We recently connected with Ralph Jarrells and have shared our conversation below.

Ralph , appreciate you joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

My company is The Little Black Rocking Chair. Because that is how I learned to be creative. Before there was “timeout”, there was the little black rocking chair. As a child, when I misbehaved, my mother would say go sit in the rocking chair. If I was really bad, she would say to sit in the chair and face the wall. I guess I spent a lot of time facing the wall. But, that wasn’t punishment for me because the wall became my escape into whatever world I wanted it to be. I spent time in medieval times as a knight. I could be a colonel directing a major battle. I could change the outcome of any situation. There wasn’t anything I couldn’t do facing my wall. Fact is that my mother’s punishment taught me there was nothing I couldn’t do. That education followed me in school, the workplace and in my other creative endeavors such as my writing. It even helped me in getting published.

Ralph , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Between my senior year in high school and freshman year in college, I worked as a reporter/photographer for an ABC affiliate television station. Fast forward to my sophomore year. I was asked to be the News Director of that station. I was nineteen years old and I was responsible for a half-hour local television newscast. My Little Rocking chair mentality followed me and my three-year career there was successful. I had a one-on-one interview with Malcolm X; interviewed senior members of the Ku Klux clan and filmed a cross burning; I provided ABC Network film four times but, what I found was that there was very little money in television news in the 1960s. My next move was into radio. Then to governmental public relations. By 1970, I was the youngest department head in SC s government. My next major move was into marketing for an international auto parts company. Then to the largest advertising agency in the world at that time as VP. Then to VP of a trade magazine publishing company. Then as Sr.VP of an international franchise company and finally as VP of Marketing of an NYSE company. All thanks to the Little Black Rocking Chair. I retired and started a video production company and won a few international creative awards.

I completed my first novel in 2017 and it was accepted by the first publisher I submitted it to. I have been writing it for 40 years. “ill gotten gain” saw the light of day. When it was published I asked my publisher, “What should I do now.” He said, write another. I did and book two, “Fiery Red Hair, Emerald Green Eyes and A Vicious Irish Temper” was finished and published in 2019. “Jesus-Judas: Best Friends Forever” followed in 2020. Currently working on a WW1 love story and a murder mystery.

I believe that anything is possible if you hold your work to a very high standard, thoroughly research what you are doing and never stop, period.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Almost every job/career change was a pivotal point in my life…new places to live, new job requirements, becoming an expert in many requirements/responsibilities where I had no experience, learning how to travel and learning how to allow a subordinate the responsibility of an assignment even if I knew or thought I could do it better. The last one was the hardest for me to learn and accept.

Being truthful in an interview even if you think you might misstep can be pivotal. Two examples…I was being interviewed by the President of the largest advertising agency in the world. I already had a job so there was less concern of not being considered. He closed by asking if I had any concerns about the company. I told him that it was amazing to me that I was even considering employment with his company. He asked me why? I told him that the company had a reputation for pigeon-holeing people, Hiring them for one thing and not allowing them to do more and bigger projects. He spent over a half hour convincing me that my information was wrong. I took the job and found that the image I had was correct. In another interview, I was being considered for the VP of Marketing of a new product that was a part of an NYSE company. I knew the company and knew of the guy I would be working for. Near the end of the interview, he ask if I had any questions for him. I thought for a few moments and stated, “Well, you have the reputation of being quite an a**hole. He stopped, looked at me and considered what I said and how he would respond. He smiled and said that he had heard that too. I got the job.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Especially for creatives, self-satisfaction is the true measure of the success of a job/project/a piece of art/an ad/a video/a commercial … whatever. You can not allow other considerations to be the judge of you and your work. It can make money but if it is bad, you have lowered your standards.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ralphejarrellsauthor.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ralphejarrells/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralph-e-jarrells-42a523b/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstDayLight
• Other: www.jesus-judas.com www.fieryredhair.com www.illgottengain.net www.africanorphanscookbook.com www.belizebaseball.org https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/128407764 https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/201063109 https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/258738274

Image Credits
all my work