Interview: Jameelah “Just Jay” Wilkerson
Entertainment magazines have long been a staple in the music industry. Over the last few decades, major publications have emerged to give us insight on music, fashion, & culture. However, magazines that come to the forefront and are successful, are part of a short list. One of these magazines is The Hype Magazine. Jameelah Wilkerson, professionally known as Just Jay, created The Hype Magazine in 2002, a vision that turned into reality. With hard work and determination, her brand evolved into The Hype Magazine Network over the years. However, Just Jay didn’t stop there, she also is a label exectutive and Palm Tree Entertainment. She is also an author, busines coach, & marketing strategist. With all these accolades, she found time to sit down with us and answer a few questions:
With the creation of The Hype Magazine, how has your life changed?
I started The Hype Magazine when I was in my early twenties as a one-page newsletter. I taught myself a lot of the years and I had a lot of growing pains. I feel like I have a lot The opportunities surrounding the growth of the brand have been unexplainable.
How do you think the COVID-19 pandemic altered the music industry?
I feel like a lot of people have been affected in negative and positive ways. Negative we have all lost people on our lives and people have experienced a lot of financial hardships. The music industry as a whole is based on being social and building relationships. It is very hard to build a brand without being out and meeting people. I also feel like the music industry as a whole will start to level out and appreciate things that they did not appreciate before. I know from my angle we would cover people and they would not even give a shout out or a thank you. I feel people are a lot more open to working as a team.
What current projects are you working on that we can expect in the future?
We are currently working on expanding our digital platform, creating more content for our television network, and building more value for the brand overall.
What would you tell upcoming artists trying to make it in the music industry?
I would tell them to keep relationships strong and educate themselves. A lot of artist get into this thinking its all talent and that everyone should work with them, but its truly a business and it takes a lot of effort to turn their hobby into a business.
To keep up with Just Jay, you can follow her on Instagram @hypejustjay or visit her website www.imjustjay.com
