Explore my
JOSH YORDY
they/them
he/him
Virgo, ENFJ, Belle from Beauty and the Beast according to the Buzzfeed quiz "Choose Cute Puppies And Accessories And I'll Reveal Your Inner Disney Princess"
I believe good story, be it a brand, campaign, advertisement, post, novel, or poem, is more than just pretty words or a flashy design. A good narrative has layers, has symbols, has movement, and I dedicate myself to the details that most people may not notice at first glance.
A Summary
I grew up in an artistic city in Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, wherein I was creatively involved from a very young age. In as early as elementary school, I learned painting, ceramics, graphic design, acting, musical theater, creative writing, screenwriting, violin, trumpet, choral singing, and even GarageBand musical production. It was in third grade that I discovered I had a love for writing, after composing a thrilling tale about fairy pirates which I believe streaming executives would be foaming at the mouth to adapt if ever I could find the original. By the time I reached middle school, I pivoted to more rigorous academic pursuits without abandoning the trumpet and my writing hobby as storytelling mediums. I also invested myself in the Boy Scouts of America, through which I was able to complete many explorations through Arizona’s diverse wilderness and stretch my comfort zone.
In high school, I had (or rather made) time to pursue both creativity and academia, reengaging in musical theater, graphic design, and choir. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, I found myself in lack of traditional structure, so I threw myself into writing alongside a continued dedication to academics. In an absense of society, I returned to telling stories. I wrote 55,000 words in two months, completing my first novel by May of 2020 which I proceeded to edit. Upon graduating in 2021, I pursued work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, first in Colorado speaking Spanish and then in Los Angeles. I continued to edit my novel, still very rough and flat upon reflection, was briefly considered for publication by a small independent publishing house.
When I came out as queer in the summer of 2021, I entered a nuanced space of the LGBTQ+ community and religiosity that carried me into my first few semesters at Arizona State University. I have since distanced myself from the church for a myriad of personal reasons, though I still appreciate the work ethic and sense of community it provided me for many years.
Choosing to study both Marketing and Creative Writing at Arizona State University perfectly encapsulated my balance of academia and creativity. My love for organization and strategy paired well with my devotion to expression and storytelling to devise the foundation for a career full of creativity, collaboration, and community. I intend to build on this foundation and pursue positions and projects that allow me to embody these attributes and continue to tell stories, as I always have.
I continue to write in my free time, having completed two manuscripts since my first in 2020 which I am editing slowly and beginning to send to agents. My core professional expertise now lies in brand strategy, copywriting, and audience engagement. I make it my mission to be as creative as possible in as many ways as I can, and being involved with brands is the perfect outlet for that.
Inspirations
A small collection of my favorite media, that which inspires me to continue to tell stories (in no particular order)
Interests
NARRATIVE AND INTANGIBLE INTERESTS INCLUDE: the deconstruction of masculine performance, queer romance, the color orange, antiracism, flower languages, politics, loss, religious imagery and guilt, London geography, yearning, antiquities, portals to mysterious worlds, color theory, mycorrhizal fungi and mycelium networks, identifying the devastations of colonialism, the smell of rain, overburdened color symbolism, liquid organza, keys without locks, hedge mazes, the artistic process and souces of muse, isolation as a vehicle for inspiration, undesirable and inevitable conclusions, vintage cars, the word erstwhile, etc.
PRACTICAL AND CONCRETE INTERESTS INCLUDE: water color, knitting, music, swimming, hiking, camping, paddleboarding, cinema, theater, museums, tennis, sketching, bookstore tote bags, architecture, writing, reading, card games, sudoku, videography, interior design, teas, photography, graphic design, advertising, kayaking, marketing, poetry, typography, singing, songwriting, screenwriting, travel, etc.
Statement on Artificial Intelligence
I understand the function of Generative Artificial Intelligence, and I am proficient at prompting it to achieve acceptable results. At the advent of public access to GenAI, I found it prudent to learn the budding technology so as to not get behind. I also found it a fun exercise to see what specific prompts could produce. As with all things, my stances and opinions have shifted as I have continued to be curious and learn.
One opinion that has decidedly not changed, even from the beginning when I was more open to the use of AI for menial tasks, is AI's relationship to creative pursuits. In my passionate opinion and in my practices and projects, Generative Artificial Intelligence has absolutely no place in any creative works. Art, in all its forms and mediums, is hollow without the human heart. I find GenAI "art" to be slop effectively designed to saturate an already underfunded sector of our society and blur copyright laws into disintegration. Its introduction does nothing but lower standards for human creation. The only thing GenAI "art" creates is an unfair skepticism and disbelief towards real, hard-earned, heart-filled art.
Pivoting to a more professional context, and without speaking in vanity or pride but rather upon looking at results (between myself and peers/projects that have elected to use AI), I have found that I do a more holistic, creative, and successful job than Generative AI. Not only do I feel no need to implement its use in professional settings, I also feel a moral imperative to avoid it. Because of the environmental, data security, copyright, cognition, and political lobying concerns, I am loathe to use Generative AI more than is required of me by my courses and assignments. In my current Marketing program, certain AI simulations are required for success, but I do not approach them in my personal life or work.
I am aware that there are other forms of Artificial Intelligence that can certainly benefit in ways that outweigh their costs, such as detecting cancer, offering learning aids to those in need, and adapting organizational framework capabilities for greater sustainability. With the same nuanced excitement that one may laud the invention of the smart phone, I am of course welcome to these innovations. As with all advancements in technology, Artificial Intelligence in these ways offer both fantastic opportunites and grave costs. Ethical consumption and implementation under current systems of production is a subject I am constantly confronting as a citizen of the world, and I will continue to be curious and educate myself as things change. However, my passion for the environment, human rights, authentic creativity, public safety, and agency will always be paramount in this conversation.
To summarize, I personally avoid Generative Artificial Intelligence in every way I am able. Resolutely, I do not and will not be using Generative Artificial Intelligence for any creative and artistic pursuits, especially writing of any kind. In that breath, no Generative AI was used in the creation of this website, its design, its copy, or its imagery. The same goes for the work in my portfolio and my resume. Any unnecessary professional or logistical projects I have completed with the help of AI at its introduction into the public sphere I acknowlege to be amongst the worst quality I have produced and am glad to abandon today.
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Have an idea for a project? Need a story to be told, a brand to be rebranded, a vibe to be curated, an event planned, an email written, a rant listened to, a good homemade mac & cheese recipe? Don’t be afraid to reach out.