Today we’d like to introduce you to John Conley.
John, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’m originally from Los Angeles, CA, and have been in the Dallas area since the mid-1990s. Having been active in entertainment (urban music), computer software development and socially conscious activities while a college student in the Bay Area and LA, I noticed that the black community in Dallas had some noticeable networking gaps between the lower, middle and upper classes. in 2002, I started an entertainment company called Step ONE of Dallas Entertainment, mainly focused on helping those in the music industry network better with each other. In 2004, I expanded it to also helps urban models network with each other and diversify beyond typical urban model magazine gigs. Back then, the most viable social media platform was Myspace, which I used. Compared to today’s social media, it was limited in what I wanted to do. I also hosted talent shows at various venues to bring my concepts to the street.
Things were progressing well until the 2008 Great Recession crash, which put a huge dent in my finances. I took a hiatus to recover.
Fast forward to 2012, and I began to formulate a plan to use social media as my primary medium to help newcomers to Dallas know what other Dallas black professionals and business owners are up to and where they live. The fast-rising economy Dallas began attracting a lot of attention during this time, bringing a lot of white-collar jobs, and thus black professionals and entrepreneurs. Before I launched Affluent Blacks of Dallas, when blacks migrated to Dallas, they complained about not knowing where other blacks like them were. Some even assumed hardly any blacks lived here. Being an LA transplant myself, I understood where they were coming from, and since I knew every pocket of blacks of all backgrounds across Dallas Ft Worth, I figured a social media magazine for this niche was needed. Now, no black, college-degreed newcomer can complain that they don’t know where other degreed and college-bound blacks are. 🙂
I formed Affluent Blacks of Dallas as part of a company I incorporated back in 1996 called Samsona Corporation. Samsona Software is the internet technology part of the corporation, under which all social media pages fall, including Affluent Blacks of Dallas.
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?
The 2008 financial crash was a major challenge that eventually led to the forming of Affluent Blacks of Dallas. The only challenge I can think of is that Dallas Ft. Worth is a geographically dispersed area, more so than other cities. It’s similar to LA and Houston, so when blacks come from cities like Atlanta, New York, Chicago, or San Francisco, for instance, they are not used to blacks being spread out so far. I rely on a network of colleagues and social media followers to continuously feed me info on things going on in each suburban pocket of black folks.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Affluent Blacks of Dallas – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Affluent Blacks of Dallas is known for being a social media magazine covering the lifestyles of affluent black professionals and those who aspire to be. Behind the scenes, I am a computer software design consultant, specializing in all aspects of internet technology, including cloud computing, advanced web development (i.e., making web pages interact with database servers to get data), mobile web apps, etc. Other social media pages I run are on Instagram: @fiftyplano, @curvemonstersglam, @curvemonsters. Being a musician as well, I just launched a producer page on Tik Tok (bruvajc). I have several pages on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Tiktok, Patreon, and a few others. I integrate all of them and in total, my social media influence is in the hundreds of thousands of viewers per month, and probably more likes than I can count, and millions of impressions across all pages. Using technology makes me proud. Each platform has regular contributors who help keep the content dynamic. In-person, I have a few key go-to people in my network for happy hour networking, music and fashion industry connects, and so forth.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
2019 was a great year in terms of expanding informal partnerships and having more advertising customers from small startup boutiques to Fashionnova. In 2020, I expect to add even more. The music side of the operations will also take off, after a great year. Having a deep music background, I have created tracks for each social media page and video projects, and these have brought attention to the idea of breaking lesser-known artists on my platforms without the hassle of copyright strikes on YouTube and Instagram. I plan to expand this, working with record label A&R execs to have them submit songs for new artists they are trying to break. The CurveMonsters platform is especially great for breaking new artists and producers as it combines music and fashion, something I experimented with at Step ONE of Dallas back in 2004. I know this area very well.
Pricing:
- $195 initial consultation special for web, video and audio projects (Normally charge twice this)
- Social media posts on our platforms varies from $25 to several hundred, depending on the ad post target
Contact Info:
- Website: https://affluentblacksofdallas.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/affluentblacks/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AffluentBlacks/
Image Credit:
John Conley
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