We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Giovanni Thompson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Giovanni, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
I keep my creativity alive by consistently challenging myself with various projects and creative tasks. If an idea pops in my head to put a creative spin on something popular, no matter how difficult or easy it may seem, the artist in me has to do my best to execute it to the best of my ability. With that, it allows me to push myself creatively and amplify the creative juices I constantly have flowing.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am the CEO of “GZIGNED.”, a graphic designing business that specializing in the range all the way from designing flyers, logos, business cards, to album/magazine/book covers, etc. Over the past few years, I’ve developed a skill of graphic designing from creating flyers and marketing images for various organizations and businesses/companies that I was involved in. I always treated myself like a regular freelance graphic designer who just designed things for people when they wanted and never thought it was necessary to officially launch a business. However, as my demand grew, so did I. After well-needed motivating conversations with my sister and brother, Haywood, I made the decision to follow through with dropping this business because I promised myself that 2023 is the year that I’m going to stop playing with my potential, and really get in my bag, for a bag. You can find my detailed list of all services + prices over on it’s official Instagram page: @gzigned.
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?
Definitely creativity, dedication, and accountability. For those who are novices in their respective journeys, you can best develop or improve those qualities by first having an honest conversation with yourself about what it is you’re wanting to accomplish. This will easily factor out paths you may want to pursue just for the fun of it, instead of pursuing it for the deeper meaning, the happiness it brings you, etc. Once you have that solidified, then proceed to determine what steps it’ll take mentally, emotionally, spiritually, etc. to achieve that. How will you get started? How will hold yourself accountable throughout your journey? Food for thought.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
A book that played an important role in my development as both a creative and human being is my debut collection of poetry, “Incognito”, which is available for purchase on Amazon (search “Incognito Giovanni Thompson”). The writing process of my book has pushed me creatively to see what new concepts I can implement into my poems and my limits as a writer. Some of the most valuable pieces of knowledge I equipped along the way was to never stay stagnant in your creative limits, vow to yourself to see the project through no matter what, and ALWAYS remember why you started doing what you love.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @gzigned & @blvckprvnt
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giovanni-thompson-6246641a7/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@letter2lifepodcast941/videos
Image Credits
@shotzbyblvck
