Living Your mainelove with Maine's Top Content Creator JoJo Deschenes

This month on Living Your mainelove, we’re turning the camera around on someone who’s usually behind it: JoJo Deschenes.

JoJo has been part of the mainelove story from the beginning, capturing the people, moments, games, and stories that bring our brand to life. But his own story is just as inspiring.

JoJo started creating and editing content at an age when most kids were just consuming it. From filming YouTube videos with his brothers to shooting high school sports, he turned a childhood passion for creating into a career—and ultimately chose to bet on himself and build his own path rather than follow the traditional college route.

In this episode, we talk about growing up as an “iPad kid,” learning by doing, building a creative career from the ground up, his love of sports, and what he’s learned from spending so much time behind the lens. 

Transcript

mainelove 0:04

Welcome to Living Your mainelove, the podcast that celebrates the people who are living with passion, purpose, and a whole lot of heart. Each month we'll sit down with people who are following what lights them up in Maine and beyond. This is a very special episode with the one, the only, the man that's usually behind the lens. Yes. Jojo. Is it Deschenes? Jojo has been integral to Main Love. He has, from the very beginning, uh he's a photographer, videographer, editor, podcaster himself. He's sort of building his own brand out here in Maine. And he's worked with us since day one behind the scenes, the soccer games, filming everything, interviewing people.

JoJo 0:55

A lot of times in here, too.

mainelove 0:56

A lot of times in here, but he's usually over there. He's filming. But we thought how cool would it be to talk to Jojo about how he's really built this impressive brand at such a young age. We're not going to disclose your age, but younger than 20, guys.

JoJo 1:11

Yeah.

mainelove 1:11

So um, Jojo, welcome.

JoJo 1:14

Yeah, it's it's interesting to be on this side of the camera. You know, normally I'm behind and they've had some amazing guests, but I'm pretty sure this was my sister's idea.

mainelove 1:22

So Olivia.

JoJo 1:24

I mean, she was the one who actually did get me involved. Um the origin story between how I got connected was my sister. So she, I remember it was like the first winter, right when you guys started. Yeah, she sent out it was just a case of the still and the sparkling, and I went out on Sobago to source. Um I went out on Sobago and it was frozen and took some photos.

mainelove 1:45

And since then, we've just been, and it's funny, I remember I was on a call with her and our CEO John. We're talking about, you know, we need resources, we need to create cool social media, we need, you know, video, videographer, photographer. And she's like, well, my brother, Jojo, or Joseph, as she calls you. Yeah. Um, he, you know, he's really good. And I was like, let's see your brother. Let's see your brother. I'm always leery. Yeah. Yeah. My brother, my sister. But then I saw your uh website and I was like, oh, okay, he's talented. So I was like, I have hope for Jojo. And then the rest is history. That website needs to be updated.

JoJo 2:22

It's okay. Yes, that was that was like really the beginning, right? When I started getting things kicked off. I started mostly just with high school sports, um, but that bled into business um for a couple couple businesses and stuff. And main love is definitely the the best one.

mainelove 2:40

But I want to take go way back to little Jojo. Oh gosh. Okay. Let's go way back.

JoJo 2:44

All right, let's go way back.

mainelove 2:45

So, you know, I feel like you're very driven and you kind of like you know what you want to do. You know, I've talked, we've talked about your business aspirations, having your own sort of agency and whatnot, media agency. Um what were you like as a kid? Were you driven as a kid? Were you did you think that did you always want to get into this sort of medium, or do you remember your earliest aspirations?

JoJo 3:07

Um, I would say I was driven. I was the youngest of four. Um I I like to say I grew up as an iPad kid. Not a lot of people say that, but I grew up as an iPad kid and I actually met some people who were professionally creating content for a living when I was at the age of like 11 or 12. So I just I I I met these people um and just became really good friends with them online. And so I sort of just became friends with these people who were doing what I wanted to do. So like over time, I sort of picked it up. So I technically started professionally editing when I was 12.

mainelove 3:47

That's so young.

