We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Maya Jones. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Maya below.
Maya, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been 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? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
So, day 1 started January 9th 2019 at Amway center and I was a stagehand for Cher.
I already had previous passions of wanting to DJ/Throw events/ Run lighting and I used starting out as a stagehand as a stepping stone to climb the ranks, learn the ropes, network, all that. I did this for a year and a half before covid hit and I had to get a part time job at Checkers to maintain. It was a really scary time frame.
Fast forward to 2021 I got with a company that was doing all the major music festivals in the country & I slept in crappy motels, traveled around the country with a bunch of friends and built music festivals from the ground up. Still a stagehand but on a bigger scale and I could tell my work ethic and passions outshined a lot of my peers. I kept looking for the next thing, the next level because ultimately I didn’t want to be a stagehand forever, and that lifestyle can draw you in and keep you there if you don’t make the decision to level up. It was incredibly fun though, dont get me wrong. I still go back and work a favorite fest in between other endeavors.
I got picked up by a touring company & got to go on tour with Alice Cooper as one of his lighting techs and the money was good, the treatment was better, lol. I did that for a few months & came back home.
After I came back home I got a job running lights at a venue on International Drive. I freaking love it! Of course there’s things about it that could be different but I get to spend every weekend running shows and it makes me feel like i’m getting closer to my goals. Since i’ve been back i’ve been focusing more on my business and trying to make money without having to travel so much. So now, between the venue, random gigs here and there, people booking me for ambiance lighting at events, and my cute little at-home job for slow seasons; I have been able to make a living off my skills and passions alone. Its a blessing and I thank God for putting on this path!
As for the second part of the question, I really don’t think I could’ve done anything different. You know I already feel like i’m moving up ranks and levels pretty quickly, pretty easily. But I know I could go even further, quicker If I had better discipline and more focus -which I am working on lol.
sorry this was was so long!
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.
So I fell in love with EDM music festivals/Rave Culture at a young age and really wanted to be apart of it somehow. I was really able to break into it through connections I made at the lovely Full Sail University where I studied Show Production. I learned everything I needed to start out as a stagehand for concerts and festivals and just grew my knowledge from there with hands on experience, learning from people, etc.
I have a business called Marvelous Lighting where I specialize in Vibe Curation, I love calling it that. Because I feel like lighting really sets the mood and ambiance for an event and really brings it all together. I feel like one thing that sets me apart is my passion for events and creating experiences. I really want to focus on the Radical Audio Visual Experiences of RAVES and any event I throw or anytime you book me for lighting, I definitely try to make it visually stimulating and immersive because that’s what I enjoy the most about going to music festivals.
What i’m most proud of is…. probably how much i’ve overcome , honestly. I haven’t done anything TOO big yet to feel like my work speaks for itself but I HAVE came this far. Overcoming parents who aren’t totally the most supportive all the time, learning disabilities kept me in a chokehold for awhile. like I went to a school like Full Sail (VERY intense, fast paced, information overload all the time, new classes with completely new information every single month) right out of High School and It was so overwhelming for me all the time and I would always question if I would really, seriously be able to make my dreams a reality… but I am!! I graduated, I am doing it and I’m making my mark and I keep going despite everything that could’ve discouraged me and that’s what I am most proud of, lol.
The main thing I want people to know about my brand is that I am transparent with my journey. I never want to fake it til I make it, I want people to be aware of every bump in the road, every win, every level up, every set back. There’s not a whole lot of content out there for my industry as we tend to be the unsung heroes , lots of NDAs, can’t really post all the cool parts. But for anybody on a similar journey as me whether its DJing, Lighting, or Event Curating I just want to show people how to really do it from the ground up. No real help, no real hand-outs, no friends in the industry. Everything is organic, everything is from my brain, my heart, my soul. I just want to create beautiful moments for people to experience & make it Marvelous.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
So, the winter is usually a pretty slow time in the industry. EDC Orlando had just finished in November and there wouldn’t be any real good gigs until atleast March. So I had to rely on local gigs and the money from my tour that ended in October to keep me afloat until more consistent work started coming in.
January rolls around and there’s no gigs, and the company I usually do festivals with wasn’t trying to book me for anything because they didn’t appreciate that I wasn’t 100% loyal to the company. (I am an independent contractor first). Money starts to get low, I start to get discouraged. Wondering why I chose an industry that pours when it rains but man! Can it leave you dry and wondering where you next gig is coming from.
Beginning of March I still haven’t really worked anywhere or done much of anything and I get a call about a potential tour. Around the same time the festival company hits me up about doing a fest in Late March, I didn’t want to confirm it because If I got the tour, I’d surely do that over the festival. It was a longer tour and they just pay way more than festivals. Anyways, the tour fell through right as the booking closed for the festival and by this time the festival company is completely done with my wishy-washy self lol. So I had nothing to fall back on at this point and I was kindve anxious about what was going to happen next.
I ended up getting a part time job at this amazing Pressed Juice shop called Grounding Roots and I got to work as the operations manager there. It was such a great alternative to the hard labor I was used to. Very quiet, in my own bubble, doing my little duties. I had to keep having conversations with myself about this transition away from the live event world it felt like I had been shut out.(I’m a little dramatic, okay!) I allowed myself to just be grateful that I had some steady income coming in, and then I got the call from the venue to be their new in-house light-board operator! I also applied to work with the Local Union, IATSE 631 here in Orlando which is the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. In between gigs here and there from the Union, to my managerial day job & my new position as a lighting board op, I was able to almost effortlessly move up in ranks in my career, make more money, and have more time to spend with my family and work on my other hobbies such as DJing and Event Curating. Two things everyone will be seeing more of from me in these next upcoming months/years.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Seeing a project come to fruition for sure. Only you know everything that went into this project you’re putting before your peers and to have it get pulled off with minor to no issues and amazing reviews… its just like “hell yeah!”
That was always my favorite part of the music festivals I’d build. Show Day. The day everyone gets to come in and see what you’ve been breaking your back and losing sleep over the past 2-3 weeks to make sure everything was perfect. And you see everyone dancing and smiling, all dressed up. I can’t wait to throw events of my own. The awe from the crowd just can’t be replicated. Its the best part!
Contact Info:
- Website: marvelouslighting.club
- Instagram: @marvelousmaya__
- Facebook: Maya Jones
Image Credits
These are all my own pictures. However, the photos of the stages are not my lighting, just stages I worked on and festivals I worked at.