Meet Mr. Joe Walker | Award-Winning Writer, Media Personality & Event Host

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mr. Joe Walker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mr. Joe, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
For more than two decades I’ve used words – written and spoken – to encourage, empathize, educate, and entertain in our increasingly indirect-contact, social networking society. Being a compulsively creative writer with roles as a media personality and public figure, anything I scribe and say, professionally and personally, is at risk of immediate scrutiny.

I think about risk as an inevitable adversary, one that try my best to survive by wielding kindness, character, and an endless supply of ideas.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
When I’m editing and uploading THISENT.com content, my current venture with my brothers Eric and Alex, sometimes I take a moment to survey and revisit what we’ve done up to that point. When this happens I can’t help but reflect on my career journey. It’s a road paved with challenges and triumphs. The biggest challenge was proving myself.

Having a writing career that began online in 1998 with the pioneering The Groove Spot Online Hip Hop Magazine – TheGrooveSpot.com, my desire was always to work for newspapers and magazines. When I’d apply for opportunities they’d tell me my internet article clips weren’t credible. But I persisted, eventually earning my shot; reviewing a LL Cool J concert that got a full page in my hometown newspaper, Muskegon Chronicle, which also got picked up by Grand Rapids Press. From there I went on to be published in print thousands of times regionally, nationally, and internationally, and in more than 50 publications.

My story, like anyone’s, is an ongoing tale with no specified word count or number of pages. Sandwiched between a hardcover that opened the day I was born and the one that will eventually close are chapters of a person from Muskegon Heights who uses words to entertain, encourage, educate, and empathize. They’re threads of a person who gets to do stuff because they write stuff.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Most of the meals would likely be homemade, but we’d certainly hit Meat BBQ, The People’s Kitchen, and Sleepwalkers. All of their menus are excellent. Oh, Sushi Moto, Cravings Popcorn, Groovy Donuts, and Horrocks Market too. I’d also take a look at the event calendar on 517Living.com to see what’s happening in the area but also connect with my creative extended family of All of the Above HipHop Academy and Ourspace517 to learn what they have going on. The arts and entertainment culture is strong in Mid-Michigan.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I dedicate my shoutout to C.J. Plays, Nicki Walker, Corey Blackman, Louis Thomas, Jr. (RIP), Keith Fox (RIP), Arthur McLeod (RIP), Joseph and Anne Bell Miller (RIP), Myra Miller, Donald Walker, Sherry Scott, DJ Mello Marv (RIP), Nelson Hardiman, Angela McQuarter, Ed Drake, Rev, Mark A. Smith, Troy Island, Sirronto Anthony, Joe Kelley (RIP), Robert Roundtree, Clayton Hardiman, Franklin Fudail, John Gonzalez, Jimaine Wilson, Jonathan Jelks, Willie Buckley, Head Debiase, Nana Tha Illest (RIP), Leigh Kakaty, Tye Ramos, Doug Digg-Dugg Hart (RIP), Lisa Downie, Ludacris, Greg Miller, Octavia Bostick, Madeline Smith, Christina Kotsamanidis, Jordan Frazes, 50 Cent, John Cena, Quia Querisma, Rhonda Tankerson, Bowlegged Lou, Ryan Evans, Doug Sims, Corey Davis, Mel Cantrell, Tamar Porter, Sr., Antwan “Amadeus” Thompson, Ozay Moore, Solo Brooks, Bob Hoffman, DeSean Whipple, Alex Malone, Eric McClain, John Richard Hopkins, All of the Above HipHop Academy, 517 Living, L-Town Jubilee, National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM.org), Grand Rapids Press Newspaper, Metro Times, Notion Magazine, Kalamazoo Gazette, The New Citizens Press, Lansing City Pulse, Revue Magazine, Lansing State Journal, The Jackson Citizen Patriot, Arizona Weekly Magazine, Concrete Magazine, Urban Magazine, Soul Train, AllHipHop.com, WrestlingInc.com, PWMania.com, EURweb.com, Beyondish.com, Benzinga.com, MLive.com.

Website: THISENT.com

Other: https://linktr.ee/mrjoewalker