Meet Elijah Smith

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elijah Smith a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Elijah , great to have you with us today and excited to have you share your wisdom with our readers. Over the years, after speaking with countless do-ers, makers, builders, entrepreneurs, artists and more we’ve noticed that the ability to take risks is central to almost all stories of triumph and so we’re really interested in hearing about your journey with risk and how you developed your risk-taking ability.
“If you wanna change your life you gotta take risk” When I was younger my father always told me if you fall get up and try again and stand through the adversity. So for me it’s just knowing not to be afraid to fail. When I was younger and early on in my journey I was afraid of failure. That was the last thing I ever wanted in this life…in any aspect. But now I think it’s a necessity cause failure is going to come in everybody’s journey just gotta know to keep going and keep trying new things. Also just growing confidence in my work and trusting it, I know what I’m capable of doing so the risk is hardly something I’m ever worried about and just knowing risk comes with reward!

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Im Elijah Smith an multitalented artist from Charlotte NC. I’m a film photographer, creative director for brand campaigns, and brand owner. First started off with my clothing brand Set Studios then eventually that opened up my other artist abilities. I started my brand during 2020 and before my brand I was doing a lot of modeling and just trying to get on the scene. I always believed that nobody can see my vision as I would. So early on when it came to promo I was doing all my brands promo by my self until I created a solid team that I trust to bring my vision to life. I was always interested into film cameras so I shot my first brand shoot with one. I just taking a risk and trying something new and I fell in love with shooting film and directing films.

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?
Patience , storytelling , and originality are the biggest qualities to me . I think patience is the number one quality you have to have when being an artist or just business owner in general. Sometimes you aren’t going to sellout a product. Creating a brand takes time understand your vision and goals before stepping out there, Understand timing is everything. Storytelling is so important when starting a brand. Ive learned that creating an art with a story behind it is always better than meaningless art. Consumers like to connect with clothes and art so I think being able to push promo with a story behind it is super important. Lastly be original in your work it’s okay to be inspired but always add your own flavor to everything you do, its your own art so leave your own mark on it.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
Just installing confidence and believing in me since I was a little kid. Not many know now butI grew up with a speech impediment. All through elementary school and some middle school I had a really bad stutter and a lot of times it was very hard for me to speak fluently without any breaks in my speech. I use to be discouraged and not really want to speak often times but my parents always told me never stop talking and just keep talking and being yourself . Saying that to say going through that experience was the best thing to ever happen to me cause it taught me how to be confident within myself and knowing who I am.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
All Pictures were taken on Film by Me (Elijah Smith)

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