JoJo 3:48

Yeah, it was just an idea, but like I like I said, I grew up an iPad kid, so all I really like YouTube and all of that stuff, it just made so much sense. And then I was super young when I noticed how people were actually making a living off of it. And I was like, okay, this could be a job. It doesn't feel like a job.

mainelove 4:04

Yeah, yeah.

JoJo 4:05

So I've since like since I was a kid, you know, in my generation, I've sort of just known I was gonna be doing something with a screen or content and creating something.

mainelove 4:17

And the photography, like, when did that enter the equation?

JoJo 4:20

Um, that entered the equation high school. I picked up a camera and started filming for my basketball team.

mainelove 4:28

Okay.

JoJo 4:28

Or actually technique, you can find there's videos somewhere. I think I was like nine or ten, and I filmed the video with my brothers because we used to like, I don't know if you know who dude uh Dude Perfect is, but they did like uh ping pong trick shots.

mainelove 4:41

Uh-huh.

JoJo 4:42

And we wanted to, we started doing like trick shots. Um, my brothers were into vine, so they would create vines. I never created any vines. I don't know if that that but I I recorded, I remember it was like a skit with my brother Jake and his his uh friend Matthew. I was probably like nine or ten, so that was probably the first time I actually and what did you that with that video or fixed?

mainelove 5:04

It's on YouTube. Oh, is it real? I was gonna say, did you put everything on YouTube?

JoJo 5:07

Yeah. Okay. There's a lot of old videos on random accounts.

mainelove 5:12

Oh my god, that's funny.

JoJo 5:14

And my friends know them. My friends will remind me of them. I don't know. I think some are on my like dad's account, some we made some accounts, but it was fun. But yeah, ever since you know I was like nine or ten, we started uploading videos on YouTube and really started my own thing. Um, like my junior year of high school.

mainelove 5:34

So you were pretty, so you knew pretty young I can make a living creating content, whatever that is. And I think I want to go down this path. But sports has been, I feel like your passion, filming sports, right?

JoJo 5:47

That is a hundred percent um my passion. I think creating in general is really like the the main thing is just creating. But um, like growing up with my brothers and my dad, we watched like the Patriots, uh obviously the Celtics, all these New England teams. So sports was a huge part of my upbringing. So um, and I was fortunate enough, like my parents, they they sent me to a couple camps and I got to like meet some athletes, or like even just like going to games and stuff is such a cool experience. And so sports is also sort of ingrained into something that I just could do for free because it's yeah, it's really fun. So yeah, and then filming it, it just it's super cool being able to like capture like a cool something that happens because you know the athlete will be able to look at that forever, so it's pretty cool.

mainelove 6:36

So, okay, so you started young, got into the content game, but when did it become like your professional career?

JoJo 6:45

Um, when I graduated high school because I chose not to go to college.

mainelove 6:48

Okay.

JoJo 6:49

So I'd say that's officially when I started doing it like full time.

mainelove 6:54

Yeah.

JoJo 6:55

Although I was getting paid like a couple hundred bucks in Amazon gift cards when I was 12. I didn't have a bank account. I didn't have pay, I had no way to get paid, and I got Amazon gift cards. So technically that's when it really started.

mainelove 7:08

Underage labor.

JoJo 7:10

Yeah, yeah. It's okay.

mainelove 7:12

It was under the radar with Amazon gift cards was the you know.

JoJo 7:15

I bought I bought Madden, I bought some, I've bought some fun stuff with that money. But anyways, um, I took a gap year after high school to really just see if I could do this be smart. Um, so that's when I'd say it really kind of started the following year because then I chose not to go to college because I was too busy.

mainelove 7:34

So college off the table for like forever?

