9th Sage

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“I want to do interior design because it’s tangible. I like creatively designing things and I look at interior design books and magazines for inspiration and study it. I went to school for Marketing and had dropped out after two years. Right now, working at a furniture store, it’s kind of helped my goal of interior design making the space look good. But the thing is, I don’t like jobs. I want to freelance with everything that I do. I believe I can do it in both photography and music.The reason why I tweet and put things out there publicly on social media is because it can help somebody else. The Internet made it easy to not go anywhere to meet people. That’s why it’s great to see something like Coffee & Convos because you’re connecting with others and sharing their story.I don’t know how it happened, but I just am myself. And a lot of people relate to transparency because it makes them feel like they’re not alone with what they think. That’s why I’m the way I am. I feel like vulnerability will bring a lot of people together instead of faking the funk all the time because I don’t see a point in faking things. I tie in me being transparent into my music and photography.Photography has been freeing for me. It’s showing my perception of the world in a sense. You look at other photography and so many people have so many different perceptions of how things look and feel or having a different inspiration or thought process behind it. I love taking pictures of people because I feel like it says more than hearing the person in the photo talk sometimes. You can just see it in a photo and come up with a story of your own to describe the feeling. It’s a free feeling, and that’s how it is with music. What you listen to is kind of a reflection of who you are.I used to have a boxed in taste of music listening strictly to hip-hop. I’ve really gotten out of my comfort zone and have a variety of friends. I feel like you don’t really benefit in life unless you have different types of people and perspectives and tastes in things around you.When life became like a routine, that wasn’t a fulfilling way to live to me. Being around the same people and doing the same things and never going outside of that circle or box. Right after high school, I just got tired of the same things. I was always that person that took a lot of risk because I like making mistakes. I feel like the more you make, the more you figure out how to maneuver and I feel like if everything went right all of the time you won’t really be learning. I’ve moved a lot. And I’ll probably move to Houston, then to Seattle.Part of the reason I want to move back to Houston is because moving here to San Diego taught me a lot about being around different perspectives. I’ve never been around so many people who are collectively doing things together, and I want to take what I’ve learned here to build the creative scene in Houston. I feel like I can do it. With everything I’ve done in San Diego, I can do the same thing there. The problem is the quantity of creative people there and getting those people to come together physically because it’s a big city.People get so accustomed to living a certain way or staying in one lane, but we have to do things that are more universal and come together to put on creative shows. And a lot of things that exist here in San Diego, don’t exist there. I don’t want to feel like I have to keep running from the city because it’s not there, we just have to build it. Is it really a city if people who are creative leave to go somewhere else to pursue their art? We as a community can come together to make something, and that’s what I want to do in Houston.I moved out of my mom’s house and went into life on my own, I’ve even been homeless before. That’s what kind of sparked photography because when I would be out, I would just take photos on my phone. Taking photos was a way for me to stay above water. And that’s what I ended up doing consistently and when I would post those photos, people would think that I had a camera but it was just my phone. I just stuck with it and it became a part of me in a sense. Same as music has been a part of me. There have been photos my mom would send me of me on a DJ board. Being on your own is definitely a learning experience. Unlike being in a safety net that is like taking the easy way out.I wasn’t learning many lessons when I did live at home, so when I left to be on my own I was forced to make my own mistakes and get innovative. It really forces you to be resourceful and get through adversity. You have to find a way to make a way. You either adapt or you stay one place. Another goal and passion of mine is to travel. I’ve got a long travel list I add to pretty often, but I want to travel most of the world and even live in at least 6 different places for 3 to 6 months at a time. My goal is to live in a different country, to learn about the culture and the people, and then move again and experience that somewhere else. London, Tokyo, and Ireland are just a few places… Even Alaska. I just want to live in these different places and have my life be as miscellaneous as possible.I want to do a lot, even start workshops in different parts of the world. To be able to start creative workshops for the youth… I feel like there aren’t enough creative outlets for youth because it’s a job that isn’t taken seriously, so I want to create that space that gives them that opportunity to explore those things. I even wanted to be a teacher at one point. I want to buy a huge warehouse and turn it into a huge creative workshop.I feel like if I had a plan I would not have learned the things I’ve learned. I believe in structure just not with everything. I feel like if you’re a creative, you somewhat have to be a little miscellaneous.I feel like if you’re doing something just to do it without purpose, you’re just wasting time. Life is about collaboration. I think people should do more things together, which is why I try to be as resourceful as possible. I feel like when creating a brand, you have to be relatable. You have to make it so someone can feel like it’s their own, and that they relate to it so much that they too are a part of it. That’s where transparency and purpose comes in. Because when you do something without purpose, no one can relate to it. But if you can create something that people can go back to and relate to over and over again, that’s when you start building a brand in a real way.You have to pace yourself and do things one step at a time. I think that’s where people mess up because they want to do everything at one time. That’s not going to do anything but discourage you because you’re lacking in focus and forcing things out by putting in half the work. It’s like building a house, you can’t lay all the bricks at one time it’s not realistic. It’s not like a cartoon where you can slam the house down and it’ll automatically be there.Without creatives, there would be no branding, no logos, no sense of creative visuals to incorporate. Without creatives, nothing would exist. I feel like if you create something sustainable, and be consistent with it, it can’t fail. But when you force it, that’s when it fails. It’s cool to change all the time, but we should stay true to why we started something.

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_masonry_media_grid element_width="6" grid_id="vc_gid:1480493183808-07c92295-3273-4" include="2367,2364"][/vc_column][/vc_row]We've connected with Sage through mutual friends and the power of the internet. Right off the bat, Sage portrayed wisdom beyond his years through his fire tweets, which was more of a reason why we wanted to sit down over Coffee & Convos!Sage, whose actual name is Edward Skinner, adapted to his alias because it is a synonym for his middle name, Malachi. And if we're not familiar with the definition of sage, it means "a profoundly wise man" which is a perfect description of him. Moving onto the addition of the number 9, Sage explained that his attraction to the number is because of his birthday on April 9, 1993 along with researching the number 9 to be the most worldly and sophisticated of numbers, representing global consciousness. So it's no wonder why he goes by 9th Sage.Aside from sharing his wisdom, he contributes to the community through his art. When he's not out exploring and shooting, he's selecting music and curating playlists for us to create to. Sage is a huge supporter and has played a big part in helping building the San Diego community in such a short amount of time and we can't wait to see what amazing things he'll bring to Houston!

Follow Sage

Instagram: @9thSageTwitter: @9thSageSoundcloud: @9thSage // listen to his latest selections below![embed]https://soundcloud.com/9thsage/sets/sage-selections-volume-three[/embed]

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