We’re looking forward to introducing you to Mike Diamond. Check out our conversation below.
Mike, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
Normally when disillusioned, music appears to create a separate space for me to take a more omniscient point of view on life and reacclimate with my sense of being. I wouldn’t necessarily attribute this phenomenon to a specific song or melody, but more-so the essence of the different sounds that constitute a song and the ingenuity behind its creation. It can be as simple as a single line, riff, or even a note. Acknowledging what prospects arise from inside me while listening to music or even playing my guitar gives me another tier of insight. The feeling resembles being swept away to another place, somewhere foreign, but a place I’ve always been.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Mike Diamond. I normally go by Mike D, not “mike”; and I’m a recording artist, model, and producer from Williamston, NC. I also offer various media services, such as photography, social media marketing, and most other aspects of what would be considered public relations. I’ve been making music most of my life, and currently I’m working on a new project. I more than owe my fans some more music, but I don’t wanna reveal too much about it as of now. I can say that it should be releasing in the very very near future, so be on the lookout for that, and I’ll be releasing some show dates around that same time, so come see me! Regarding modeling, I originated doing a lot of collabs and brand ambassadorships with different brands and things of that sort, before transitioning into ballroom modeling. I mainly battled, or practiced really, All American, but fast forward to today, where I mainly take part in editorial and runway campaigns. Though, I have immense love for the ballroom community. That’s a brief overview of how I started. Now, I’m preparing to head out to New York for Fashion Week. A lot of people ask me how I manage all my different careers, but ultimately I try to stress the point that I love what I do. No part of any journey is going to be easy, so I think it’s important to do something you genuinely enjoy. I feel like there’s a lot that can be learned from the life I’ve led, but one of the things that I want to be received from my story is to do what makes you happy, so long as you can live with your choices.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Earnestly, I can’t perceive a time when the world wasn’t attempting to influence my choices, motives, and actions. A constant that has remained is that, in lieu of said expectations, I’ve never let such sentiments dictate who I saw myself aspiring to be. Throughout life, there’s plenty of people who’ll say things, but I truly believe I am the curator of my own fate. Even if I’m not, I do the best I can to will the things that I want to be more than a concept or idea. If you let others tell you who you’re supposed to be, what you’re supposed to be doing, and things like that, eventually you almost forget who you wanted to be. Who you need to be for yourself. Whether it was the world, the sky, the stars, the moon, and whoever else, it still wouldn’t matter. There’s nobody I’d rather be than myself, and I can’t do that by listening to the rest of the planet.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering rather than success taught me so much. In times, it’s almost hard to relay, but one of the most important lessons was empathy, understanding the pain of another human being. That’s not to say I had a lack thereof prior, but I feel like it created a degree of understanding that initially I could not access. Grief and hurt pose as a staple throughout mankind, and through my own, they’ve allowed me to connect with so many people from similar and dissimilar backgrounds. As an artist, throughout your entire team, the relationship you have with your fans is of the utmost importance. And when I include the remnants of my real suffering, my real life, in my craft, it goes unsaid that my fans can hear me. They can feel my music beyond waves of sound, and that’s irreplaceable to me.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
A project I’d say I’m committed to is myself. Less in a literal sense, but more so in the mindset of acknowledging my journey. I feel like a lot of the time people allow their minds to reside solely in the future as a means to escape their past and labor their present; where the cognizance to recognize one’s own life as concurrent rather than linear provides much more justice. In doing so I’ve been able to create a sense of wholeness. It’s allowed me to grow. Some advice I give normally is that it’s important to find a space that’s content but not complacent.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. If immortality were real, what would you build?
If immortality were real, I’d most likely create a device to stop it. I think humans exist properly as finite beings with finite clauses, and I fear what could be created with an eternity to make it. Especially if in this scenario I’m supposed to be around to see said infinity. I don’t want to sound super callus, of course it’s a nice sounding idea; I just think that endings are part of what makes the rest of the story so meaningful in a lot of cases. On the other hand though, if all the people I rock with were to stay then maybe I’d stick around, in which case I’d build a huge castle or something.
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