixed with roots in the form of shots. I have 3 children. I had to have multiple streams of income.

Unfortunately, I had to moved on from the partnership I had and went on to start my own brand, which took a lot of time, research, development, designing and courage. I figured since Im such a people person, a creative and a business man, I start a brand which incorporates all the above. And there was born Von Don United. Which basically was a mixture of a moniker deriving from my name Jovan and myself united with others creatively through business.

Designing great logos and products were one of the main aspects of achieving full-time earnings from my creative business. Literally creating undeniable in your face graphics, using optimal placements of logos and using color ways and garments that just stood out to the world. It made it where as long as I was advertising consistently and persistently, that I would guarantee myself sells from new and repeat customers. Ultimately customers became more like family which made my brand feel more community oriented.

Attracting everyday customers from family members to celebrities my brand became nationally recognized. People started to inquire about my how I come up with my designs and how my products were made. Lo and behold, everything was in house. I created so many designs and products that people would love, I started offering my services to close friends and then the public. This is where I scaled up my design business on top of having my own brand. Definitely having some of my own in-house equipment and designing sped up the processes in achieving a successful business.

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.

Greetings world, my name is Jovan A. Williams a.k.a. Von Don a.k.a. many other relative monikers that you would randomly hear me shouting out in random conversations, Lol. It’s part of my creative nature to come up with catchy names. I’m a graphic, fashion designer and overall creative of many things. I’ve been into the arts since a child. One of my first accolades of being an artist was winning an art award while in 2nd grade at my elementary school. I was amazed, being that other people could draw alike. The objective was to draw who we wanted to be when we grew up. Oddly, I drew a bunch of service workers, knowing I loved art so much. But I did so well at it I actually won the contest. The prizes for a 2nd grader was way more than enough to encourage me to continue creating artwork.

I continued my journey as an artist from there studying under my father whom attended and became alumni at The School of Visual Arts. I won scholarships to attend classes at the Bronx Arts Museum and also attended classes at The Bronx Arts Center. Unfortunately, I planned on attending the High School of Art & Design, but I never completed the portfolio to be considered for admission. I had left art alone for a few years when a friend and I thought of making a clothing line. I already loved fashion and was thinking of ideas throughout the previous years.
This made me eager to pursue the opportunity to become a graphic and fashion designer.

I’ve been an independent graphic and fashion designer for at least 10 years now. Offering cutting edge, unique designs and clothing for the community whom has a keen eye for inspired pieces and originals alike. A lot of my designs reference popular eras and styles which resonate to times when streetwear and high fashion began. At these times hip hop and the street culture had a major influence on who wore what and why.

Being that I was big on delivering the best graphics I could, I also wanted to match that same energy with the actual garments being embellished. And to do so, I started talking classes to learn screen printing where I learned how to set up images to be printed and burned into screens all the way to curing the garments in the end. Adding to that I recently enrolled in a fashion trade school where I learned to operate an industrial sewing machine. I also learned how create patterns and constructs garments from scratch.

Aside from running my own clothing line and designs business. Ive helped many others do the same. From ideas, to designing, development, sourcing and production. I even helped form business entities for many. Helping them get more familiar and established in the business of fashion. During this process I’ve meet a lot of influential, famous and successful people, whom all became interested in my brand and the services I was offering. Building great business relationships with others entrepreneurs. These are definitely some of the things I’m proud of accomplishing in this industry.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

In my opinion the most rewarding aspect of being a creative is to share my thoughts in art forms with the world. Being able to express myself creatively using my senses is amazing. You get to endlessly explore with different textures and mediums to create things people wear, listen to and just even gaze at in thought. Like the good ol’ saying, ” A picture is worth a thousand words!”. My personal favorite creations are forms of clothing. Knowing the sense of joy, a person feels and the confidence they walk with while wearing something I created is priceless. Like I tell my peers, “If I had more promising streams of income, I’d make clothes for fun!”

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Where do I begin? Lol, I have so many reasons I do what I do! I mean for one, my family background is of fine artists, tailors, models and musicians. That’s a start. Lol. But even on a more serious note. I was raised in an artistic household; my bedroom was an art studio. As my father worked on art projects, I sat there and mimicked him, experimenting with all types of art materials. I also was taken advertising agencies when I was younger. My father worked for Macys in the advertising department, creating the layouts and organizing artwork for their catalogues. He worked for many other agencies with Macys being the most notable.

I also worked on so many art projects with my father in my younger years. This drove me closer to the passion of creating artwork. We’ve worked on banners, flyers, murals, signage on awnings and many more forms of artwork. This was the foundation of my career as a designer.

Thereafter, I basically fused my love for art, fashion and technology. Thinking to myself how can I lose or fall short of my creative glory. This is genius! Becoming a professional, world renowned graphic and fashion designer was my goal. I’ve always heard the saying “If you do what you love, you’ll never work another day in your life”. This saying is constantly driving my creative journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://vondonunited.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vondonunitednyc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vondonunited/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jovan-williams-b3a4833b/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/vondonunited

Image Credits
@chuck.ography