Adam Torres and Bobby Jones discuss yoga and basketball.
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Show Notes:
How do you find balance and juggle day to day pressures? In this episode, Adam Torres interviews Bobby Jones, Founder & Creative Director of Growing Up Compton and Program Director of Grow Unwind Connect. Explore Bobby’s basketball career and how yoga has given him a new mission when he returned back to his home in Compton, California.
About Bobby Jones
Bobby’s journey, characterized by a thirst for learning, embracing challenges, storytelling, and excelling in basketball at the highest echelons, has endowed him with a unique lens through which he perceives the world.
Originating in Compton, California, Bobby commenced my path at Dominguez High, clinching a national championship alongside 2011 NBA Champion Tyson Chandler during my sophomore year. As a senior, he earned the Division 1A John Wooden Player of the Year accolade and a scholarship to the University of Washington.
With a B.A. in Writing, Bobby was drafted as the 37th pick in the 2006 NBA draft by the 76ers. His sophomore year showcased a whirlwind journey across Denver, Memphis, Houston, Miami, and San Antonio, setting an NBA record for the most teams in a season – a narrative worth sharing! His 12-year professional stint in Italy transformed my worldview and my potential for influence.
Bobby’s directing debut, “Basketball Jones: The Overseas Journey,” emerged during my tenure in Rome in 2014, sparking a fervor for filmmaking that birthed “Hollywood Jones Productions, LLC.” An initiation into business and video production via self-study empowered me to oversee diverse roles. Presently, he’s cultivating five projects seeking funding, as outlined in his POC-laden deck.
Retiring in 2021 spurred Bobby’s return to Compton, galvanized to give back to his community. Bobby’s role as a board member for the nonprofit Compton Art Walk, which oversees “Gallery 90220,” anchors my commitment. He liaises with ten Compton nonprofits, orchestrating art, essay, and video contests. Founding his second startup, “Growing Up Compton, LLC,” a multimedia platform, eCommerce and yoga brand, adds to the whirlwind.
About Growing Up Compton
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest on the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on Be Our Guest to Apply. Alright, so I’ve been waiting for this interview for a long time, been trying to get Bobby Jones on the show ever since we met maybe a couple of months ago now.
He’s the Founder and creative director of Growing Up Compton and program director of Grow Unwind Connect. Bobby, welcome to the show. Glad I could finally get you here, man. Yeah, thank you guys for, for having me. You know, we, we tried a couple weeks ago and things didn’t work out, but it wasn’t meant to be.
So right now is the, the time and I’m excited to be on your platform and sharing my story. Yeah. And and I’ve been following you on Instagram for a bit now ever since we met. Oh, you’ve been in public talking to me? I see the, I see the content you’re putting out there, man. The yoga, you have me in. You have me, you know, wanting to do my, my little practice.
I’m not judging anybody else. I’m going to call my own practice a little practice. I’m trying, man. I wake up and I try to do my thing, but let, let’s talk yoga. Like, how did you get into this? Yes. Yes. So I became a Yogi a little over two years ago. Once I moved back to America, I was in Italy for 12 years playing basketball.
Before that, I played in the NBA on six teams. And before that, I went to the University of Washington in Seattle. And then before that, I’m from Compton, California. So as I was towards the back end of my playing career you know, to, to stay longevity wise, you have to take care of your body and not only after you get hurt.
So I started stretching a lot after practice and, you know, it just, it helped me relieve my muscles and it helped me play toss 37. But once I retired, I always thought I would try yoga. It’s just, I didn’t know when, where, with who. And then when I moved back to America in the summer of 2021 a lady named Leah opened up a studio here in Venice beach called Shafer Yoga.
And I knew her from Seattle where she had two studios already. So I had a studio here that I was going to say, okay, let’s see if I liked it. And you know, when you retire from a sport, no matter how much money you got or whatever, there’s that transition. Some people lose that identity. Some people financial issues, you name it, maybe all of the above.
So when I moved back to LA, I didn’t have those communities anymore that I did when I left when I was 18. And so the yoga community was the first community that embraced me and you know, I went there just for the practice first and I realized how powerful it was, how balanced it gave me to be dealing with all the American rat race and distractions and triggers and you know, it’s a lot, you know, I got to be out the country for 12 years.
I got to really unprogrammed. And so the yoga in Italy too. So go correct me if I’m if I’m off and I’m, if I’m stereotyping, but the light lifestyle is a little bit more laid back. Am I off on that? Like it’s not quite LA or am I off? I could be wrong. I don’t know. It depends on every city. That’s a good question.
