Celebrate Creativity. MOVER 33

TOMMY

Larry STANSBURY

Larry is a writer and consultant currently living in New York City. His work has appeared in POPSUGAR, Good Housekeeping, Sports Illustrated, Her Campus, and more, covering a wide range of topics like food, lifestyle, sports, entertainment, sex, and relationships.

arry Stansbury, you received your bachelor’s degree in writing and rhetoric from Syracuse University and now you are a Commerce Producer at Dotdash Meredith. How did you achieve this success?

Getting to where I am now has been a long journey. After I left my fellowship back in 2018, I wanted to get back into writing, but many people refused to give me a shot. After receiving countless rejections for not having experience and a portfolio, I decided to create my own experience. Thanks to Faith Branch, one of my closest friends, I created Larry’s Tips and Tea, a blog dedicated to sharing every story and writing articles on Medium. Then, I was working three jobs because one must have many side hustles when living in New York City, or any city for that matter. As a freelancer, I did countless contract jobs because a lot of places didn’t have the budget (mostly in media) to hire full time because it’s a constantly changing industry. After COVID and being let go from my job, I reached out to editors I knew and freelanced while looking for permanent work. Then, I found a job posting for a producer role at Hearst Magazines. Back in 2018, I applied for a fellowship and when I didn’t get the job, I kept in touch with the editor who I did an edit test for and saw she was hiring a contract producer for Good Housekeeping and Woman’s Day. I reached out to the editor and she hired me on the spot. She became a huge mentor and recommended I connect with other editors and apply to jobs outside the company. Working my way through the industry and maintaining contact with editors and recruiters led me to my role as a commerce producer.

You’re a writer whose work has appeared in POPSUGAR, Good Housekeeping, Sports Illustrated, Her Campus, and more. How did you feel seeing your first work being published?

Today, it is an accomplishment to have bylines in such prestigious publications, but there is much more to do. It’s all about hard work and consistency. Having sleepless nights. A constant exchange of emails. Getting these bylines makes people think you’re done, you’re successful, and you can stop now, but that’s not the case. When you get your first byline, you have to keep going and try to get more bylines. My first byline was at Good Housekeeping, covering celebrity news and entertainment, and that’s when I decided to focus on that vertical more. This eventually led me to write for Her Campus and Distractify. I wanted to be versatile in my writing, covering many topics, just in case if I wanted to go into one vertical more. In time, you will understand that you need to focus on what you are passionate about and tone down your expertise. My experience led me into commerce writing, and I am passionate about online shopping, writing about deals, testing and reviewing products.

What is creativity to you? Do you consider yourself to be creative?

Being able to express yourself in a way that no one can describe. When it comes to creativity, people can be creative by owning themselves and being who they are, but there is more to it. For me, being creative means being different. During COVID-19, I decided to get into my creative element by learning who I wanted to become. I asked myself, “Who is Larry Stansbury, and what type of person does he want to be? What kind of man does he want to be, as a black man in society?” Creativity also means being vulnerable, sharing parts of yourself you want to

share with the world, and hoping that people can learn from your experiences and relate to them.

Do you think that creativity is part of human nature or is it something that must be nurtured and learned?

That’s an incredible question. Being creative is embedded in our nature as a society, especially in the world of social media. However, creativity can be robbed. Due to the cruel world, sometimes it’s hard to share our creativity, but sometimes, we have to share our stories and art. Every one of us is flawed, beautiful, and trying to survive in this world of hardship and struggle. Being creative is part of us, we’re human at the end of the day. Creativity makes everyone unique.

Were there any obstacles that you had to overcome in order for you to succeed?

Yes, absolutely. Life is full of obstacles. Every person goes through a yearly phase of hitting rock bottom, no matter what age they are, but how they handle each situation is what matters. A lot of times, you meet people and they come into your life for a season or lifetime. I eventually had to learn to get rid of toxic people and it’s still a journey. Toxic people will always try to bring you down, no matter the circumstance. They project their fears and negativity onto you to make you be like them. They blame everyone for their misfortunes and wonder why there is no good in their life. I remember I was told in high school that I was never meant to go to college because I didn’t have the stats to get into college. Then, people tell me I will never make it as a writer. A lot of negative words, thoughts, and opinions were thrown at me by people throughout the years, but I pick and choose who I want to listen to, and tell myself whether or not their words were going to guide me in the future. Nowadays, when I see them, when they ask me what I’m doing, I say “I’m working,” because I have no time and can’t afford to get into them speaking negativity about my life and purpose.

