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Jerry Doby, gets hyped up to share his story about his life experiences. He is the editor in cheif for The Hype Magazine and plans to take his career to another level before 2020!
Q1.) What was your life like growing up?
Jerry: “My life was typical of a military brat, lots of moving, lots of yessir LOL. But we also had a great time doing things like camping and fishing, my father was from the south and. So he brought all of his cool experiences to our lives.”
“On the other side of the good times of just being a tight family, I grew up during what would be the end of legal segregation and so I got to feel the impact of people like King, the Panthers, etc, on my life growing up. I lived through the times when minorities stood up to law enforcement, going toe to toe in marches, firefights, and that was my life growing up.”
Q2.) Who has inspired you the most in the music & entertainment industry?
Jerry: “Honestly there weren’t many who inspired me from the music or entertainment industry, at least not when it came to making a career choice. As I mentioned earlier, I grew up in the 60s which was a time of upheaval and up until I entered the military myself. I lived in a house with only one television of which I was the remote control LOL and it had a knob and it was my duty to change the channel and fine-tune the UHF signal.”
“If I just HAD to pick people then it would be Sidney Poitier who was the first African American to win an Oscar, Langston Hughes whose lense was a key to me learning about my people and their struggles and this is nuts but Rick James.”
Q3.) If you could change anything about the entertainment business in today’s world, what would you change?
Jerry: If I could change anything about the entertainment business it would be the fact that our women often have to be vixen archetypes of themselves. I don’t think women get enough credit for their skill. And having the intestinal fortitude it takes to make it in the game.
Q4.) What led you to become the editor in chief of Hype magazine and how has that been life-changing thus far?
Jerry: “What led me to become Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine is an extremely long story. I had begun writing during my downtime while I was deployed to Afghanistan. I won’t explain my life as a soldier in a combat zone, that description says enough. But music from home became a big thing, and . I hear the guys from the Viet Nam era experienced the same type of thing.
Anyway, I began putting my thoughts down on a digital journal and that turned into a citizen journalism situation with sites like the now-defunct examiner.com and YCN! (Yahoo Contributor Network). Long story shorter. I ended up in a warrior transition battalion back in the states, having surgeries. And therapy sessions to make me human again, blah blah blah. I did my own therapy as well and that included continuing to write. Now that I was transitioning back from combat and daily being proven how broken I was from the experience. Writing became the saving grace which kept me from being a different type of statistic.”
“So via a connection on twitter with Big Jigg (former freestyle Friday champion on 106 & Park), I wrote my first feature profile and interview with Yahoo on Jigg and he, in turn, introduced me to The Hype Magazine Publisher and CEO Jameelah “Just Jay” Wilkeson who interviewed me for two hours by phone and brought me in first as an executive editor in 2012. In 2013, I helped move the magazine from a digital-only space to printed issues on newsstands. Imagine walking into a retail store and there’s our magazine sitting next to Rolling Stone, It was surreal! We sold out our first newsstand issue in two weeks and it was on from there. Shortly after this retail success, we were on the road promoting the magazine and a tour we’d partnered with and I got the announcement that I’d been promoted to Editor-in-Chief.”
“Being with The Hype Magazine truly saved me from becoming another war statistic, it gave me purpose and a way to work through the maze that is civilian life. Now here we are 7 years later and things are amazing with the brand and I’m healthy. I hope that covered your question.”
Q5.) Did you have any mentors along your journey?
Jerry: “I’ve had three people who worked with me in my early career, Edna Sims a magical PR pro, she even sat up with me till 4 a.m to edit my Yahoo test article; Alonzo Williams of the World Class Wreckin Cru helped me get my first label gig as a national promoter, and of course Dr. Jameelah “Just Jay” Wilkerson who taught me everything I needed to know about being a magazine editor. She also helped me understand the power and responsibility of the position.”
Q6.) If you were 20 years old again, what would you have done differently?
Jerry: “Well at 20 years old I was in the military, and having a GREAT time learning how to be what I describe as a professional tough guy. I was playing with big guns . And explosives plus competing with some of the best athletes and soldiers in the world. I was being fed daily and there is nothing I would change about that time of my life.”
Q7.) What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you?
Jerry: “My best advice has been from my wife of 17 years, “don’t sweat the small stuff and life will be much more satisfying”. She also early on in my transition back to civilian life. Reminded me I was retired and didn’t have to be up at 3:30 am anymore!”
Q8.) What’s next for Jerry Doby?
Jerry: “What’s next for me is continuing to celebrate the great things The Hype Magazine is doing in the digital space, streaming television and continuing to tell great stories, based on fact, not fiction or gossip. I’m excited for the next decade of journalism as the changes we also are seeing in the space are fantastic.”
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