We recently connected with Varion “Se7eN Howard and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Varion “Se7eN thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?

Professionally is where I am misunderstood the most. There isn’t an abundance of Mega Star poets. Therefore there isn’t an infrastructure to model after., adhere to or emulate.. I invested in my vision from an artist stand where it’s more about fruition on the vision than it is about ROI. Needless to say that model is flawed because overspending usually occurs. I began to want other poets to experience what I had achieved or at least a version of it and what I learned was most people were not willing to invest in themselves as I had done yet wanted the same results. Often it was said “oh that’s to expensive”, “that’s not worth it” or “but I’m your friend why would you charge me like that”. Due to most peoples lack of business etiquette I was labeled a shrewd, cutthroat business man when in fact had I done business as requested by my fellow poets I would have been the one hemorrhaging.

Creatively my origins and connections to artistic expression stems from the southern Baptist church. My opinions about life which were very much rooted in the Old and New Testament began to come under scrutiny from time to time the bigger I got as an artist. In the poem “stepping up to the plate” I speak about a boy not having male role models in his life and naturally gravitating to the only example of strength he’d seen which was a female. A gentleman at church was livid that I would even connect such and I explained to him the absence of either energy in a child’s life would be harmful to the development of the child. He felt I was attacking single mothers, he felt I was attacking gay men and that simply was not the case. Lastly, I have a poem titled “the Jesus Piece” and I remember going to the east coast and being asked not to perform that piece. It was in that moment I truly embraced the fact that we do not all serve or believe in the same God.

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

My introduction into the industry was pure happenstance. A friend named Kyle Lynch asked me to ride with him one night and we went to my 1st open mic in the city of Houston. I performed and was told by Zen “hey you may want to keep doing this” I blew him off and he grabbed me by my arms and shook me like a rag doll and said “HEY, You need to keep performing Poetry you’re different. The rest is history!

: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal is to become one of the wealthiest and biggest names of poetry that the entertainment industry has ever seen. I want to keep building this art form up until it is as big as Hip Hop, As big as acting, As big as dance…and attainable at all levels. We have got to move out of coffee houses and lounges.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I had taken on more investors early on. I always felt like the return should be in abundance and since I never wanted anyone to lose (even on accident) I wouldn’t let anyone invest. Remember, originally I had no business plan, no business model. Now I am far more confident about providing a return to those that are willing to invest in me or my company or both.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @se7enthepoet
• Facebook: @se7enthepoet Or Varion Howard
• Linkedin: Varion Howard
• Twitter: @se7enthepoet
• Youtube: @se7enthepoet

Image Credits
CAllen @shootyourshot JP @jpmakedaphotos