For Jessica Forbes, the game of basketball was a world she was surrounded by from a very young age. Growing up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Jessica was fascinated by the game’s ability to bring communities together and highlight the stories of its incredible athletes. As she transitioned from high school to college, she wanted to continue exploring the opportunity to combine her passions for basketball, videography, and storytelling. Once she moved to Arizona for school, Jessica reached out to an array of sports facilities for photography and videography opportunities. Soon enough, the opportunity she had been looking for all along came. She received the chance to work at The PHHacility—one of the nation’s top basketball training facilities—photographing their training sessions and events. This was only the beginning! Currently, Jessica is the Creative Director of the organization, and is responsible for covering all of the events, workout sessions, and travel outings as well as the content for The PHHacility's social media platforms.
Could you share more with us about your experience being the Creative Director at The PHHacility while still being a full-time student?
It’s very difficult. I found that I don’t have a lot of free time for a social life, but I feel like as long as I manage (my) time, I think that is the most important thing to do—especially if you are trying to stay in school, pursue a career, and get ahead of the game. I have a mix of online and in-person classes; so I go to school super early in the morning and then right after I usually go to work, do a couple of shoots, then come back, do homework, edit, and then prepare for the next day. It’s pretty intense.
What was that process of getting started with your personal brand like? What were some of the challenges that you faced early on?
I will start with the challenges. I would say the first challenge is that it is always nerve wracking to start a brand that you really don’t know what people are going to think (about) or if it is even going to be a long-lasting brand. So I would say getting people to initially invest in your brand and actually see its potential was one of the challenges (I faced). I found that once I started my brand, people from work started supporting it, some of the athletes started supporting it, and then more people started engaging. The biggest challenge was definitely initially getting started. I would say the really big positive that has (stemmed) from it is that I have (had) the change to build a lot of relationships through the business. A lot of people close to me have invested time in me and really helped me. The PHHacility, (for instance), has really helped my brand as far as partnering with them and having my brand be a part of theirs.
What additional challenges did you encounter as you moved to a completely different state for school and began to build your network in Phoenix within the sports industry?