Today we’d like to introduce you to Crystal Alexis.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
In times where victory or defeat lied moments before me, I would become filled with an unyielding eagerness and a determination so intense it sometimes became difficult to encumber my tears. All I could think about was getting back on that court to score the winning baskets or jolting from the start line like lightning at the sound of that gun. It was those physically demanding and mentally challenging moments as a child that I became acquainted with passion. I grew up as an athlete. It made me feel empowered and a part of something bigger than myself. There were many lessons learned from being surrounded by competition at a young age, lessons that have prepared me for the real game, called life.
In playing sports, primarily basketball I had the passion but not necessarily the confidence that was continuously pressed upon me by my coaches. The concept of hard work pays off hadn’t quite set in, but when it did it was too late. I tore my ACL a few practices before the start of the new season, which stripped away all the confidence I had built up until that point. I never played sports again. Racing to get to college to create a strikingly new and unseen before identity, I chose one of the most challenging degrees to attain, nursing, and it was through one of Georgia’s highly accredited programs. I knew if there was one thing that could not be taken away from me, it was my brains, plus a nursing degree was certainly a win because It would make my parents proud. In pursuing this degree, I encompassed the confidence but the passion was not fully present as it should have been.
Three years later after life knocking me around a bit teaching me things about myself that were not parallel with the path I was on, I discontinued nursing. That is when I truly stopped playing the “game” and competition ceased to exist in my life for the first time. I began doing things that were not influenced by those close to me, social expectations, and standards set on bounds outside of me. One of those things was taking pictures. I have always been an extremely creative individual. Anything in the field of arts I have attempted and been quite triumphant in, from playing the keyboard to drawing and writing poetry I have amazed myself more than anyone. Taking pictures took my amazement and scope of what it means to be an artist to a whole other level. The events that followed my relatively abrupt and seemingly arbitrary transition toward my creative endeavor led to my personal rebirth. This time I had all of the ingredients to be the young woman that I am and always have been.
In March of 2019, with an unrelenting drive and passion, I confidently declared myself as a photographer & ultimately as an entrepreneur. Since then, I have placed myself in uncomfortable situations which in the end opened doors for me, I have photographed events and people with compensation, & I have entered as a student at Georgia State University pursuing now a film & production degree. Atlanta, I believed was the perfect starting place to grow as a photographer/cinematographer with there being opportunities to work at Tyler Perry Studios plus, I’ve lived here practically all my life so it worked out. What has been most fascinating on this journey was meeting the many other creatives like me and listening to their inspiring stories, so I feel apart of something bigger than myself once more.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I don’t believe the road to anyone’s success is smooth. The bigger the dream the more challenging it becomes because every step of the way changes you as a person and change can be uncomfortable. For myself, the first obstacle I was faced with was the lack of support I received from those closest to me. It did not matter how passionate I was about where and how I wanted to lead my life, my decisions were unjustified in their eyes. This made me more grounded in who I was and helped me realize how much more confident I needed to be because if not the projection of other people’s fears unto me would impede my growth. In the very beginning stages, in order to build content, I had to just get out there and promote myself as a photographer. It was very awkward and uncomfortable at first for both the person I was asking to take pictures of and myself, but by me being just as timid as they were created even more tension so I became an actress. I pretended I was acting as a famous photographer in a movie, I was dramatic and it worked. I loosened the inhibitions the subject may have had by being vibrant and silly, which in return attracted people.
Eventually, I no longer needed to act I just was being me at that point. Another obstacle I am still learning to master is balance. Being in school full time, working full time, and building my brand has tipped the scale exponentially. There have been times where I put more emphasis on my brand than I do school or vice versa, all of which have their own set of consequences, but I simply remain grateful for it all and keep forging forward. The vision I have for myself is so clear I can almost touch it and although I wish all my goals to be achieved in a short period of time, I realized that is unlikely and it would be a vapid experience so I practice patience often to remind myself how ethereal time is and that being present in the space of now is just as if not more gratifying than moments that have not yet occurred.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I am a photographer and a cinematographer in the making. I create images and visuals that depict the city life of Atlanta. My brand is called C.LexProjex. I hope to hone my content on just the ambiance of the urban way of living and expand to other cities outside of Atlanta. Considering I have been building my brand for only a brief period, I would say the grand amount of support and genuine positive feedback I have received from those who follow me is what I am most proud of. I believe what sets me apart from others is the unparalleled eye I have of the world. I am able to form a beautiful scene out of the roughest or strangest of areas. My goal has been and always will be to portray the world & the people in it as I see it organically & I view this place as indescribably magnificent.
What were you like growing up?
I was born in Dayton, Ohio of 96′. I moved to Georgia at a very early age of five, to a suburban town north of Atlanta called Dacula. This is where I grew up. I recall myself being very observant as a child although others described it as me being shy. My family members however would claim otherwise. I was told I should go into acting plenty of times by them, but I was too shy to act in front of strange people with glaring eyes. Although I was apart of a snow white play, which in retrospect was a lot of fun. In my alone time is where my imagination would run wild, also sometimes in the woods of my backyard with my younger sister. Outside was my second home, I could have slept out there had my parents allowed it. I have two sisters by the way, one older by three years and one younger by five. I loved pretending to be someone other than myself and creating unrealistic realities.
I think I was just obsessed with the idea that life is just as mystical and magical as the movies made it out to be, that everything is alive, to plants and trees, to the sun & moon, even to the air we breathe, which is probably why I loved video games so much. My favorite game which you could probably guess was “The sims”. Sometimes I would play that game from dusk to dawn and get nowhere besides having cranky sims, with appliances that caught on fire, and a baby that never stopped crying. Aside from that, I was very artsy. Drawing people has always been something I’ve really enjoyed doing, but more so in the aspect of portraying various emotions that can be interpreted from people’s body language and facial expressions. I also very much appreciated music so I loved to dance and I created my own tunes on the keyboard that I had. I was very active as well. I played basketball and ran track going into high school. Overall I was a vibrant, jovial, multi-talented & very curious little girl.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 6787785252
- Email: clexprojex@gmail.com
- Instagram: @clexprojex @crystal_alexisss
Image Credit:
@crystal_alexiss, @clexprojex
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