Meet Mike Lee

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mike Lee. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mike below.

Hi Mike , you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?

My generosity comes from the desire to be the type of resource that I needed when I first started my artistry.
When I first started doing music I had no idea how to get shows, or how to customize merchandise to sell & promote, or even how to network and gather other important resources,. I had to take the long way (or the stairs. It took me a while to realize that the music industry is simply a business, and it’s nobody’s business to teach business. I had to watch peers around me and cherry pick the moves that were working for my peers. But at the same time stay true to myself.

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?

Right now, I am dual focused on being a recording/performing artist and a videographer/photographer. As a recording artist, I am focused on performances at major venues all across the United States right now I am focusing on DC Maryland, and Virginia. Most recently in the DMV I have performed at Songbyrd music Hall, Union stage and Legacy DC amongst several other venues across the area. I have built relationships with several venue owners, and that allows me to also curate my own events my own shows and through that I am able to bring in other artists that I value and to give them opportunities as well and that is very important to me as well. That would mean I’m also an event coordinator however that comes third to my videography and artistry.
I would like to expand both focuses to Philadelphia, North Carolina and Atlanta in the next 6 to 8 months. Music has always been a very big part of my life I started Recording music around 12 or 13 years old and I’ve always recorded since then off and on. For the last six years, I would say I’ve been very consistent with releasing music, whether it be singles, albums, or joint albums with other artists.
Videography is a deep passion of mine that I always knew I was interested in and after I graduated from Morgan State University with my bachelors degree in broadcast journalism, I felt invigorated to get behind the camera and to the editing table. I learned how to use the editing software Final Cut Pro in college until this day. I still use that software along with using software like CapCut and Canva. I have added to my editing skill set. I started shooting music videos six years ago, and I was my first test subject. I started filming myself and editing my own music videos over time. I have built relationships with other videographers where we can team up and make more extravagant videos. I have my own YouTube channel where my videos are housed and other videos that I shoot for other artists. Over the last three years, I have begin to expand from music videos to content creation for artist which helps them get out ideas and content that is built around music that they are promoting. One of my favorite pieces of content that I have created was a documentary for an artist by the name of Clifford cartel where I traveled with him throughout the DMV and even down to Florida for video shoots, and we built a documentary for one of his albums. In the last year, I have added interviewer to my repertoire of content, creation, filming and editing. I currently work with a boutique record label by the name of open market records, where I should exclusive content like music, videos, interviews, and small daily content for their store and artists.
As an artist, I go by the name GOHARDMIKELEE. I also use that as my Director name as well. However, over the last three years, I have built my media brand which is under “Pineapple Club Umbrella.” This media brand is the house where all of my creations live, and I plan for that to get bigger and bigger as time goes on when I am done being an artist, and I slow down on shooting all of the videos and editing all of the content. I want pineapple club umbrella to still live as an imprint in the DMV and all over the nation and to stand for Amazing visuals that bring ideas to life. The pineapple club umbrella website is live and that is where individuals can book sessions for interviews, music videos, and they can buy merchandise that represents the brand.

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?

Keeping God first. As a Christian everything for me starts with God. All of my gifts come from him; my ability to edit, the eye that I have to see certain shots that someone else may not see, and my drive, all comes from God.

Remaining humble and open to learning new things. To get better at creating music and being a better videographer starts with being humble enough to know that you can always learn more. So I put myself around people that know more than me and that I’ve believe are doing things better than me so that I can learn new things you have to do research and better your craft and you always have to be in that mindset because being stagnant and complacent can stifle your creativity.

Knowing your why. This is very simple for me because without knowing your “why” it’s very easy to quit. So pick your “why” and make sure that it strikes a cord with your heart, your mind and your community because letting down either three of those is not an option if you really care about them.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I am 100% looking for people to partner with. As an artist, I always want to work with people who love working. Engineers, producers, singers, rappers, venues, businesses are all of interest to me. We can all be an aid to one another and help build the community that will push music into the next generation. This goes for my videography as well I want to shoot more music videos for artist I want to continue to build content strategies and shoot interviews for businesses that want to expand their brand and reach a new audience. People interested in working with me can follow me on Instagram at @Gohardmikeleemusic and @pineappleclub_umbrella. They can visit my website www.pineappleclubumbrella.com and book a music video or interview. Or you can email me at Gohardmikelee@gmail.com.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

GOHARDMIKELEE

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