We recently connected with Jo’el Steven Rouse and have shared our conversation below.
Jo’el Steven, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?
Definitely from a combination of things. Passion. Purpose. But at root, taking something that excites me or fundamentally gives me joy. Then believing I have a path and an ambition to see a journey through. In a nutshell, that’s been my sports media career. I was the 14 year old kid who realized I enjoyed the challenge of reliving and trying to articulate what I’d witnessed watching sports. Basketball. Tennis. Track & field? These incredible feats by Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Jennifer Capriati, Duke or Michigan in an NCAA Final Four. And then writing about it. What started as me playing around on my parents’ computer doing game recaps turned into me taking a journalism class junior year of high school. Eventually becoming high school sports editor, majoring in it at Indiana University and launching a professional career. Thirty some odd years later, I’m still writing about it. Still enjoying it and still proud to be building my own Houston sports magazine of the past 16 years now.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’m the owner, Editor and lead writer for inOtherWordzMagazine Houston. A niche print & digital publication that reaches the Metro’s college, pro, Olympic and Service Academy athletes. Managing to reconnect with and localize a lot of stories that get lost or ignored by larger media outlets too lazy or limited to do timely followups. Think, the former local high school Star quarterback who leaves Houston to play for Harvard. The former high school girls soccer All-American who attends Michigan or Florida and perhaps is no longer the Star player; but has straight A’s or is still managing to impact a team or community in different ways. This is the meat of inOtherWordz. It’s a TON of work. On and off the phone for media relations reps and agents. Mostly phone interviews. But we’ve been doing live photoshoots for cover stories since 2016. The ultimate goal is to eventually secure sponsorship and have our magazine carried free to customers at participating barber and beauty salons. Places where Houston sports fans slow down enough to read and discuss the kids they know from the community doing notable things all over the country.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I’ll present one of each. My most impactful quality has unquestionably been resilience. Through hardship, through career disappointment and watching a lot of other local media outlets steal ideas from inOtherWordz. You don’t go through my journey self publishing and financing a print magazine for 16 years without have fight in you! Iron will and determination to push forward.
Impactful skill? I think it’s my resourcefulness. I think basic life experiences become the foundation for everything you’ll encounter in small business. So having moved around a lot, having covered sports in 6 prior media markets before launching inOtherWordz. Having always embraced covering everything from football to gymnastics to auto racing lol! I learn to appreciate and use every experience resourcefully.
Most impactful area of knowledge; I’m gonna pivot on this answer. I think having knowledge is great. But being open and willing to continually learn something new. That’s been my strength because I think a lot of entrepreneurs get struck and stop embracing the fact they’ll have to keep learning to grow and go forward.
That’s probably my best advice to anyone interested in walking this path? To expect to and be comfortable with the concept of always learning new things to make progress. There is No mountaintop. Only a journey of thousands of miles.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
Well, I’ve had several friends and colleagues who’ve played undeniable roles in my development. I’ll shoutout New York editors Leon Carter, Sandy Rosenbush. My old Tacoma editor Dale Phelps. Top members of my inOtherWordz team: Wraine Meadows (design), Micah Enard (design) and Tony Hadnot Jr (Lead photographer). But I’d like to humbly credit my mentor and industry big brother Jake McDonald down in Atlanta. We’ve talked shop daily for the past 15 years. About the business, about opportunities to keep growing and staying two steps ahead of the competition. More than X’sband O’s of media, he’s helped me evolve into the journalist and businessman I am today.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.magcloud.com/browse/magazine/103778
- Instagram: @iowsports
- Other: (E) [email protected]
Image Credits
Personal photo by LeTony Hadnot Jr/Different Mind Designs All magazine photos credit to iOW Sports