JoJo 7:38

No, it seems like it would be a lot of fun. I think I'd have a lot of fun in college, but right now I it wouldn't make sense for time-wise. I'm I have too much stuff going on. I couldn't go to a lecture.

mainelove 7:50

Well, I mean, the point of college typically is you go and it, you know, you have a sort of a career avenue in mind.

JoJo 7:56

Yeah.

mainelove 7:56

Right. And then after you've got the degree, then you can go forward. But you're kind of already you you like leaped ahead of it in a way, I feel like.

JoJo 8:05

Yeah. I and I also think I'm in a very unique position with how like things are changing with technology. I remember even when we were at one of the first Hearts of Pine games um and I did an interview for the first time. I was talking with um somebody at WGME, and he was like, people spend their whole lives trying to practice of how to interview and do this, and you kind of just skipped all of that and just went out and did it, which I think is because of social media. Right. Because now you don't have to necessarily you can create your own stuff.

mainelove 8:40

Yeah.

JoJo 8:40

So that's why I think it's you know, I'm very lucky to be able to do what I do because I was born in the internet iPad kid. Yeah.

mainelove 8:50

What are you like? So obviously that was beneficial to you to be an iPad kid.

JoJo 8:54

Yeah.

mainelove 8:54

Do you think there's any drawbacks to it being in this age of technology?

JoJo 8:58

Yeah, a hundred percent. I think it it really depends on the person and how you're using it, but I know there's some people who um will spend more time on a screen, like just scrolling through stuff than in real life, which I think is a very uh lonely and dangerous place to go because it's really fun.

mainelove 9:20

You feel like you're doing something at first, but it's kind of empty, right? After a minute of scrolling. Yeah, exactly.

JoJo 9:27

So I think it it can give people a false sense of uh community or stuff when I really think in-person connections are way, way better. But uh, I think Elon Musk said something like this that I really like. Um, he was like, You should be creating more than you're consuming. Oh and I heard that a while ago and it sort of stuck with me. Um, really, when it comes to the social media aspect. Well, I I spend a lot of time on social media, but most of the time it's not scrolling through reels, it's sort of either posting or um sort of studying and gauging what people like analytics and stuff.

mainelove 10:06

Yeah.

JoJo 10:06

So I I think I I po when I'm on social media, I'm posting more than I'm uh consuming.

mainelove 10:12

Is that like a a choice, like a conscious decision? Like I don't want to get sucked in this world too much?

JoJo 10:20

A hundred percent it is, but I also since it's my job, I sort of also am self-aware when I'm going through these social media platforms, I kind of understand how it works. So I'm kind of conscious of like what it's even recommending me and like why. And like I I it's it's too, it's too much, honestly. It's too much.

mainelove 10:45

How do you so how do you you could be doing this 24 hours a day, right? Like you have a lot of clients, you're busy, you have us, and you've got a bunch of others. How do you have a life? You're a young guy, like how do you keep balance and not just are you do you feel like you've l you've figured that out or you're sort of in the process?

JoJo 11:03

I think I need to do a better job of figuring that out for sure. Um, I work I definitely work a lot, but I enjoy it, so it doesn't feel like work. And I'd argue honestly, like even some of my friends who went to college, that sort of occupies them in in in some way. So I think everyone sort of has to find their way to get that piece of life. But like earlier today, I was at the beach. Like I just took a moment to just kind of uh take take a break. But like you're saying, there's all there's like 40 things that could be done at any given moment. So understanding when it's it's it's time to take a break, but it's something that I definitely need to improve on.

mainelove 11:44

I think I mean we're all sort of battling that, right?

JoJo 11:47

Yeah. But I also think this is something that I asked for, like this is something I've wanted to do.

mainelove 11:52

Yeah.

JoJo 11:53

So even taking a break sometimes feels like more it feels like more work to take a break than to be actually working. But I think I'm blessed to be in a situation where I have so much work to do. So I try not to complain or have too much fun.

mainelove 12:09

Yeah, you have a good per you have a good attitude about it. So, like through watching people through the camera and taking pictures and videos, what have you learned anything about people through having this career?

