We were lucky to catch up with Mike Jones recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mike, thanks for joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

The story behind how VIOLET became the name derives from a couple of different places. Purple is the color of dreams, which plays a huge part in my life because ever since i was young I used to have the most vivid dreams and every time there would be message for me in them. The sky would be a vibrant shade of lavender with clouds and the ground would be water. I’ve met people in my dreams before actually meeting them in person, i’ve experienced things before it happening in person, let alone, my creative side was shown to me in them before I even though about stepping into the creative world in real life. Another part of the meaning behind it is that Lavender is my favorite type of plant. I carry around a small bottle of lavender oil to help relax me and get my creative energy flowing before I do any type of shooting! Lastly. what made me zone in on the actual word VIOLET is i used to play this game called Tekken and the name of one of my favorite characters was Lee but he had an alter-ego named Violet.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was born on the coast of North Carolina, but spent majority of my adolescent days growing up in Raleigh, North Carolina. I obtained my Bachelor’s in Sport Management with a minor in Coaching from Liberty University in 2018. Post graduation, I joined Wake Forest University’s football program working in recruiting and creative media for the 2018-19 season. In April of 2019, I left Wake Forest and joined University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s football program working in creative media there as well. After two seasons there, I was brought on to work for NC State’s football program as the Director of Creative. After one season at NC State, in August 2019, I joined the Charlotte Hornets’ digital team focusing on design and photography. Outside of my sports career, I discovered portrait in 2019 but never exercised it as much because I was so zoned in on sports. One day, I randomly woke up and had the urge to put more energy into establishing creative identity outside of sports and dove into concert, music, & editorial photography. Throughout the years I have collaborated on projects and also provided camera work (photo + video) for Raleigh Workshop, Eastbay, Footlocker, The BLK Originals (shoutout Jas & Sam), Champs, Dreamville, BET, Okayplayer and also had the opportunity to help out/assist on set with a project with Complex. Also, my work has been published numerous times on ESSENCE & ESPN, Okayplayer, BleacherReport, and also I have a few publications in some magazines. In addition, I have few HUGE collaborations and projects that are in the currently in the works that I can’t currently say but will be revealed soon!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

The quote “Close mouths don’t get fed”, is one of the most truest statements in the creative industry. One thing people say about me is that i’ve always marketed myself as a multifaceted artist. I worked on all my skills to the point where its hard to label me as just one thing. Another thing about myself that helped build my reputation is being a”go-getter”. Any opportunity that comes into my realm I go beyond limits to seize it. One quote that’s been recently weighing heavy on me when it comes to marketing myself to land projects came from a close friend of mine, Victor Lytvinenko, and it was “Follow your heart.. what do you have to lose?….EVERYTHING!”

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

The most rewarding takeaway is that I get to do what I love every time I pick up my camera no matter what the opportunity is. As long as what i do brings happiness and joy to myself while also inspiring others, that’s all that matters. I’ve reached a level of peace in my creativity that i’m not creating for likings of others anymore and only for myself and the joy that it brings me. I have even dialed back on publicly sharing my work on my socials and only putting out things that I genuinely want to share with the world (which isn’t much), instead of pushing content that only seeks likes, comments, and engagement.

Contact Info:

• Website: mikejonesnc
• Instagram: mikejonesnc
• Twitter: mikejonesnc_

Image Credits
The photo of Myself provided for the Personal Photo tab was taken by Colin Rex @colintrex