A lot of people ask me, is it. different in another country? And I say yes and no, it just depends on what you’re looking for. If you’re looking for Rome or Milan, they’re a bigger city that it moves fast, just like LA or New York or Miami. But if you’re in a smaller town by the beach or in the mountains, it’s a quieter, simpler lifestyle.
So each season, you know, I live in big cities, I live in small cities. But the the biggest takeaway was that I embraced it. I learned about the culture, the geography, the history, the language, and it changed me. And a lot of people, when they live out the country, they just go there for a vacation or for a picture, but they don’t really take anything back with them to that they learned.
So 12 years, like I said, I had a lot of time to, to appreciate Italy and it transformed me. You know, I spent most of my adult years in Italy, so now as an adult trying to adjust back to adults in America, there was that disconnect, but as I was saying, yoga was something that I found, and then once I started loving it, and you know, I started loving it more than basketball, I realized I could turn it into a business, but how, and I was trying to monetize new audiences, so schools, families, and athletes in the inner city, you And now I’m a yoga teacher.
I have programming and now I’m trying to pour what I’ve learned so far through yoga into my communities because representation matters. Wow. What type of and what type of reception and I don’t mean you as a person, but these concepts like what type of, and just for for context. So I’m from Michigan.
I’m from Detroit originally. So Southwest side of the inner inner city. Washington and national championship football. There we go. So, so I’m just, I’m just, I put myself in your shoes from the standpoint of, well, I wasn’t a, you know, professional basketball player. So I’d hope that reception and, and adding some of these ideas from the platform of being yoga and yoga centric would be received well, but.
I’m again just speaking my experience in Detroit like sometimes those concepts are harder to get to new audiences on the inner city I’m just curious on how that’s worked for you or where you’re at with that like or just how that experience has been because I I put myself when I look at what you’re doing.
I’m like man if I went back to Detroit and if I tried to introduce yoga, like how would that be received? I’m just curious. It’s still ongoing, my man. It’s still ongoing. Yeah, it’s a thing, right? It takes time. A lot of people won’t see your vision and that’s any of us, no matter what you’re trying to build and you can’t let that discourage you because I know ultimately I’m gonna be doing this in Compton and Italy and Seattle and all around the world for the next 20 30 years.
It’s just the first two years are going to be tough. And I did a lot of stuff for free. I went to schools. I did. I have I applied for about 100 yoga mats through a grant And they gave me the grant because first if I don’t have yoga mats, I can’t go anywhere and do yoga So that was the first step and once I did that I went up to different schools different sports teams I was like, hey, let me do yoga with your kids one, you know just for free And they let me.
But the thing about that, I have a video production company also. So I use my cameras to film content, to make pictures, because now I’m building out that deck. So now that I, when I move forward and send people in a year later, they see all the things that I’ve done, even though I did it for free, they don’t, they see the value, they see the service now.
So it was something that I just had to be very patient and just do it because it brought me peace. And now it’s turned into a profit. A lot of people go straight to the profit, but you gotta have a passion first, which gives you peace, which gives you purpose and then the profit comes. So that’s kind of my four Ps formula of you know, how to do something through purpose.
And for everybody listening, by the way whether you’re on the. on the stream watching on TikTok or if you’re on the stream watching on Twitch, wherever you’re watching this from go check out Basketball Jones 84 on Instagram. Again, Basketball Jones 84 on Instagram. And you’re going to see pictures of Bobby in school and doing exactly what he’s saying in these huge gymnasiums at schools and all these kids like, like practicing.
Like when you look back at your work, man, you, you gotta be. smile and ear to ear on this. I know there’s always so much work to do and blah, blah, blah. I mean, we’re entrepreneurs though. We’re never going to stop that, right? But when you reflect back sometimes and you see all these lives you’re touching, like you got to feel great, huh?
Yeah. I mean, what up two years ago, I had no idea I’ll be teaching yoga, first of all, practicing it, teaching it. So looking at that, that’s a trip in itself. How do you forget how you’re affecting other people? How do you feel physically? You probably good. Yeah, so, so as I tell my, I have a script, so when I speak to kids, I mean high schoolers, middle schoolers and elementary schoolers, they all require a different script.
I can’t say the same thing to all three. But the main part about when I introduce yoga to students or athletes or families, yoga is not just one thing. People think yoga is one. Yoga is just like fruit or carbs. There’s so many different types. But at the very essence, yoga is the way you breathe, the way you move, and the way you think.