JoJo 12:20

Yeah, I've learned a lot. Like, what are some that's what I think I honestly think I've learned more by just jumping into it than if I went to school and read through books, like even photography. I know a lot of people will want to study how a camera works, but I sort of just grabbed a camera and started and learned through repetition and trial and error, and you kind of have to do something if try to do it like every single day, and you learn so much. But yeah, seeing and I'm still learning, I still think I learned something new every single day. So yeah, I've learned definitely a lot, yeah. But also uh it's it's so crazy the amount of people I've been able to meet just from a camera. So it's really cool.

mainelove 13:04

It is cool. Yeah. Do you find that when you come up with a camera, people usually excited to talk to you, or like we're at the Hearts of Pine games, we interview people. Like, what has been the general reaction? And is there like a way that if you can approach somebody so they're more open to talking?

JoJo 13:21

If I have a camera and I'm filming, I try to sort of act like I'm not there for their sake because it's very weird to talk to a camera for most for 99% of people. Yeah, it's very weird. So I think the more you can sort of just make it feel personable and speaking like you're just like we're speaking kind of right now. I know you've done a bunch of these. I've done a couple podcasts, so it's like normal, but some people with a camera on them, it feels weird. Yeah. So I think honestly, when I have a camera, I'm trying to act like I'm not there. Especially um, like I was just editing some uh private workouts for some basketball players, and I'd use that as an example. Like, I'm not trying to distract them from their game or or do anything. I'm really trying to just capture like I wasn't there pretty much.

mainelove 14:16

So for are you I know you work with a lot of athletes and the guy who um the basketball guy, the Guinness football.

JoJo 14:22

Right, yeah, Ryan Martin.

mainelove 14:23

Yeah. But if like through meeting these people and getting to know them, like is there something about like pro athletes or athletes that sets them apart from others? Like 100%. Okay, tell me.

JoJo 14:34

100%. Um, first off, I will also say Ryan Martin, he was the he is one of the main reasons why I'm doing what I'm doing today. Yeah. Because he was the varsity basketball coach.

mainelove 14:47

Oh, he was the coach.

JoJo 14:48

Lake region when I was going to play. I never took basketball super seriously. I didn't even try out my senior year, but I I didn't make varsity, so I was a JV player. Yeah. What allowed me to start filming for my varsity team. So if it was and then now me and Ryan have this great relationship with all of the records and stuff. So I just have to say, we kind of joke, we were joking. We we hit the 24-hour world record for most three-pointers, and we were like, we were with each other for 24 hours and we we were thinking back, and there's a lot of a lot of funny, funny stuff. But your question about athletes, um, I think at the highest level, it's really easy to connect with people who are really trying to uh like work on themselves and improve something every single day. Especially with these high school athletes, they know basketball or football or whatever isn't the final destination, but it's that act of wanting to improve yourself every single day that is really kind of easy to bond with um compared to the average person who spends more time scrolling social media or something like that.

mainelove 16:01

So your advice is like don't scroll, don't over-scroll.

JoJo 16:05

Yeah.

mainelove 16:05

Over-scroll ecos unhappiness, right?

JoJo 16:08

Yeah, cause if you take the phone out, yeah, um, you're just sitting in your room by yourself in silence.

mainelove 16:15

Hey, but like, okay, but so many people do that because in LA it's like easy to hide from the world, and like you don't have to be out and you know, and if you grow up online, sometimes I feel like the social skills just aren't those muscles aren't really like flexed, they're not developed.

JoJo 16:30

A hundred percent. I so I'd say firsthand uh COVID um being shut down. My eighth grade year was when everything got shut down, and then fresh my freshman year was sort of like hybrid back and forth. But I guarantee you that was really difficult for a lot of kids, not being in I would say it definitely sort of our age group is sort of a little bit different from the age groups five years before and even five years after.

mainelove 16:59

Um because of formative years, they weren't in school socializing, they were like at home.

