Meet Locke Knight

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Locke Knight. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Locke, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

I was an overweight kid and pretty sheltered. I didn’t have many friends and was constantly met with doubt immediately when I met anyone new. I was thought either thought of as the “lazy guy” or the “quitter” so I decided to prove everyone who thought that about me wrong and show everyone new that I met that I was not only determined but also hardworking.

When I was 16 years old and 305 lbs I decided to get my first job and lose the extra weight. I went down to 165 lbs within the first year and started my path to becoming a filmmaker.

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 like to keep myself busy so I try to explore different hobbies all the time. My main hobby is filmmaking and photography. I consider myself a cinematographer but others may consider me a brand manager. I produce video and photography content for local brands (mostly in fitness). My current ventures are Locke Knight Film & Photography, WCKD Films, and a new venture launching soon which is called NTV CRW Co. (Native Crew Co.) Locke Knight Film & Photography began as a way to help my indigenous community grow. Having grown up on a reservation and being Pyramid Lake Paiute, I know that indigenous communities often don’t receive the same resources as most communities do. Having a background in branding and film, I decided to take my skill and offer it to indigenous owned brands to help our communities expand and give ourselves a true and unfiltered voice. This eventually expanded outside the indigenous communities and had led me to offering services to remodel companies, very large and well know clothing brands, real estate agencies, gyms, etc.

WCKD Films is an extension of Locke Knight Film & Photography. Through my time as a filmmaker I have been able to witness the journey some of my clients have been on and the path they took. I realized that there are a lot of really awesome things people do for themselves and wanted to celebrate that. WCKD Films follows these individuals and showcases their journey to their dreams and goals.

Finally, NTV CRW Co. is a clothing brand launching this October. Like I said I like to keep myself busy and after having been a videographer for a large clothing brand, I wanted to try out the industry myself. NTV CRW will offer premium and handcrafted clothing items that celebrate and honor indigenous and native cultures and traditions. I am collaborating with well know indigenous artists around the globe to create minimal yet elegant designs.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

1. Loyalty
2. Confidence
3. Self Respect

My advice for anyone starting their journey is to have the highest of respect for yourself. People you work for WILL try to take advantage of you and what you have to offer and you must have the ability to stand up for yourself, have the confidence to speak for your own well being and be comfortable saying yes or no to certain situations. This takes years and years of practice to achieve but as soon as you do, you’ll find yourself in a better situation as you would have been the one to put yourself there on your own terms.

Another thing I just thought of which could also fit into this is that EVERYTHING is negotiable. From pay to working schedule to creative decisions. If someone says that something is final or something is done a certain way because “that’s just how it is” it means they don’t have any true power in their role and you need to talk to someone else. Something that’s required to negotiate is the skill or expertise you must possess in order to prove that you’re worth what you’re asking for.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

I think my biggest area of growth has been discovering that I am the problem. I have worked with some incredible leaders across many industries and some incredibly terrible “leaders” in the same industries. With those I didn’t get along with, I would constantly blame them for being bad at what they do but have finally realized that we are all brought up differently and the issue isn’t them, it’s me. I am not on the level they are in terms of intelligence, patience, experience, etc. You have to accept where people are at in their personal and/or business life but in the meantime work to surround myself with those who will teach new ideas, challenge, and those you can make progress with.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lockeknight.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lockexknight

Image Credits

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