A journey that began on the basketball court and slowly morphed into a career in sports media as a creative director, producer, and visual storyteller. For Tristan Forbes, this is how it all transpired. During his time in college—after playing basketball for two years—Tristan decided to return home to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and explore opportunities off the court. Determined to remain in the basketball realm, he picked up a camera and began capturing the journey of one of his best friends—Xavier Rathan-Mayes—in the game of basketball. From him declaring for the NBA Draft to his time in the league playing for the New York Knicks, Memphis Grizzlies, and Los Angeles Lakers, Tristan began learning the ins and outs of sports media through his work for Xavier. Focused on embracing every experience to expand his skill set, broaden his perspectives, and master his craft, Tristan headed overseas to Greece and worked for a popular basketball club for a year before returning to Toronto. From there, Tristan began working with an array of sports organizations including NBA Canada, Nike, Foot Locker, and the WNBA. He then received an opportunity to work with Serge Ibaka as his personal photographer and videographer—collaborating on an array of projects including his "How Hungry Are You?" cooking show and "Anything Is Possible: A Serge Ibaka Story" documentary. Shortly after, Tristan joined the Toronto Raptors organization for three seasons as a Digital Content Producer and Social Media Manager—continuing to establish himself as a multifaceted creative and visual storyteller in the industry. He hasn’t slowed down since. Most recently, Tristan decided to hone in on his passion for creative directing, production, and brand management; and is currently working with NBA Guard Fred VanVleet in this realm.
Starting with your journey early on, you shared that you wanted to be surrounded and stay immersed in the world of sports—which led to your interest in sports photography and media. Reflecting back on that journey early on, what were some challenges that you faced and how did you work to overcome them?
I think some of the challenges were: people don't take you seriously right away. I'm 30…the parents of people from my generation believe that in order for you to get ahead in something you had to take this in school, and you had to get a degree. There had to be a certain amount of work education behind it. I think we're starting to realize that a lot of these entrepreneurial roles are coming out now; back then it wasn't the case. A lot of people would just give you the path because your friend by association was a sports player. So it was like, “You know what, we're just gonna allow you to be in this room.” A lot of it was hesitancy. A lot of people wouldn't give you the opportunities. I also felt like being Black in sports media wasn't popular at the time. Now, we see so many sideline reporters, TV hosts, directors, big time actors and so on and so forth; but in sports, there were not many. There still isn't that many till this day, but back then, it was very obsolete. There weren’t a lot of Black creatives in the league, so I think the challenge was: “Hey, I have to take this seriously. Get hands-on experience, go take some courses, and learn from people that are doing it and excelling in my industry to be able to get that respect.”
You mentioned your focus on broadening your skill set early on in your journey—you were doing photo, video, social media, brand management. What was the inspiration behind tapping into all of these different concentrations within sports media?
I compare a lot of my life to sport. I think you have to be multifaceted, right? When you look at players and you compare it directly to the way players are getting traded and getting acquired, you (see that you) need someone that does more than one thing. I think initially photo came easier than video. When you have an eye, you see something a certain way, you know balance and tone and leveling, photography might come a little bit easier. But, I just found that: “Hey, I don't want to miss any opportunities. Let me make sure I'm well-versed in a lot of these things. I need to talk to people who are doing well in social media spaces, I need to understand how branding works, how personal branding works, (how) corporate branding works. I need to understand how social trends (go). I need to be up on the curve with apps, sounds, and sights. In order for someone to take me seriously, I can't just bring one thing to the conversation. I have to bring more than one thing because you gotta let people open up to you as well. Now, I can trade information with them because it's not just going to be a back and forth conversation about one thing.”
Diving into the world of branding, how did you get started building your personal brand in the space?
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