We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Pofsky a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Pofsky, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
Resilience to me has been built through perseverance. Time and time again going through the motions of success and failure. The most rewarding thing is failing over and over again until you do finally get it right. Resilience is a word that was introduced to me by my mom at an early age – maybe I just didn’t exactly resonate with it until I got older and truly honed in on it for myself. Watching her and my pops develop a business all through my childhood was nothing less than the best example of hard work and dedication. Finding what I love, which of course is music, has really helped me develop levels of resilience as I’ve grown. Then, co-mingling music with business and getting the opportunity to develop, not only one company, but several has been a key point of me becoming who I am today. My resilience comes from me knowing and loving what I do, then being extremely confident in that.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My days consist of a constant balance between executing my music career and navigating the empire we are building known as, “UNDRGRND”. 2022 was extremely motivational for my team and I after accomplishing many milestones like landing our first notable artist, AzChike on the cover of our 6th magazine issue. Then, by the end of the year landing covers for our following issue like Cozz from J.Cole’s – Dreamville, 3 times grammy nominated singer/songwriter – Garren, Def Jam’s first Mexican signee – OhNo and the incredible underground star Azjah from Compton, CA. Not to mention, launching UNDRGRND Production Studios, our first official headquarters and space to create content. Now that the studio is up and running it has allowed me to put much more time into building the team on the magazine side of things, which is of course our core. My main focus at the moment is to develop and train the team – to ultimately execute magazines at a high level with an increased production rate.
In regards to my personal artistry, I too saw an incredible jump in 2022. After releasing singles by myself along with miscellaneous upcoming LA artists, I strategically put together a record titled, “Light It Up”. I got the beat from Louie Ji (multi platinum producer and manager for Kyle Banks), then finally manifested a moment with an artist I was interested in connecting with for quite sometime, Derek King. Derek and I connected over IG – he knocked out the hook and I instantly knew what I needed to do. A few months later I found myself backstage at the House Of Blues for a Kalan,FrFr show – where KB was an official opener. After riding up the secret elevator in the back of the venue with KB’s team, watching him touch the stage – then fast forward to Kalan finishing his set, I found a moment to approach Kyle. On stage of the sold out show I asked him to bless the record that his manager Louie produced with Derek on the hook and myself on verse 1. He instantly responded “yes” and I knew I had a very special moment approaching me. Fast forward to the end of the year we surpassed half a million streams, beating my highest streamed record by 5x. Landing major placements like LA Leakers, Apple Music Radio, Dash Radio and many more – this was clearly becoming the beginning of my next chapter. In the new year of 2023, I find myself in a very unique position in both my business and music career – leveraging relationships and ultimately becoming an asset to almost every situation that can come up in the entertainment/content world.
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’ve always been grateful for my ability to stay disciplined, dedicated and having the willingness to put in the hard work. Something you hear often is simply not to give up and if you are truly giving it your all it will eventually click. I personally feel like most people who don’t take it all the way either never believed much in the first place, or never had the drive to see it through. Thats step 1. You then, need to constantly perfect your craft in the meantime and prepare for those moments .. try new things, take risks. Create opportunities for yourself like interviews, performances, collaborations, etc. Shake the mindset of “wanting a manager” and make yourself something worth managing, As an artist, if you can view yourself like a brand and treat it as such you’ll learn how to create your value instead of expecting someone to give you a hand out, for lack of a better term.
Get creative when it comes to marketing your music. Of course you need to create quality songs that are mixed/mastered, but thats just the start of the whole process. Most make the mistake of just posting a few things on instagram and losing momentum nearly a few weeks after release. Things like music videos, photoshoots, playlisting, performances, interviews, getting music to DJ’s, running PR campaigns, AD campaigns, etc. are all great ways keep the energy alive to surround a release.
Ultimately, stay disciplined with whatever YOU need to get closer to your goal and work extremely hard day in and out. Never give up, master your craft and make sure to network at ALL times.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
The current task at hand is now taking UNDRGRND to the next level. After 7 magazine issues, we’ve finally found ourself in a unique spot to pivot to our next move. I wouldn’t say its one particular problem I’m facing, but more so building the team and increasing production so I can understand how to maneuver the best way in this new year. Transitioning certain business models we’ve kept for the past couple years, to now take a few risks and become more lucrative. The idea is to create flow, trust and speed in the team. I read recently, “If someone can do your job at least 80% as well as you, then you should allow them a shot at it.” I happened to read this just at the right time of pondering on this idea. When I can train one person and develop that rapport, they can train the next person and so on and so fourth. When numerous team members understand the operations of the business they can communicate with each other creating flow, then adding more team members to increase speed.
Outside of the magazine branch of UNDRGRND – our production studio is top of my list. After our first month in, I can proudly say we were successful, which is a huge accomplishment! Now, we’re focused on keeping the marketing up and developing a great relationship with returning clients. Some creative ways we’ve been able to market have been photoshoots with models, leveraging our relationships with influencers/artists and staying extremely active in engaging on social media, etc. My goal is to open a second space in 2023, after seeing our first location to perfection.
Contact Info:
- Website: UNDRGRNDmag.com
- Instagram: @trappofsky
- Twitter: @trappofsky
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@undrgrndmagazine6022
Image Credits
Getty Images – Ella Hovsepian Brian Ticas Motionless Creations