We recently connected with LANCE BRIMMAGE and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, LANCE thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
The story behind my mission with Zero Dark Thirty was always to grow the company to be bigger than me. I started 3 years ago after picking up my first camera and I haven’t looked back.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Everyone and I mean everyone always thinks that Zero Dark Thirty Media originated from the movie Zero Dark Thirty, which could be further from the reason. When in fire academy our chief would always say, “ Alright class we need to be on the grounds by Zero Dark Thirty. I always thought it was an amazing term. Plus this is when I was working out at 3am’s consistently so it resonated with me.
After completing Fire Academy I started to take more responsibilities at Iron KnIght Gym as a personal trainer. Posting more on social and helping run the main gym page for Iron Knight Gym. After a while I bought my first camera which was a Sony A7ii and started to create more and more with it. First it was pictures and then it turned into video. After that the things started rolling. I shot my first meet which was Battle of the Bay in Tampa just for free and as practice for myself. I got more curious into how much I could possibly learn with photography and videography and kept practicing until I actually got booked for a shoot.
After getting booked for Powerlifting meets, Strongman competitions and helping the St Lucie Fire Combat Challenge team ZDT grew like wild fire and I knew this was the path I wanted to be on.
I went the route as a photographer and videographer while still be certified as a firefighter in Florida. It was a huge risky jump but I was willing to give my all and it paid off. .
Now I’ve worked with some of the biggest names in the strength industry like Chris Bumstead and Arnold Schwarzenegger and I couldn’t be more humble to even be in this position.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I love this question because it’s something that I never knew we instilled in me from retail.
A huge lesson that I had to learn and I’m still learning till this day is just being aloud to dream even if it’s not on your own dime. Corey the owner of Iron Knight Gym and honestly my mentor from day one is huge on this and I swear it is his super power.
On the other hand me coming from Retail like PacSun and Zumiez you’re molded into day to day operations and you just know these certain things have to just be in place by upper management and there’s no changing that.
I had the hardest time breaking the mold and not being afraid to dream a little.
How did you build your audience on social media?
So if you’ve known me for a while you know that I was on Vine and I had 500k followers while the app was still going strong. The best advice I can give anyone is just be yourself. Experiment with different things on your timeline. I see so many people struggling with growing on social and really as a creative I feel like you’ll attract the ones that need to see your art work. Just let the universe do it’s thing and you’ll be golden.
Contact Info:
- Website: zerodarkthirtymedia.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/
itsjustlanceb?igshid= YjNmNGQ3MDY - Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lance-brimmage-951452b0