How Justin Lefkovitch Introduced a Enjoy of Magic to Media

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In which were you ahead of?

People usually joke with me that I have lived so several various life in my 33 years. Each just one of my life ordeals has contributed to who I am these days and led to the founding of Mirrored Media 11-furthermore decades ago.  

From a very young age escalating up in Los Angeles, I was usually fascinated by suspending disbelief and employing magic as a storytelling tool to construct a narrative. At the age of 13, I joined the Academy of Magical Arts, headquartered at the earth-well known Magic Castle in Hollywood, as a carrying out junior member. The junior system is a collection of the leading beginner performers under 21 from all over the environment.

I became a standard on the touring circuit, executed in the “Future Stars of the Environment” shows, and fantastic-tuned my craft of creating a narrative and altering someone’s viewpoint. My illusions have been utilised as a shipping software for the all round narrative, developing a clearly show vs . just a overall performance. Truly showing my age, my display in individuals days was known as “Dating for Dummies,” all about how to “get the woman.”

I went to faculty at Pepperdine College, mostly to remain near to the network I had designed in the globe of magic. But when at college, I started to tumble in enjoy with other components of the amusement market, specially advertising and marketing. During this time, I was fortunate ample to meet up with singer-songwriter Ray Kennedy, most notably of the Seashore Boys, and I type of fell into starting to be his manager. I cherished the business facet of audio and expert the internal workings of manufacturer partnerships. I helped generate a charity clearly show with Ray, KISS, REO Speedwagon and Aerosmith, and was hooked to the rush of building a reside party. I noticed a lacking website link concerning models and the artists they desired to get the job done with, and it sparked an strategy.

To bridge the gap concerning manufacturers and bands, I envisioned a artistic agency that would use the exact form of storytelling and narrative-based mostly strategies I used to my magic show to produce a unforgettable and shareable standout encounter for the client, artist and followers. Most vital, I preferred to be able to not only build the inventive, but execute and deliver the expertise as very well, generating a gain-gain for everyone, which was not some thing conventional innovative businesses experienced accomplished. 

I have also had a lifelong passion for animals, acquiring developed up all around Siegfried and Roy. I turned a board member for Venture Survival Cat Haven, which specializes in the preservation, conservation and education for and about significant cat species in the course of the environment.

I also dabbled in the world of circus, and just lately received to deliver a childhood dream to daily life as a Cirque du Soleil new music and imaginative expert for the charity show “A single Night for Just one Drop,” which served advantage those without having accessibility to clean h2o all through the world. 

Pointless to say, I have worn a lot of hats in my a few-furthermore a long time on this earth!

What induced your reinvention(s)?

I had a little bit of a truth verify in college. I realized that though I had enthusiasm for the artwork of magic and the inventive system for progressive concepts, I was not as passionate about accomplishing. I was extra excited about creating a narrative and getting to view the audience as I performed with their perspective. Whilst heading to university for advertising and marketing, I realized I could use the identical storytelling principles I applied in magic to other artistic shops. It took many years of discovery but I shifted these principles to a marketing and advertising angle, and out of that change, the idea for Mirrored Media was born.

What did the first steps glance like?

I made it to the finals of a small business strategy opposition at Pepperdine, which initially signaled that I could basically have a practical concept. Just after a prospect meeting with planet-renowned movie composer Hans Zimmer and his lover Steve Kofsky, together with angel trader Vaden Saunders, I introduced my vision to them and they acquired in. Hans and Steve emptied out a broom closet in their Santa Monica campus and invited me in to get started my business enterprise and get the job done towards a proof of principle.

Approximately 11 yrs ago, I began by producing some tiny functions for MTV and Severe Songs for Hype Night, which served me get my ft wet in the planet of activities. But my significant split arrived from a pitch for the model new Acura ILX start. 

My pitch incorporated numerous of the main thoughts that Mirrored Media is based on, with experiential new music things, projection mapping, shareable information and other breathtaking visible artistic. As soon as we received the bid, I frantically began hiring men and women and figuring out a way to truly execute this huge undertaking I was now dependable for. It was insanely overwhelming, but not only did I pull it off, it continues to be just one of my most proud executions in the 10-year background of Mirrored. 

What was one hard obstacle to conquer?

Even though I had a good deal of imaginative travel and knowledge, I was less savvy on the small business side of matters. With out working at an agency just before starting Mirrored Media, I experienced to understand quite a few of the intricacies of remaining an entrepreneur and regular company methods on the fly, which includes budget steering, timelines, account management, payment cycles, and much more. 

When I was figuring out how to execute significant-scale campaigns, I was doing the job by means of the problems of the economical aspect, which was unquestionably my largest studying curve. I was getting to entrance quite a few fees for campaigns with so substantially uncertainty close to shopper payment cycles and how that approach labored. I vividly try to remember remaining on a tour at the very commencing of Mirrored, introduced to tears in a stairwell since I experienced no concept how we were being heading to pay our suppliers and workers the subsequent working day. But like all the things else along my journey, I identified a alternative mainly because I believed I could. 

What was simpler than you believed?

The resourceful process came very normally to me. In the beginning, I feared that I would get caught up in a cycle of repeating principles to various customers. Even so, I realized that we ended up frequently catering to a millennial target audience, so as a millennial myself, I envisioned creative concepts that I would want to working experience. I under no circumstances limited myself creatively, and that assisted me develop to unique verticals of clients and executions. It grew to become simpler and a lot easier to cater to each and every person client and undertaking without having contemplating about practicality initially.