What makes good content? How do you know if a piece of content is doing well? In my opinion, good content varies depending on how it’s presented to you (meaning if it’s on social media, in a campaign, on broadcast, etc.). We are constantly presented with good content in any shape or form, and we share it to continue the conversation. We must find ways to talk about the good content when it is overshadowed by the bad content.

In October 2020, you self-published a book Conquering Adversity One Step at a Time. Could you please tell more

about this book? Where can we find a copy of your book?

Conquering Adversity One Step at a Time is part memoir, part creative nonfiction. In this book, you learn about overcoming obstacles in your life as you begin your young adulthood. Due to the pandemic and having downtime, I was thinking about my next career project.

I was advised to write the book by my mom. Getting an idea of how to start this project came from reading many books before I began writing this book. Writing the book took three months, followed by several revisions, creating the cover, and developing a marketing strategy. It was a passion project for me, so I loved it. In this book, I not only share my story, but also the stories of the people who influenced me. Self-publishing appealed to me since I can control how I tell my

story and market my book. You can find hard copies, paperbacks, and eBooks on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

You are quite a busy person. How often do you blog on Instagram? Can you be called a true Instablogger?

My one flaw is that I’m a workaholic. As soon as a project is finished, I have to figure out what’s next, but if you’re passionate about your work, it never stops. There is still a lot of work to do, but I also need to remind myself to take breaks. And I wouldn’t call myself an Instagram blogger. People curate their Instagrams based on a theme and post based on that theme. People who know me know I post pictures of me traveling, hanging out with my girls, reading books, and eating food. The truth is, I’ll post when I feel like posting on Instagram. The only

Model: @__larrbearrrr

Photo: @byseneca Style: @itsgoodiee Video by @landen.creates

time I post Instagram stories is if I see something that is creative, funny, true and honest. Authenticity is something I want to portray on my feed to those who follow me. As a result of the many social media platforms available, keeping up with what’s happening can be difficult. It’s so easy to lose track of time when you’re scrolling through social media all the time. I like taking a social media break every now and then.

What is the topic of your Instagram page and what do you like to impress your followers with? Do you promote your personal brand?

My Instagram personal brand is lifestyle. It is always my pleasure to show off when I am out and about, having a good time, and enjoying myself when trying to impress my followers. For instance, I traveled all by myself to Barcelona this summer to live my Cheetah Girl fantasy and to Portugal for a friend’s wedding. Even though it was scary to do everything on my own, it was the best time of my life. As a leader, I want followers to know that it’s okay to take risks and do things on their own.

What are your plans for the next 5 years?

Ah, it’s scary to talk about the future. Because sometimes when you have a clear and concrete plan, it will never happen. Let me see. I would love to still continue what I do and hope the best comes to me.

Could you please share some tips for young and aspiring writers? What advice would you give to them?

Whenever you feel like you’re about to begin your writing career, I advise you to create your own opportunity if one is not given to you. You should build a website, blog, and network your butt off while you’re hustling. A great skill to have is networking. When I say networking, I mean asking people you admire if they would mind spending five or ten minutes answering your questions and offering writing advice. Be nice to people and make a great impression on them because they will refer you to their friends and ask you to write. My dad always says, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” It’s hard work, consistency, and preparation. It’s all worth it in the end.

CARTIER ISLAMIC ART and

Photographer: @dilyusa.photo

Models: @livnerogggg @anyvanov

MUAH: @aigul_212

Style: @gets001

Art director: @yankolis

movement of lines have a special symbolic meaning with him. He composes monstrous, terrifying, and illuminating

piles of associative pictorial rows, through the temptations of invented and existing vices and sins, from the abyss of despair and fear, transforming and spiritually purifying himself, he seeks to help man get

faith. Judgments, actions, paintings of Salvador Dali, all carried a light touch of mad-

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