Meet Rj Berry | Musician & Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rj Berry and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi RJ, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I’ve always had creative energy in my life. Since I was a kid, I loved music and art, so it seemed natural for me to continue those passions into adulthood. It’s just grown and expanded since then. These days I say I do a little bit of everything such as music, videography/photography, graphic design, art, custom clothing, and I sell curated vintage clothing. It’s rewarding to be able to say that I’ve followed my passions, but it never stops moving and growing. At the end of the day, I want to see where I can take the brand and be able to eventually give back to my community in major ways. If I’m lucky, I’ll hopefully be in the position to inspire other creative people to do the same and before long see a better world to live in. Very simply, I’m pursuing my dreams to help others in any way I can.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As I said, I’ve been creating most of my life. I’ve been playing music since middle school and started producing music just after high school. I’ve worked with a lot of very talented artists within Colorado. Jaedawn, Neeks, Doobie Danx, F.O.Y., LLAMADAGOAT, and many, many more. In working on music is where I got the inspiration to broaden my horizons and work on videography and photography. I’ve had a camera in my hands in almost every shoot I’ve been on and I’ve started working on fully shooting and editing videos at this point. In meeting more and more people I started branching into fashion and began making custom clothing. I make a lot of patchwork based custom pieces for the musicians I work with based on events coming up, or for their personal every day wear. Making custom clothing led me into a love for vintage clothing and now I’m a vintage clothing vendor out of the local curated vintage shops in Colorado Springs. Next is a clothing line drop with my personal designs I made getting printed onto vintage clothing blanks. Needless to say, it’s a full plate constantly. I’m working on something all the time, so sometimes balance can be a bit tricky. But it’s all worth it at the end of the day. All of it has taught me the value of a work ethic and has given me the ability to trust myself to make the best decisions for myself

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Of course the Penny arcade in Manitou Springs, that’s a must. I love arcade games. Depending on when in the year they’re visiting, I’d highly recommend going to Comic Con here in the Springs, or catching a Vintage and Vinyl event over at COATI in downtown Springs. Anyone coming to Colorado Springs should check out all the dope vintage shops around the city. I’m a big believer in supporting local businesses and seeing people succeed doing their thing.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
This is a big list so bear with me. First and foremost big shout out to my family, very specifically my mother, father, sister, and my Uncle Chuck. Even in the moments that they didn’t understand why I decided to pursue ambitious goals, they still supported me and after time, saw the same values I see in them. To all my friends who have shown continued support over the years knowing me and show up at the shows and events, they inspire me to keep moving forward. To all all my colleagues, we grow together. Seeing the scenes I’m involved in here in Colorado build in tandem with each other just shows me that we all can eat from our passions and that is a very beautiful thing to me. To my best friend and my favorite musician Jaedawn, the reason I started taking music seriously was because of him. It’s been a privilege seeing the career grow and I’m eager to see where it culminates. But most importantly I have to give a big shout out to my beautiful, lovely girlfriend Asialee. Though you haven’t seen the full journey, you have been the biggest piece of support I could have ever asked for. The moment you came into my life, you immediately were with the movement and wanted to see things through with me. This isn’t possible as it is without you, or without anyone that I’ve been lucky enough to say supports me and the brand. Thank you all so much.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/official_4nye/profilecard/?igsh=a3BjMjJ2bjk5enFz

Image Credits
Michael Lobato
Johnny Singels
Tyi Reddick