For Jineen Williams, sports photography was a world that merged her love for the game of basketball and passion for storytelling. As a basketball player growing up, Jineen still remembers designing graphics and editing photos to promote games, share with her friends, and tap into her creative side. After graduating from college, she discovered her true interest in pursuing a career in photography, videography, and graphic design. It was during this time that Jineen and her best friend, Brandon Green, founded their company DAH Design & Photography. It was only up from there! After moving to California in 2013, Jineen continued to work on her craft and strengthen her skills in photography and videography. Throughout this time, she knew she wanted to get back to the game she loved—she wanted to incorporate her creativity into the basketball world. Shortly after reaching out to a new AAU team in the Orange County area, Jineen and Brandon embarked on a journey of creating digital content for the organization over their spring and summer seasons. An opportunity which would lead them to travel to Bigfoot Hoops—a premier basketball tournament in Las Vegas—, and photograph some of the nation's top athletes. She hasn’t looked back since. From covering an array of basketball tournaments, workouts, and games to collaborating with some of the industry’s leading brands—Nike, Jumpman, Adidas, Bleacher Report, and Ballislife—, Jineen has continued to push the envelope in storytelling through her innovative approach to content creation within the industry.
When was that moment when you decided to take that leap of faith and make the big move to California to pursue photography, videography, and graphic design full-time?
We moved in 2013. I graduated (from) college in 2011 and ended up moving back home to Wisconsin. I just felt like I was super depressed, there wasn’t a lot going on there, I wasn’t playing basketball—it just felt like I needed a change of scenery. I remembered being in school and having traveled out to the San Francisco and Oakland area and just being like, “Man, I really love the energy out in Cali.” Even the few days that we were here, I just felt like it was somewhere I needed to be—so me and my best friend put a plan in place. We made that leap and didn’t know anyone. It was probably about five or six of us who moved at the time, but we just decided to get up and go. As far as doing it full-time, I think I made the full-time transition last July. Everything that I had been doing up until July was all kind of part-time—when I had some time around my normal work schedule. I ended up being on leave from work just because the work that I was doing was too much on my back. I just felt like instead of going back to work and potentially reinjuring my back, I wanted to pursue (my dreams) full-time. I got up, made myself uncomfortable, and focused on where I could go with this photography and videography thing.
After you made that jump to be a full-time creative, you became a full-time entrepreneur as well. What has that process been like? What have been some of the challenges that you have faced along the way?
I think the biggest challenge was slowing down. We had been doing our business stuff kind of on and off, and not holistically understanding business. We were functioning with the business, but on the back end, we just didn’t know everything that we needed to know about business and stuff like that. When I made the transition of jumping in full-time, I was being booked for stuff almost every other weekend and traveling, so I really didn’t have the time to slow down—you know, make sure I was taking care of me as a person, we were handling our business stuff, we were focusing on continuing to update our website, and just all of these little things that mattered. We were so busy and booked that we were not really taking the time to focus on them. Now that everything has slowed down, we (have) been able to really take a step back and look at everything holistically.
Throughout this journey, where does your inspiration come from? What are some things that continue to motivate you to not only create content that is authentic, but also use the power storytelling to connect with people?
My biggest source of inspiration comes from film. The way that I shoot content, and the way that I try to share my content is in a way that tells a story. I really don’t enjoy content creating with no purpose, so I try to look at the bigger picture and find out what the end goal is—whether it is a workout or a game. I try to really do stuff that adds value. Obviously because I am in the high school space a little bit with Ballislife and Bleacher Report, you get that raw highlight kind of feel. The stuff that I truly enjoy (though) is the storytelling and the power of getting to know people’s experiences. Also, the fact that we didn’t have that coming up inspires me. A lot of my inspiration comes from not really having that for myself, especially as a female athlete. I didn’t have a lot of people that looked like me that told their stories via digital media or magazines. NBA players probably had that often, but not much for us as women. Growing up, I never wanted to go to the WNBA because I didn’t have a lot of people around me being able to say, “This is what their experiences are like” or “Hey, this is the league that you guys want to go to. Here are our top WNBA athletes, this is who you should look up to.” So being able to share these athletes’ stories now as they come up and grow—whether it’s high school, college, or even pros now—is inspiring (to me). Just being able to give athletes a voice through storytelling (motivates me).
You mentioned the opportunities that the people you have met along the way have provided you with throughout your journey. Could you share a little bit more about your experience building that network? What are some tips that you would give to someone who is looking to build that tribe?
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