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

Steven, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

When I transitioned from the nonprofit world into the City of Grapevine’s Economic Development Department, I knew it was the start of a new chapter for me but I didn’t have a clear sense of what that chapter might contain. I was about to get engaged (then married, then become a homeowner, then enter a global pandemic along with everyone else). Looking at my resume, you could find the common threads but it was difficult to see how they would weave together: I went from working in radio to launching a communications department, learning videography and photography on the fly while I relied on my writing and film criticism experience as a foundation. So the logical next step was to join a governmental office driven by data with a director who planned to move on within a month of hiring me. Right?

It just so happens that he left behind one final gift: authorization to start development of a podcast about the history and power of the Grapevine market. His replacement stepped in, loved the trailers we mocked up, and gave it a greenlight. So now I’m not only stepping into a rich new storytelling format, but breaking out the now-deteriorating headphones I used to wear at CBS Radio Tower way back in 2014. After pitching a podcast for my previous employer, 6 Stones, only to shelve it when the staff reorganized a few months later, I felt a little surge of serendipity when we published the first episode of ‘Growing Grapevine’ back in December of 2021.

Soon, we’ll be rolling out a six-episode miniseries on the history of one of Grapevine’s most lauded economic sectors: Travel and Hospitality. It’s fun to be back in the familiar unknown, learning knew skills and sharpening my storytelling with a setting and cast of characters as brilliant as the one we have here in Grapevine.

Steven, 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?

I wish I had been the first person to brand myself a “Storyteller,” but that honor goes to a teammate at 6 Stones Mission Network who has long since moved on to bigger things. Even he didn’t invent the term or the position, although we’ve certainly seen an explosion of that branding in the last few years. Nowadays, people and brands all over the world use the Storytelling shorthand. And, in a way, that’s fitting. Because all of us are Storytellers. Narrative shapes and guides the human experience, in my opinion, because we are wired for relationships; created to be part of a much bigger story.

So what I do is the same thing everyone else does: I do my best to piece together facts and characters into patterns that reflect Truth back to us as we reflect on it. The medium has changed over time: I started with bare words on naked pages, learned to integrate and eventually capture photographs, cultivated the core tenants of those disciplines in the new world of video production, and eventually circled back a little in the aural medium of podcasting. It’s been a long development, starting with a love for writing that dozens of teachers stoked in a very young Steven and more than a few mentors nursed along the way.

I thought I wanted to be a novelist, then a journalist, then a broadcaster. Now, I’d like to think I get to do a little of everything. And I think I got there because of the men and women who let me play with things I didn’t fully understand. As an elementary student in HEB ISD, I “published” little books for my parents every year. In High School, I got to help edit and design a literary magazine that held some of the first stories I entrusted to strange eyes. In college, I had a radio show with 12 whole listeners, some of whom weren’t related to me by blood. I got to be the co-editor and lead interviewer for a niche movie blog that shut down when we grew up and got real jobs. And when I graduated, some truly incredible professionals let me screw up late-night broadcasts on 103.7 KVIL, a legacy station here in DFW. When I realized that wasn’t the place for me, I landed back home with a nonprofit that hired me to write but trusted me to figure out a camera along the way. And now, I’m debuting in the podcast space as a writer and producer in one of the most storied cities DFW has to offer.

I owe most, if not all, of that development to the people who let me learn on the fly and trusted me to use the things I’m good at to cover the things I still hadn’t figured out. Because of them, I understand the value of curiosity; the benefits of being a life-long learner in a world that changes at the exponential pace of technology. So I guess I’m mostly proud of the fact that I’ve been able to validate that trust, so far.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Our culture tends to push a narrative of self-sufficiency that is untrue and unhelpful.

First of all: no one succeeds on their own, and no one pulls themselves up “by their bootstraps.” People aren’t born with bootstraps, so at the very least your success is owed in part to the cobbler who made your proverbial shoes.

Second: going it alone isn’t strength, it’s folly. Admitting that someone is better than you are at something isn’t a white flag of surrender. It’s an olive branch that leads to fruitful alliances.

Third: perfection is a useless standard. As a recovering perfectionist, let me confess that the number-one killer of my dreams and potential is my own unmet expectations for myself.

It’s hard to say I learned all of that in a particular moment, but if I had to pick one it’d be the time I found out that 28-year-old, super-healthy me had developed hypertension by building up too heavy a workload for one person and then trying to execute everything perfectly without asking anyone for help. I thought they wouldn’t “do it right.” Turns out, neither could my circulatory system.

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

I am by no means a thriving Creator. I actually stopped doing freelance work because the time and stress weren’t worth it and I never had the clientele to justify launching an actual business, so I got hammered every year on my tax return when I filed as an individual. BUT I got the job I have almost entirely by reputation: the selective group of folks I have worked with loved the product I delivered, and they enjoyed their interactions with me. Which led to warm hand-offs that gave me more chances to prove myself.

So I’d say the key is to build honest, dependable relationships when you’re working and networking. Pick projects you can complete with passion and your talent will shine through. Focus on delivering something that both you and the client are proud of, and they’ll likely come back around or introduce you to new clients. And, most importantly, honor the people you interact with. Respect their time and intellect, speak positively but honestly, and remember that they are part of your process, too.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://vocal.media/authors/steven-a-jones
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevena.jones/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenajon/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/StevenAJ0nes

Image Credits
Commish – Rachel Martinez, 6 Stones Wedding – Shelley Elena Photography