Meet Jzadé Forté | Artist | Digital Media Production Director | Creative Project Manager

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

Hi Jzadé, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Both my mother and father were music artists, and by the age of four I had developed a sincere passion for performing and playing instruments. I spent much of my younger years touring with my mother, recording and producing in my fathers studio, and singing in my grandparents church choir. I also grew up in the era of music where music videos told the visual story of lyrics. In the era of the Michael Jackson’s, the Missy Elliott’s, the people who weren’t just creating music videos, but we’re capturing their vision in short films and musicals. I always say I didn’t know what I was gonna do outside of music, but music led me to finding my other purpose and passion which is media and technology. As a 21st century media and tech developer, I use my creativity to help others bring out the best of their creativity. I enjoy helping design meaningful marketing strategies for businesses, products, artists/influencers, and brands. As a filmmaker and director, I’m able to merge all of my creative skills and experiences as a writer, music producer, and visual media director. My goal is to find an artistic balance between music and visual imagery to communicate inspirational messages to the world. This is ultimately why I chose a creative career over a traditional corporate career.

What should our readers know about your business?
My first hustle was as a record producer and I’d made a living for myself providing audio recording and beats to artists during college. I’d amassed a small recording studio with state of the art engineering equipment and was helping my mom manage artists under her management company from 2012-2017. We kept running into problems with media content producers such as highballing, missed deadlines, corrupted/misplaced files, cancellations, and no-shows. My company, Unprocessed Media LLC, was established by artists for artists with a promise to always ensure the delivery of high quality brand campaigns and content to myself and my clients. I started Unprocessed Media originally with a partner who at the time I was dating. We ran the company together for the first 2 years spanning during the height of Co-vid through January 2021. At the time we retained a limited amount of companies on monthly campaign branding contracts. That was the most financial rewarding, but emotionally draining time period in my life and my career as an entrepreneur. At 25 I was able to quit my job to run my own company making over 100k a year, but I wasn’t happy. My family and love-life relationships were failing. I was not only engrossed with my work, I was understaffed-staffed and overworked. And, because we didn’t know anything about business credit starting out, I invested nearly everything I made back into my business to keep it running. I was living good but my lifestyle depended on my work ethic and there were days I didn’t want to work but if I didn’t, I wouldn’t eat. I eventually saw that I was exhausting all of my creative energy on everybody else’s dreams to the point I had little to none left for myself. I’ve now learned to only do what makes sense and what makes me happy even if I sacrifice financial gain. We were trying to give a lot for a little to our clients which stretched us thin; forcing us into more roles and positions. I learned that I can run a company by myself if I have to, but I also learned that I never want to. Everything was ultimately what I needed to redirect the future of my company and organizational infrastructure. I cut down the work load, hired more help, and eliminated low-profiting services. Even though working takes precedence alot, I now have a much better balance of work, family, and personal time/self-care. I want people to know that a setback is a setup for a comeback. Use death to find a reason to live, use darkness to become a beacon of light, use mistakes and turn them into learning milestones. I’ve struggled to be an artist, to be an entrepreneur, to be revered as an intellectual black woman and respected in many male /white-male dominated industries, and to be original in a world that embraces collectivism, however, these struggles shaped me into the business owner and creative artist I am today. I’ve been resilient not just for me, but for those to come after me. I am most proud of the expansion of Unprocessed Media as we have newly added design sectors of media technology that will be introducing developments for computer-generated alternative parallel universes.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m not into fancy, 5 star restaurants and places. I’m from Little Rock, AR and I try to stay connected to things that remind me of home. I genuinely enjoy and appreciate the unorthodox, urban happening spots. Besides a stroll down Midtown/Peachtree where my Industrious business office resides, I would first take my friends to Kemper’s Cafe, a Jamaican Soul- Food cuisine that puts a twist on some of my hometown food favorites like Mac and cheese and cabbage. Im a vegetarian and so are some of my family and friends. In that case when looking for a bomb veggie burger I would take them to either Slutty Vegan or Kid Cashew. Some friends of my just opened a club called Kai & Co and the drinks and hospitality are definitely a great vibe environment to take anyone visiting.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I dedicate this shoutout to The H.O.M.E Teen Youth Center: a performing arts center for at-risk youth located in Little Rock, AR. Over the 2022 Summer, I was honored to serve as the Program Activity Director and was inspired by the kids and staff at the HTYC to continue a career in the performing arts as well as commit my company as the official media production and marketing sponsor of the center. This year, the HTYC is asking artists and creatives to use their voices in the fight against gang violence/violence. Their Jammin’ 4 Justice will recognize leaders in the community and the creative arts. Those would like to apply to be a performer, vendor, sponsor, or volunteer can visit https://www.thehtyc.com/jammin-4-justice-festival

Website: Lnk.bio/itsjustjza

Instagram: https://instagram.com/jzahova?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jzade-forte-50075ab2

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ItsJustJza?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rawxrare?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@JzadeFortethefemalephenom

Other: Unprocessed Media Business IG Page: https://instagram.com/rawxrare?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= Jzadé Forté Official Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/justjza?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits
Unprocessed Media LLc Klazik with Klazified AlphaGraphs Phly Pixels