What’s something you acquired along the way that other people today, hoping to do something related, need to know?

Just because it is really your initially time performing some thing, it doesn’t signify you won’t be able to thrive. Count on to hear “no” more than “of course.” From the commencing, I would get tasked with an aim that was absolutely new or overseas to me, and I failed to let it section me. I dove in head very first and figured out a way. Try all the things. Choose challenges. 

I also figured out that you can never underestimate the electric power of a strong network. As cliché as it appears, you ought to never halt making and growing on your community. By forming associations with like-minded friends, you will always have a assist system in position to get you by way of any predicament. Just lately for the duration of the pandemic, I aided kind the Experiential Guild of America with some of my recent and former “rivals,” who have now come to be some of my closest allies. 

Did any one or nearly anything encourage you along the way?

I go on to be impressed every day, and I basically locate that all of the people today from my previous “lives” are catalysts to my good results now. I come across inspiration from former colleagues from the worlds of magic, theater, songs, functionality art, and far more that push me to make immersive encounters that preserve people in-earth. 

Developing up all over the Magic Castle, I had the prospect to have near associations with renowned creatives like Neil Patrick Harris and Derek DelGaudio, both equally of whom are astounding examples of people today who formulated narrative experiences from their passions. Delgaudio’s approaches of making activities by way of magic have been specifically inspiring for me. 

Nevertheless I have under no circumstances worked with her, artist and phase designer Es Devlin has accomplished some unbelievable matters mixing tunes, design and style, and special elements to produce a narrative-dependent practical experience that functions each in-particular person and visually by means of image and movie items. 

Furthermore, Walt Disney has extensive been an inspiration of mine, but additional a short while ago, my company partners and mentors are a frequent supply of encouragement and help, which include Hans Zimmer, previous head of Disney Interactive Steve McBeth, and Steve Kofsky. 

What has this fundamentally altered for you?

The change from performer to manager to inventive company owner has brought with it a significant way of life change—mostly in the form of fewer and much less no cost time—but also a host of advantages. Even nevertheless I am running an company, I get to keep in just the worlds of leisure that I adore so a great deal. I’m continue to a Magic Castle member and I stay in contact equally personally and skillfully with numerous of these people. I have frequently hired my Cirque pals to complete at gatherings I deliver, and I even now work together with my audio market and management contacts every single day in one particular way or another. I have been capable to keep on being enveloped in the environment I like but in a unique context. I truly come across it a bit empowering because I can now seek the services of and do the job with several of the exact men and women who influenced me around a 10 years ago along my journey. 

By means of my reinvention, I have also been blessed sufficient to have numerous views on the agency/client/manufacturer romantic relationship. Owning labored as a talent supervisor, I’ve viewed initially-hand the inconsistencies in conversation kinds between companies and musicians. When doing the job with musicians, artists, actors, and other entertainers, I am ready to see things from their views that others aren’t equipped to see, permitting me to have a clear strategy from equally sides. 

As Mirrored Media has developed, the influencer earth has exploded. Because of my encounter as a grassroots supervisor, I have been in a position to aid aspiring influencers on the rise and formulated reliable relationships with them, as I am capable to assistance bridge the inherent gap in between makes and influencers.

Do you imagine you could go again/do you want to?

Yes, but with a caveat. The path I have chosen permits me to keep on being in the worlds I like so considerably, which implies I am not genuinely looking back as significantly as I am shifting forward. I’m still portion of every single of people communities, but can commit myself full-time to this enterprise I have built. 

I appreciate using clientele and pals to the Magic Castle, Cirque performances, live shows, and special activities. I even include magic into many of the matters I do now. We not long ago had a company content hour with a consumer that turned into me accomplishing magic by means of Zoom for our consumers. It was a minor reminder that even though I might be entirely devoted to Mirrored Media, all of the points I’ve cherished in my earlier are even now pretty a lot a element of it. Certain, I occasionally skip carrying out extra magic shows, but figuring out how substantially time and perseverance it will take to craft people narratives, it is just not in the cards ideal now (pun supposed). 

But in the conclude, I enjoy the journey I’m on ideal now, and luckily I get to integrate all of my past life into what I do now. We have definitely just scratched the floor of what Mirrored Media can turn into. 

Inform us your reinvention track.

“By now Dwelling” by Jay-Z. So much of it speaks to the problems you facial area as an up-and-coming entrepreneur. I specially like the lyric:

There will constantly be a person feeding you negativity and coming up with motives why your strategies will not operate. But you have to persevere, have faith in your intestine, and believe in your self. Especially if you are using a possibility and performing some thing unique. No person at any time adjusted the earth by taking part in it risk-free. 

The outdated adage often rings genuine: There are 40 million causes for failure, but not a single excuse. 

How would you outline your self now?

Even though my key role is founder/CEO of Mirrored Media, I continue being active in a handful of other endeavors. I am a board member for Task Survival Cat Haven, an amateur circus performer, and quasi-expert magician. But at the conclusion of the day, I am a innovative at my core. 

Not too long ago I am most happy of top Mirrored Media’s pivot to a significant aim on generating electronic material. Pre-pandemic, digital was a portion of our enterprise, but now we have mounted a high quality digital written content studio in the office environment and proceed to make electronic streams, panels, virtual conferences, and other information that will assistance expand our organization extended immediately after the pandemic is above. We carry the exact same immersive experiential tactic to electronic content material that we do for in-man or woman functions. We keep on to expand and reinvent our creative solutions for all sorts of clientele and I appreciate staying in a position to provide that narrative-dependent storytelling technique to all of our clients and guests.