Meet the Founder: Chris Hunter
This featured guest might not need an introduction, but I truly believe he does. When The Lifestyle NYC began in 2016, Chris Hunter was transitioning out of a freelance role, while learning things about the creative industry along the way. Pairing his experience with his those of his network allowed him to see things from a new perspective, seeing the lifestyles of creatives through a lens that many people often overlooked. When I met Chris, we were both hungry. Hungry for information, hungry for access and looking to take advantage of the energy New York City has to offer.
Since meeting Chris, The Lifestyle NYC has continued to put creatives on the map. The roles that connect the dots between client and consumer, model and photographer, subject and writer are what we love the most. The Lifestyles we’ve covered have given our audience a peek into what’s makes greatness, great. The goal of The Lifestyle NYC is to give access to creatives one interview at a time, and I’m so happy to be able to share the lifestyle of He who started it all. Check out our interview!
1 - What led to the creation of TLNYC? Why is The Lifestyle NYC necessary for our culture?
The creation of The Lifestyle NYC started back in August of 2016. During that year I was doing a lot of things for the first time. A lot of first experiences came during that year such as travel, concerts, festivals, etc. I wanted to create a platform where I would be able to create postings based on my person experiences. After a few write ups I noticed that the site was generating much traction so I decided to give it a break. I didn’t touch the site all of 2017 and by March of 2018 things changed. I had conversation with my girlfriend and we were discussing what we wanted to accomplish for the year. She told me some of her goals and I shared mine about what I wanted to revamp with the site. She came up with the brilliant idea to do a Women’s History Month interview series with some dope women that I knew in media, music, fashion, and so on. This idea was a suggestion in the second week of March 2018. By the end of that month I had completed 9 interviews. That was pretty much the start of what we have now. I personally feel like The Lifestyle NYC is necessary for our culture because there aren’t many other platforms out there looking to highlight creatives from all industries. The idea of The Lifestyle NYC is to show how people outside of the cliche, go-to industries are dominating in their fields. How often do you see chef’s being interviewed on these major sites and platforms? How often do you see concert promoters and tour managers being interviewed? It’s very seldom that people tap into these markets and if I had the answer as to why it doesn’t that often then I would share it but I don’t. What i do know is The Lifestyle NYC represents all creatives in all industries and being that we’re all talented in different ways, we want to strive to strive to highlight that as much as possible.
2 - Whose lifestyle has touched you the most?
That’s a good question and I have a few. The first one would be John Wigfall. He’s a music manager and digital consultant. I interviewed him back in 2018 and the reason his interview was so great is because he was also going through a huge transitional period during the time him and I were trying to connect to do the interview, both personally and professionally. Not to mention Mir Fontane, the artist that he manages, was also having a huge year as they were gearing up for his performance for Made in America. We also dropped the interview on John’s birthday which was also cool. Second, Yan Snead. Me and Yan have had a great relationship over the years because she was working with Dinner Land and I was cool with a couple of the homies over there as well. We sort of built like this social media relationship and then we happened to cross paths a couple times during some Dinner Land events. When the opportunity presented itself for me to do the Women’s History Month interview series back in March 2018 Yan was the first person I thought of. I always liked her energy both in person and on social media. She’s very knowledgeable and always dropped really insightful gems about the industry and how to move in it. For me, getting her involved as an interviewee was a no brainer.
3 - Why do you think basketball/sneaker culture is embedded within New York City?
I think basketball and the sneaker culture is embedded in New York the same way rap and hiphop is embedded is New York. This state is like the mecca of a lot of things popular and that goes for fashion, entertainment, music and long list of other things. Although we’ve had this recent boom in the sneaker world, this isn’t something new for New York. People out here have always had a huge love for fresh kicks. Basketball continues to have a huge impact on New York because look at what NY has done over the years both professionally and street wise when it comes to the sport. Some of the biggest names in basketball have participated in the Dyckman summer games and even back further to the Rucker Park days. I know the Rucker is still very active in basketball tournaments but it’s legendary because of what happened in that park back in the day and what it did for the sport of basketball at that time. We never really seen anything like it then and we don’t really see too much of if now. You can’t say anything about basketball and the evolution of it without bringing up New York and the same goes for sneakers. In my honest opinion, they both go hand and hand.
