Today we’d like to introduce you to Bee Johnson.
Hi Bee, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi and thanks for having me. My name is Bee Johnson and I’m the owner of Purple Ghost Apparel and we’re based in The OC. I’m originally from Indiana but moved to California at 18. I moved around a lot as a kid, living in several different states including North Carolina, Georgia, and Indiana. After my first year in college, I moved to LA at 18 from South Bend, IN. I’ve always been into art as I’ve been drawing since I was 8 years old, so moving to a big city with diverse cultures and an area known for self-expression like Southern California seemed like a perfect fit. Of course, there was a bit of culture shock, and I was still trying to find myself, but I knew SoCal is where I wanted to be. The road to figuring out what I wanted to do ultimately was a rocky one, but I am a strong believer in the saying, “Everything happens for a reason.” The hard times I experienced living in LA and The OC have made me who I am today. From experiencing homelessness to getting my own place, I quite literally grew up here. Those experiences taught me to be grateful and be intentional in my passions and interests in life because we only get this one life to live.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Of course! There’s been a lot of challenges in my life and a lot of lessons learned along the way. It definitely was not a easy or smooth journey!
After moving to California, I set out to to find my way through attending college and working. I had 4 amazing kids at a really young age, which really altered my way of life.
Around 2008-2009, I was a young college student. I attended Cal State LA and took an editing class (shoutout to Bridgette Murnane). I loved that experience, and decided that I wanted to be a television editor.
While beginning that journey, I was a commuter student living in South Los Angeles with my uncle and his longtime girlfriend (the only family I had on the West Coast) at the time. The housing market had crashed, and unfortunately, our home was foreclosed on. I had no place to go.
After sleeping on friends couches, car backseats and bus/train stations around LA, I realized that I hit rock bottom. I almost gave up and moved back home. But my dad gave me a pep talk one day when I felt like I couldn’t make it and that’s literally when I felt the confidence to turn my life around.
From there, I got a job at Knotts Berry Farm in Orange County working as a part of the night cleaning crew. I went to school during the day, and the money that came in from my job and college fund disbursements helped me afford to stay in a hotel. This lasted a lasted a few months but with the struggles of being a college student, young father and full time employee, it was seemingly more than I could manage.
All while I was going through this experience, I began to pick up drawing again, which I hadn’t done since I moved to LA. And at that point, I think I began to realize that I loved being creative. I eventually got into the television industry as an editor full-time, but I still felt unfulfilled. It was at this time where I was given the opportunity to learn about the apparel industry.
Eventually, I made the connection between my art and putting those works on garments. I loved creating things that had a good design and a positive message. This evolved into getting my family involved, as well as other artists that might not have thought they could have their message and art on clothing. I thought giving the younger generation an outlet and something tangible and long-lasting would be a great way to promote this very concept. And so Purple Ghost Apparel was born.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Well I’d like everyone to know more about my apparel brand, Purple Ghost Apparel, LLC. It’s a streetwear brand focusing on the concept of creating art in all forms. I think as a human race, our lives are enhanced by the fact that we can take an idea in our mind and bring it into a physical and tangible form. My goal is to create collaborations with artists of any genre, whether it be graphic artists, dancers, writers, musicians, etc., and give them a new platform that they may not have previously considered as a means to get their message and art out to the world in the form of a garment.
This is basically the idea and meaning of my brand, Purple Ghost (PG). I am a big fan of color. And purple, in nature, is a rare color. It’s most known to represent royalty, but it also represents being in a state of creativity. The best way I can describe it is much like how other colors can represent feelings and emotions. Red, for example, can be known to represent anger. People will say “I was so mad; I just saw red”. Or green representing jealousy, thus the saying “green with envy”. There’s a Pixar movie called Soul that came out a few years back about a jazz piano player. Whenever he was in his “zone,” there would be different hues of purple as he played. So, as he created music and zoned out, the more purple hues surrounded him.
As for the Ghost in PG, it’s just another name for “spirit,” so, literally, Purple Ghost is creative spirit or the celebration of the creative spirit.
I really wanted to express the importance of being creative and being an individual while living in our mass society. We all have something to learn and appreciate from ourselves and others, artistically.
I have my kids to give the credit to for a lot of the successes behind PG thus far, so I wanted to personally thank Jailen, Tori, Tajaun, and Micah for much of my inspiration and their help.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I define success as having a goal and accomplishing it. Throughout my journey, I’ve had several goals: to graduate college, to get a job, to be a good dad, and to express my creativity in the way that best represents who I am as a person. I think being successful is recognizing and celebrating your own personal victories along the way to eventually accomplishing your ultimate goal.
Pricing:
- Shirts $19.95
- Hoodies $39.95
- Hats $29.95
- Beanies $11.95
Contact Info:
- Website: https://purpleghostofficialapparel.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/purple_ghost_apparel/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@purpleghostofficial?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
Image Credits
Jordon Mendoza
Jonathan Arreola
Makana Boyles