JoJo 17:04

So you can not like you could do do too much about it. Yeah.

mainelove 17:07

And I but like what's your advice for like people in your age group that aren't super comfortable out socializing in the world? Like, I think that's the case for a lot of people.

JoJo 17:17

I feel like I'm still at a point where I'm learning so much and trying to improve myself, so it's hard for me to say something to give advice, but something that I would say is just be comfortable with who you are because nobody else is like you and you're not trying to be like somebody else. So I think just the more comfortable you can be and sort of not caring about what other people think um helps a lot. And I know it's kind of cliche and something everybody says, but yeah, I'm still not at a point where I can do do that. But you know, just trying it and and even like putting yourself in situations almost like this. Like I started I started doing the podcast, and it is not it was really not fun at first. It's like it's really difficult to talk to a camera, but that's exactly why I did it. Yeah.

mainelove 18:05

Because it made it is so I think that's great at doing things that you're uh aren't comfortable with. Yeah, because that leads to growth and then self-belief, right? Which leads to better esteem, which leads to, you know, I don't care what people think as much. Like it's a whole like putting yourself out there in the world.

JoJo 18:20

100%. Yeah. And part of that also, I'm I'm still very young and I'm still learning so much about myself, but I think also finding truly what you love and what you care about, because then you can kind of double down on yourself where you don't care what they think because you're comfortable in yourself and your your opinions. Obviously, not saying someone can't be wrong and you should debate and always be trying to learn new ideas and stuff, but I think some people don't even know, and I do think part of that is because of social media. Um there's so people are fed so many different headlines and news stories. Yeah, some of them true, some of them not true, and everybody sort of thinks they have this opinion.

mainelove 19:03

Yeah.

JoJo 19:04

But it's a really surface level thing. It's not, yeah, they there's not much um you could you couldn't have long deep conversations about some headlines, and some people have opinions I think that they couldn't really even touch on. They just saw something, so they think it.

mainelove 19:20

It's real, and then they're fed, and if they like it or they stay on it, then they're fed more of that sort of like, yeah, it is like social media is such a blessing and a curse, right? Like it really is.

JoJo 19:29

So that's part of it, yeah, that's kind of part of the reason why I have a hard time scrolling it because I also think a lot of it is is uh fake.

mainelove 19:36

Yeah, yeah.

JoJo 19:37

Um I think a lot of it is fake. Um, so that's why I yeah, I think I have a decent relationship. I still wish I used my phone way less.

mainelove 19:47

I know, me too. But that's but main elove is not fake. main elove is really real. Water is the best thing.

JoJo 19:54

Water is the best thing. You can drink on you can drink like as much as this and it's exactly yeah.

mainelove 19:59

So tell me what you're excited about in your life next. Like what is what's like on the horizon for you, or what are you excited about?

JoJo 20:07

Um going to a softball game later, playoff softball game.

mainelove 20:10

And there's Are you working?

JoJo 20:11

Yes. Okay, it'll be it'll be outside, but it's it'll be my first time shooting a like event outdoors when I'm gonna get a sunset.

mainelove 20:20

Oh, nice.

JoJo 20:22

I'm gonna bring my drone. Um, so that that's like the tonight later today. I'm excited for that. Um, I don't know. Catching up on work. Yeah, catching up and getting to a point where um I can I feel like I'm above the water almost because you have like goat videos and things sitting around our skin. Yes.

mainelove 20:44

We shot a goat video a few months ago. We visited a goat farm, but Jojo's so busy, and it's really an evergreen thing, it's nothing that needs to be done right away, but I just have to tease him about it.

JoJo 20:53

Until the fairgrounds 5K event this August.

mainelove 20:56

That's right.

