We recently connected with Matt Cockrell and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Matt, thanks for joining us today. So, what do you think about family businesses? Would you want your children or other family members to one day join your business?

For me as a graphic designer and photographer, family business is the root of my business model. I love the aspect of being able to set my own schedule and have a large involvement with my two boys. As I edit or design, my boys are constantly around me coloring or playing games related to colors. Family business, allows me to sell or produce products and keep the family close. Personally, my family and I would rather support a family business that’s producing unique goods that are made from love of a craft vs. a wide spread product that everyone can have access to.

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 back background and context?

I have been very blessed to have been featured in other online readings. The short answer to what got me into my career as a graphic designer/photographer is this, Bowling! When I started bowling, I’d just dropped out of music school at the University of Memphis. After a couple months of bowling, I got sponsored by a bowling ball company that sent me some cool shirts, but I wanted to try and create something better. Over the following months, I started creating my own bowling shirts which started to get popular in the bowling community and inspired me to create my own business when no one would hire me after graduating college.

After spending a short time in Las Vegas with a clothing manufacture, I started a job in China Town from 2015 to 2020 when covid hit. During covid I started doing photography again to have a reason to get out of the house. Sitting around doing nothing after awhile is not in my DNA. Once restriction started lifting for covid, I started getting booked for small photoshoots and decided it was time to get my designs off the ground again. In the spring of 2024, I will be launching 3 different brands, two clothing and one that will specifically handle design/photography.

My latest Moto has been, let’s talk about your design/photo needs and let’s figure out a budget to make your dreams happen. During Covid, I was married to my lovely wife Malisa. We were looking for a wedding photographer for only a couple hours. The prices were crazy for just a couple hours. I didn’t want to disrespect the photographers as they all had amazing portfolios, though my budget was just not allowing me to make it happen.
So, I decided, I didn’t want to alienate anyone based on price.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I was finishing college I was sending all of my clothing designs to Las Vegas to be manufactured, I landed a deal with a company that makes car care products that wanted shirts for the 2015 SEMA Show
in Las Vegas, I made a deal to gain access to the show as I am a huge car enthusiast and knew I’d have access
to make more contacts with other manufactures. After a successful show, I ended up merging with my clothing manufacture as the opportunities were endless. After moving to Las Vegas in 2015 to merge, the company and I parted ways in Dec. 2015. I Thought things were over, everything I’d worked so hard for came tumbling to a halt.
A couple months later, I met a guy who ran printers and the sewing for the same company that faced the same fate. We teamed up and started working together for a short time. We landed a contract to design apparel for a TV Show on Animal Planet, Tanked.

Never give up, because if your dream is big enough and you believe in it hard enough, no one can stop you.
Since then, I’ve had many ups and down. However, I still have not given up. In the spring of 2024, I am setting up
to launch 3 new brands.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist for me is sitting with a client to understand their wants and needs. Then when you deliver the product and it is far greater then what the client expected. Seeing the jaw drop is what makes it worth it for me. I always keep the mind set of there is always someone better than I. So seeing the clients reaction is always the most rewarding thing!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Mac_designs_lv

Image Credits
ALL PHOTOS AND DESIGNS WERE DESIGNED BY MATT COCKRELL