Meet Bee Johnson | Owner | Purple Ghost Apparel

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bee Johnson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bee, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Being artistic and creative was always a part of me as far back as I can remember. I’ve been drawing since I was eight years old. I can remember sitting at my aunt and uncles dining room table trying to replicate cover art from my favorite video games or pictures in magazines from my favorite cartoons. I’ve always wanted to make art and bring concepts and ideas from my mind into reality. The easiest way to do that at the time was putting pencil to paper. As I got older, I never lost that trait. With the rise of technology and new media outlets, my skill level and mediums evolved as well. That strengthened my love for being creative and gave me confidence that I could bring my creativity to the world in different forms, such as apparel.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve been drawing since a child. I started drawing anime/manga style when I was about thirteen or fourteen after seeing my first anime series on TV the summer before my freshman year in high school. Even though I was instantly drawn to that style of art, it wasn’t very popular at that time. But I fell in love with it almost instantly, which set me apart from others. By sixteen, my friends and I were making comic books but it wasn’t getting as much recognition as I wanted. I was always looking for a way to be different with my art and be different on my own terms. I think that’s the thing that doesn’t always work out for creative people in their industry. And that was my case as well from early on. It was definitely a challenge for me internally as well as externally. It was like, how can I display my art in a way that I want to show it and still have people look at it even if they don’t think they are interested or don’t know about it at all? Ultimately, those were the driving questions that led me to creating Purple Ghost Apparel. I feel like now that I’m older, I wanted to create new avenues for the creative people that were overlooked or overshadowed to shine. Purple Ghost is something that comes from my heart and my creative mind and it can be displayed in a way that grabs peoples attention.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well, I’ve had plenty of friends and family visit me over the years. Planning from a few days to a week-long trip wouldn’t be too hard. There’s a lot to see and do in Southern California. First, I’d start with San Diego. I love the more chill vibes of SD. Going on the harbor tour is cost efficient and gives a great lesson on the Naval ships and other sights in downtown San Diego. Then seeing the sights downtown, The Gas Lamp District and taking the bridge to Coronado always is a great tourist attraction in my opinion. From there, if you’re into shopping, the Westfield UTC Mall is a great place to go. There’s a great speakeasy type bar called Raised By Wolves there and they have all kinds of different cocktails to enjoy. Going up the coast on PCH is great, which will lead you to Orange County. There, the obvious Disneyland and California Adventure parks are a must see and fun for the entire family. There’s all kinds of beaches along the way and so much more that I can’t even remember it all!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to dedicate this shoutout to everyone in my life that has helped and believed in me along the way. My family, including my Mom, my Dad, my Sisters, Kari, her Dad and her Brother, Judy, my kids, my cousins and pretty much all the people who encouraged me and provided opportunities for me when I didn’t know how to make that next step. And then my friends, Vinai, David & Ray, who has always been right there developing ideas and repping my brand in their own ways and creating new opportunities to get Purple Ghost Apparel out there in the world. My other new friends that I’ve made along the way Ann, Spence & Paul for trying to show me new ways of marketing or sending referrals my way & simply giving me custom orders to fill in the gaps when Purple Ghost wasn’t selling too well as a brand. Lastly, to my Uncle Ross for taking me in when I moved to California and helping me through all the lows I faced here. Without all these people and more (sorry if I am forgetting some names), I wouldn’t be doing this at all.

Website: www.purpleghost.shop

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/purple_ghost_apparel/

Image Credits
Dee Hartford, Jonathan Arreola