4 - How do you think creatives should measure their success?
Today, a lot of what we do as far as measuring success is based on how our social media performs. If we post something on Twitter and it doesn’t get a lot of retweets or a lot of likes on Instagram we automatically think it was a flop. I’ve even caught myself deleting pics off IG because it didn’t hit the way I thought it would. Now, everything is about engagement and follower count which I can’t argue because most of it is true. Social media is a great way to measure success. But, I also believe that if you’re catering your product/brand/service or whatever it is you have to a market that loves it and supports it, that’s all that should matter. I’ve had interviews that I posted on twitter that might’ve gotten 8 or 9 retweets but the stats on the backend of my website say something completely different. That’s when I began to realize that just because people aren’t retweeting it and liking it doesn’t mean they’re not clicking that link. Obviously a retweet or a like goes a long way on social media but people actually reading the piece is what matters to me. So, I feel like we should measure our success based on the genuine effect it has on people and what they get out of it rather than something related to social media.
5 - As you approach year 29, what are 9 words to describe your twenties as a creative?
Work smart and continue to put out quality work. I love the hustle and I enjoy working hard but I saw that I was burning myself. There was a point where I was dropping 2-3 interviews a week which wasn’t a bad idea at the time. But, after further discussions with my team, it made more sense to devote that extra time into other things where we would be allowed more room for strategic efforts. Putting out quality work is just something I stand by. I’m a realist and I understand not everything is always going to be perfect and there are going to be things that people don’t gravitate towards but if I can continuously find a way to decrease the percentage of things people don’t gravitate towards with every piece of content we release I’ll be ok.
6 - Whatʼs one thing that all NY lifestyles must have in order to make it out here?
The one thing that comes to mind is drive. New York is a major market and everybody is out chasing their dreams and trying to get what they can. If you can’t match that energy or exceed it then you’re doing yourself and your brand a disservice every time you step out in the field. They don’t say “if you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere” for no reason. That’s a true statement. Being a New Yorker builds character, it builds tough skin, and high key, people who aren’t from New York envy people who are. We should continue to wear that with honor.
7 - Share the importance of a strong network and share a moment where it wasnʼt what you knew but who you knew.
Having an important network is crucial to building your brand and more importantly your name. There’s a lot of layers to how that works but to me, the one that stands out is who you are as a person. Being an all around solid person in and out of the company of others shows the type of person you are and how people are going to perceive you whether on a personal or business level. Also, being a person with great and honest intentions. That goes a long way as well. I’ve had a few times where my network came in handy but the one occasion that comes to mind is when I wanted to go check out the Dipset documentary that happened last year around my birthday. Tidal was doing a premier event for a forthcoming Dipset documentary at iPic and it was on a first come, first serve basis. I was on the fence about going because it was snowing bad that day but when I finally made up my mind to go it was too late for me to get in. I then realized that I made a connection with a girl by the name of Alexa earlier that year and she worked as a composure for Tidal. I reached out to her, she reached out to one of her friends who was at the event and in charge of press passes and before you knew it I had a seat right behind Jim Jones. He actually caught me in an Instagram video he posted that night lol.
8 - What can we expect from TLNYC this year?
What you guys can expect is more great interviews and I’m proud to finally say we’re moving into the visual space. This is something I’ve been trying to get in order since the creation of the site and now we’re finally doing it. We have a lot of great ideas as far as the visual pieces we’re going to be putting out but all of it is still in the works. What I can say is I’ve been constantly checking off goals for the list I made for the brand and we’re still in the first quarter. That feels amazing. It’s going to be a fruitful 2020.