Crishon Jerome is a self-proclaimed “ARTrepreneur,” who takes pride in fusing his creative passions with his desire to become a successful businessman. While earning a B.A. in Government from Georgetown University, Crishon began exploring his gifts as a performing artist. He got his first taste of professional dancing with Cirque du Soleil. By pursuing his professional dance career, Crishon has traveled to places such as Spain, Italy, Portugal, Canada, Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Germany and Japan, where, despite cultural differences, he discovered dance to be a universal language.
When Crishon is not traveling for dance or directing his own projects, he spends his time enjoying fatherhood with his 7-year old daughter, Ella and expanding his company, CRōME, which focuses on creating immersive experiences in Fashion, Entertainment, Events, and most recently Virtual Reality. According to Crishon, CRōME speaks to those who believe in "achieving excellence.” He wants the brand to be a platform to educate and inspire new generations of individuals to pursue their dreams bravely and unapologetically.
Despite the challenges that he has endured throughout his life, including growing up impoverished and losing his father to gun violence at an early age, Crishon strongly believes in embracing adversity and evolving from the lessons learned.
Whereas some believe, “You Win Some, You Lose Some,” Crishon says “You Win Some, You Learn Some!” and when you learn, you still Win. So really, it’s all a Win-Win when we take the time to receive the lessons embedded within our obstacles.
As Crishon continues to grow CRōME, he finds it helpful and healthy to take his time these days. He maintains harmony through meditation, working out, running, and walking in nature. Crishon has this message to share with the world: “I believe that we all have the power to create the life that we want. There is nothing beyond our reach, and our success starts with self-love and a belief in our ability to overcome adversity. To me, obstacles are not designed to distract, deter, defeat or destroy us. Instead, I view obstacles as opportunities for us to honor the commitments that we have made to ourselves and our loved ones.” You’ll are in for an incredible conversation filled with a sense of peace and calm despite a high-energy career in an ultra competitive dance career, and unwavering commitment to excellence from an accomplished businessman who figured out how to break into his field of choice through a semi-backdoor; he “crashed” a dance audition with legendary dancing icon Frank Gatson, Jr. and landed a spot on the VMAs.
Highlights: Dancing is a fluid career filled with lots of movement and a constant sense of doing (9:15) Are you only as good as your last job? Not in dance (9:49) Crishon tunes in with his intuition by stepping out in nature and what being mindfully conscious of energy means. (10:29) How to focus on what is in your control (12:49) Georgetown provided a difficult experience rather than challenging, and this didn’t fit Crishon’s vision (15:09) How Crishon went from government studies to an opportunity with Cirque du Soleil during his freshman year (16:15) After college, a friend encouraged Crishon to follow his dancing career rather than government work (17:07) Crishon crashed an audition for the VMAs with Frank Gatson Jr. to dance for Frank Ocean. (21:00) Crishon has been facing challenge head-on since being a kid, it’s who he is (27:47) Crishon’s time on Colbert in 2016 was an interesting and “cheeky” experience (34:42) Why Crishon is always ready and how being prepared is important (37:46) How to be present and bring a sense of peace with you even when your plans don’t happen (40:20) Crishon’s sweet message to his daughter so that she too will be ready. (43:33) What VR can look like and how his events/activation business has pivoted recently. (45:53)
Links to quench your curiosity: Learn more about Crishon’s company and its Instagram Catch Crishon on Instagram You Do You by Sarah Knight What is the 30 Days of Excellence that Crishon & I are both participants of? Listen to my interview with Diane Bell - she, too, gave herself “permission” to be creative
