14 years ago today, this Cleveland Scene article came out.
I was 17 years old, fighting for computer time with my five sisters and brother, and honestly… nobody in my house knew what I was doing. I didn’t really know either.
My partner E-V had taught me how to blog years before this, and from there everything started to take shape. We shared a vision to create a platform to showcase the city’s music, and over time that grew into something much bigger.
Today it’s a platform that highlights Cleveland culture across the board. We’ve had the chance to collaborate with every major sports team in the city, along with so many people who have come out of Cleveland or built something here, across music, fashion, sports, entertainment, and more.
The media landscape has changed a lot since then. But truthfully, it was always changing, even when we were starting out. That’s been one of the biggest lessons. You have to constantly evolve. One of the biggest forms of flattery is imitation, and we’ve been around long enough to see that happen time and time again. If anything, it’s pushed me to keep thinking forward and finding ways to improve what we do.
The creators and outlets you see today didn’t exist back then. It was mostly legacy media outlets, which I have a lot of respect for, because they laid the groundwork before we were even here. And now, over 15 years since we started, I think we have earned the right to fall within that legacy media category.
I’m really grateful for the people who believed in me early on, especially the ones who pulled me aside and gave me confidence when I needed it most.
And of course, never could have done it all without
@ev 🤝 Another major shoutout to
@iamconnorod for pushing me early on to face my social anxiety, and help build the early years of the brand 🙏