JoJo 20:57

So we'll be if this comes out before that, definitely will. You'll see you'll see the content. Um, you'll see the goats. You'll see the goats by then.

mainelove 21:05

Um, okay, last question. You know, I think you know what this is gonna be. Can you guess?

JoJo 21:09

Oh, what do you ask everybody at the end?

mainelove 21:11

Um is it what if you were going to share a can of maine love with anybody, and it could be multiple famous, living, dead, not, whatever, who would it be and why?

JoJo 21:23

I mean, I think one of my biggest inspirations, but it's gotta be Elon, Elon Musk. I think he's just like crazy.

mainelove 21:38

Would you be in the Tesla with him?

JoJo 21:40

Sure. A cyber truck. I do want a cyber truck.

Speaker 1 21:43

Oh, that's right, you totally. But there's so many.

JoJo 21:47

I just think he's like not human. He's like crazy. So it would be super if I could have he's also now a trillionaire. Yeah.

mainelove 21:55

So like he could give you a cyber truck, like not thinking twice. Easy.

JoJo 22:00

Yeah, he could. Um, but I think, yeah, if I could share, and also maybe he would want to work with water.

mainelove 22:06

So I love that. Uh anybody else in the car? Or is it just the two? Just you two.

JoJo 22:11

Oh, Michael Jordan.

mainelove 22:13

Yeah, that's a good one.

JoJo 22:14

Michael Jordan's pretty cool. There's so many more. There's like endless. I like a lot of like hip-hop. You can go like Kendrick Lamar.

mainelove 22:23

Kendrick Lamar, I like him.

JoJo 22:25

I just went to an ASAP Rocky concert. Oh. Um funny story. One of the first ever weeks I had a camera. I just so happened to be at this place and he was there with Ryon.

mainelove 22:39

I remember that to show me that photo or something. Yeah.

JoJo 22:42

Crazy timing, but some of the first photos I ever um took on my camera. Like uh, my dad like became friends with a security guard there, and he brought me like right up to them when they came. So it was just like crazy timing. Um, so ASAP Rocky would be super cool to spend time with and share, share some water.

mainelove 23:01

Um I love it. That's a cool vehicle. Yeah. Cool car ride.

JoJo 23:05

There's a lot a lot of people that I think are really interesting. l Favorite mainelove? This one right here. This still or the sparkling plain is my favorite. Before I before maine love was even a thing, I used to love just plain sparkling. I'm not gonna say any brand names because main elove is the only one, but um, I used to like sparkling water, like flavored sparklings, and then I liked plain sparkling. So, and now knowing that Sebago Lake is one of the purest sources of water in the country, yeah, it's really cool because it's my backyard. So it's having sparkling water from my home is really cool. So this is my favorite. Yeah, flavors are really good too, but they are yeah, I just like the plain.

mainelove 23:54

How wild that like you grew up on this lake. Did you ever dream that you'd be like creating content for a canned water brand from your lake.

JoJo 24:02

No, it wasn't on my it wasn't on my bucket list, but it's really cool.

mainelove 24:06

Yeah, that's what's great about life is being open to like the adventure, right? And just being like, whatever's supposed to come will come. And you know, yeah, that's another piece of advice.

JoJo 24:14

Yeah, just say yes to like everything, pretty much. Not every not everything, not everything, but say yes to like most opportunities.

mainelove 24:22

I agree. Say yes more than no, right?

JoJo 24:24

Yeah, at least. Do more than you, yeah.

mainelove 24:27

I think do things that make you uncomfortable, but don't like go jump off a bridge and or anything critical. Don't hurt that, right? Don't hurt yourself, right?

JoJo 24:33

Don't unless you're trying to go viral. I know, I don't need a way to get views.

mainelove 24:38

All right, thanks, Jojo.

JoJo 24:40

This has been so fun.

mainelove 24:41

Thanks for joining me, and we'll see you guys next time.