The Next Chapter
Get to know Jimmy FauntLeRoy, in his own words…
For 11 years before I came to Fusion, I was a full-time traveling musician with Keynote, a local performing arts hub for outreach and communication training, right up the road in Westfield. I had been writing songs and performing since I was 13, but in the summer of 1999 I trucked my wife and 3 year-old son from Baltimore out here to Indy to “pursue the dream.”
Over the years, my family expanded and I traveled a lot, playing concerts all over the U.S., on the cobblestone streets in Spain, in smoky bars in Serbia and Bulgaria, and even on the beaches of Brazil. I wrote more songs and even recorded a couple of albums. (Feel free to stop by my desk…) It was fantastic. So the first question most people ask is: “Why give that up?”
There are 3 answers:
It was…
- Complicated: My passion for communication had taken several forms – I’d begun writing a book, I had become a communication instructor along the way, and the solo music gigs I was doing had evolved into equal parts music and teaching…
- Progressive: There were logical steps in the process. My activities morphed as my family grew; it was wise to travel less. At the same time, I discovered that music is just one of the many artistic ways I like to express myself…
- The Right Time: I don’t know about you, but I think life has chapters, and in no negative sense at all, I found I had come to the end of a chapter in my life called “The Traveling Musician.” I’d done what I came to do. And it felt good. So, on to the next chapter…
Now, most ADD creative-types like me have trouble fitting in at school and work and feeling normal, especially if the hole stays round but the peg likes to change shape. Unfortunately, though, the feeling that “someday I will be normal” was a blue-grey cloud hanging low over my creativity for years – keeping me waiting. Until about two years ago.
Yes, the 43 year-old man you are reading about now is actually growing. Already writing regularly, I also started drawing again, and painting. Then, about a year ago I began to learn digital illustration. While there are certainly still times when I pause and think I really should try to be more “normal,” thankfully they are fewer and farther between.
At any rate, the last couple of years have convinced me that truly excellent communication is not merely spoken or written. It is verbal, non-verbal, spoken, unspoken, visual, visceral and audial, lyrical and musical. And though any one of these is potentially meaningful, combining them can be explosive. And that is a great segue to this next chapter.
As a content strategist in Fusion’s “Digital Zone,” it is my charge and privilege to use all of these forms to help our clients express their vision in powerful ways. So I’m not waiting around. There are things that need to be said!
