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Thursday, April 9, 2015

10 Lessons I Learned from "Bloggers and the Beat"

Photo Credit: Tierra Carpenter

"Bloggers and the Beat" was a five panelists discussion, sponsored by SPC Lectures at SIU. 

It was moderated by Madeline Smith, a graduate assistant at WIDB student run radio station and SPC TV.

The speakers on the panel included the following people: Karen Civil, Brandon "Real T@lk" Williams, Tyece Wilkins, and Tha Shipmates. 

Karen Civil is an entrepreneur, and manager to rappers YG and Nipsey Hussle. 

Brandon "Real T@lk" Williams is an artist, motivational speaker, and SIU alumnus. 

Tyece Williams is the author behind the website, Twenties Unscripted which she started in 2012. 

"Tha Shipmates" is the name for the music production duo, Breeze and Matcy P.

All five of these panelists had extremely insightful things to say regarding how they managed to turn their passion into their career.

Here is a list of ten things I learned from them.

1. Don't be afraid to network, and make use of your contacts. 

Real T@lk explained how important it is to follow up with your contacts.

He gave a great example of how he was able to use his contacts when he was struggling financially, his first two years after graduating college.

"When I was going to different cities and I didn't have hotels, I was following up with frat brothers, sorors, and people who I met who were like, 'When you come to DC, follow up with me.' I'll call you and I'm going to be on your couch," Real T@lk said.

2. Use your on-campus resources to your advantage. You're already paying for them.

Breeze had the resources to learn music production the entire time he was in school, but he didn't start until after he graduated college.

"There are three or four different recording rooms in the comm building, but you don't realize that until you're out of college and studio time is fifty- dollars an hour, Breeze said. "It may not be to the quality you want, but at least you're still practicing your craft."

3. Don't let anyone underestimate the value of your time, talent, or services.

Breeze said if you have a skill that is worth money, you should be charging for it.

"If somebody who wants to work with you can't get with that, then that's not somebody you need to be in cahoots with," he said. That's somebody who's not really serious about work, somebody who doesn't invest in their career, and somebody who doesn't care about being too successful with what they're doing."

4. Don't stop, or even slow down what you're doing, just because other people may not understand it.

Civil said her mom didn't fully understand her career until she bought her an eight-bedroom home.

"Of course after I bought my mom her eight bedroom home, she understands 'Oh, my daughter's an entrepreneur.' It's unfortunate, but it definitely takes time for people to understand, and to see the vision," Civil said.


5. Social media is not a true representation of anyone's life. Don't feel like you have to rush your success because of what you see everyone else doing.

Civil described how the use of social networks affects people starting careers in media today.

"Now when you wake up you're seeing what everyone else is doing and you're thinking 'I need to move quicker. I need to know what's happening.' ... There's no set time on when you're going to be successful. Oprah had her first big break when she was 30 or 31."

"I sleep for like two hours, then I wake up and check my email, because I don't want to miss anything."

Matcy P explained that sometimes work has to be nonstop.

"The minute you stop and take a break, you miss out on so much. The more you keep going and learning, the better your outcome will be," he said.


6. Sometimes with success, also comes sacrifice.

Civil said one of the biggest misconceptions about her job is that people underestimate how hard it is, especially because social media only shows the good moments.

She recently had surgery and is supposed to be on six weeks bed rest but isn’t, because she has to work.

She described how hectic a day in her life could be.

"I'm usually in an office working six or seven hours,” she said. “Then I have to go to meetings. Then after you go to meetings, you have to go to studio. Then I have to work on personal things and just so many different projects. It's a lot."

She also sleeps in two-hour increments, because her clients are on the east coast, while she is on the west coast.

7. If you want to give back to the world, sometimes one of the best things you can do is provide a good influence.

Breeze used his fraternity background to show how leading by example can be an effective way to give back.

Before he joined his fraternity, the members made him want to emulate them, because they were always dressed nice, going to class, and looking cool.

"I think that was a part of their giving back," he said. "Their mentorship was just upholding themselves in this light, where I would never let anybody look at me in a negative form."

He took on a similar form of mentorship in his life.

"If it's not me directly giving something back, it's more of me just upholding a positive image," he said.

8. Sometimes as a black woman, you may be looked at as something you are not. Therefore, it is your responsibility to present yourself as a professional at all times.

Civil described what challenges she faced as a black woman in her field.

"I felt like I had two strikes against me which were being a woman and being a black woman," she said.

Civil said she had to dress and act a certain way to train people to take her seriously and show her respect.

"Before I would leave my house every morning, I would do a mirror check," she said. 

Civil made sure her clothes weren't fitted too tightly and that she was not presenting herself too sexually.

Even doing all of that, some men still did not respect her as a business woman. 

She was asked out on dates which she had to decline, because she knew her career would go farther than a romantic relationship.

There was also one studio engineer who completely ignored her presence, while he proceeded to greet both her business partner and artist.

9. Don't let people know every detail of your personal life, just because you're a personal blogger.

Wilkins explained one of the most common misconceptions she receives from being a personal blogger.

"People read your work, and then they think they know your entire life," she said.

She made a suggestion to anyone that may want to have a personal blog.

"Have boundaries about what you're willing to write and not write, but also with people," she said.

Wilkins said you should set your boundaries with people by letting them know what you are not willing to talk about outside of your blog.

10. There are so many female bloggers out right now, and that may make it harder for women to gain and keep a following.

Wilkins described the current state of the female blogging community.

"I think that living in this sort of very over saturated blogosphere, and over saturated writing community right now is amazing," she said. "It also makes it that much harder to make yourself unique and to make your product something that people are going to pay attention to. I think that's kind of a minus for me in the blogging community. As a woman the same things that are working for me are sometimes working against me."

Clearly I took a lot away from "Bloggers and the Beat". I have no doubt that what I learned from these five creatives last night will help me become more savvy in my media career.

This was another great event provided by SPC Lectures. I am thoroughly looking forward to any events they present in the future. 

Read Tyece Wilkins' Bloggers and the Beat Recap here: www.twentiesunscripted.com/bloggers-and-the-beat-recap-you-cant-be-afraid-to-fly/


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