Today we’d like to introduce you to Phoenix Malone.
Hi Phoenix, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
My craft began when I moved to Houston, I was fresh out of college in 2016 just trying to get on my feet and get my career as a teacher started, and about 6 months into that process my life just began to feel bland. I didn’t have a creative outlet (and at that point, I didn’t know that I needed one). I remember walking up the stairs to my apartment one evening thinking “I can literally feel myself aging this cannot be my life”. So I started looking for an outlet. I started with the idea of photography, and that didn’t go well at all because I was about to try to start a photography business with my phone. I made a Facebook page and everything.
That idea died and I kept looking for something that I would be into. In college, I used to watch a skit group called dormtainment and in college, I wanted to start a skit group like that to make videos and it didn’t really work out. I managed to force my friends to make a video with my my senior year but it was short-lived because we never did it again. I remember watching a social media skit in my apartment and thinking “I want to do this…what’s stopping me?”
I was just nervous about doing it on my own. But I ended up creating an Instagram under the name agentphe ( a play on “agent p” from Phineas and Ferb, Phe is what my friends call me) and I made my very first skit about haircuts; “what if men’s haircuts had the same names as women’s weave”. I filmed it on my phone and edited it with this cheap app I had on my iPad. I was nervous about posting it so I talked to my friend Jake who is one of my best friends and his words stick with me to this day “bro just post it people gone catch on eventually” so I posted it. I started with about 50 followers on ig, all people I knew from college, and now I have 5K active follows on ig and 74k on TikTok, and here I am now with an interview about it. So people definitely caught on. I’ve learned so much about editing and improv during my journey with this and I’m looking forward to where it will take me
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s definitely rough. Wanting to JUST create but having to be an actual adult is annoying. I’m lucky that I’m a teacher in my career choice because during the summer I can make a new video every day if I want to.
One of my biggest struggles was learning how to edit. As my ideas grew I needed to be better at editing so that I could create what I would imagine. I was literally afraid to use professional editing software but I learned it from hours and hours of practicing and now I’m self taught a pro in my own right
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m an educator professionally. I started off as a tutor at my school and now I’m the lead 8th grade teacher. I’m most proud of my work speaking for me. I used to be someone who looked at others in a good position and think less of myself because I wasn’t in a similar position, but now I’m confident that what is for me will always come and all I have to do to get it is continue to do me.
I believe what sets me apart from others is my mindset. I was just having a conversation with my mentee and he said “bro aren’t you like 28 why are you so wise??” And Honestly, that’s what I’m most proud of as well, because I’m thankful that I have a good enough head on my shoulders to navigate life in the right ways
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
I know that the most important quality for my success is confidence. Because when I start to question things or feel as though I’m not deserving then I postpone my success from not making the right decisions.
Contact Info:
- Email: Agentphe@gmail.com
- Website: Risingphoenix.art
- Instagram: Instagram.com/agentphe
- Twitter: Twitter.com/agentpheee
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCvuRT2G8KOMBDtqJEB0lhAQ
Image Credits
Ayanna Watkins