You’re bringing awareness to all three. And when you combine all three together, that is what makes yoga. Now from there, it’s up to you to decide what type of yoga fits your body. There’s hot yoga, there’s easy yoga, there’s tough yoga, there’s goat yoga. You know, there’s so many types of yoga out there, but people don’t understand to understand what type of yoga fits your body.
You have to begin your yoga journey. So that’s, that’s all I do. I just want to give people good memories, happy memories of doing yoga, sound bath, other holistic practices. So as these kids get older, they have these good memories. So once they become adults, they’d be like, Oh, I remember doing that. That was fun.
Let me try it now. Because I’m not trying to transform kids to be yogis like me. I just want them to understand it, appreciate it, have a good memory, and then, you know, the universe will figure it out with them on their own. But if somebody’s not, who looks like them, who’s not from the same city as them, trying to show them something, they’re never going to get it.
And, you know, there’s been other people, non blacks, who have helped, but people learn mostly from people who look like them first. I was not like that. I learned from everybody, which allowed me to travel the world, as you know. But, again, at the core essence, most people who don’t leave their own cities, they have to learn from people who look like them.
Because they’re like, you don’t relate. You don’t know what it’s like. But when they see somebody who’s from their city, looks like them, who made it out of Compton, who graduated from college, who made it to the NBA, who lived 12 years in Italy, who’s now a yoga teacher, who now has They can say, okay, I relate to you, man.
Let me hear what else you got to say. So that’s been the more, most rewarding part. Cause again, like I said, it’s not about the money, but eventually I do need to make more money so I can keep this going. But that’s the entrepreneur journey that. You know, that’s a whole different journey, let alone the yoga journey.
But like I said, it’s been great, man. I would love to do some yoga with you one day. Oh yeah, no, I’m in. I’m bringing, I’m gonna bring my camera. I’m be out for, dude, we’re gonna stream it. I’m, I’m totally in for this for sure. I’m, and you got me, you got me. I’m thinking of a memory that I have and I haven’t man I haven’t thought about this memory and I don’t know how long but I remember, you know, I, you know, getting back to what you said like sometimes it takes somebody that a trusted voice or somebody to come back to the community that maybe you know that you feel you can listen to.
So I, I know when I was young I remember the head, we just popped in my head I remember Isaiah Thomas coming to our school and that’s being in like in like a. And like a, a gymnasium, much like the one that that I see all these individuals for all these kids, I should say practicing yoga with you on the particular picture I’m looking at on your, on your Instagram.
Again, that’s basketballjones84 on Instagram. But I’m just curious, do you remember when you were young? Like, was there somebody that kind of stuck out to you that kind of was that person that you could like, that you kind of gave a nod to where you were looking at kind of like how I had Isaiah Thomas back in the day, who was your people?
So I grew up in Compton as I told you, you know, depending on who you say that to, some people never been, some people have what they see through media. Some people probably never heard of Compton, which I’m sure most people around the world have heard of Compton since the last 40 years. Compton has been relevant in sports, music, fashion, gang culture entertainment is basically the, the, all the pop things that make pop culture Compton embodies all that.
But with that being said I grew up around the corner from a gentleman named Tayshawn Prince. He was a future NBA player. He played on the Pistons actually won a championship, beat the Lakers. He Kentucky, all American gold medalists. And Every school he went to, I followed him. So he was a good student.
So every time I, I like indirectly, like tried to mimic him because again, there’s other people you can mimic, mimic in your family and your friends and your neighborhood, and they’re all kind of low frequency energy. And so as an early kid, I, I, I latched onto him cause I saw the things he did and I wanted to mimic that.
And then once I got to high school, I played three years with Tyson Chandler, who’s a NBA champion with the Mavericks. He is also a gold medalist. And I got to be around him and meet him. Sure. A lot of the same basketball passions, meaning defense and yeah. And I learned a lot from him just seeing how he dealt with a lot of attention.
He was straight out of high school. So he was like LeBron for LeBron. Just like, you know, he was right after Kevin Garnett, more or less, meaning those guys who jumped, but those two were the guys I mimicked the most, and then once I got to college I played with Nate Robinson Brandon Roy, we were all the same year, so we played together three, four years together, too, so each level of basketball, I played with a lot of big names, but they weren’t big names yet, meaning, you know, how everybody else saw them, but just to see them develop and see how they dealt with things and stuff.
Mental and physical. And again, we can learn directly and indirectly from everybody around us. We don’t have to actually experience those failures are those, you know, down moments. We can look at other people and save that time. But those were the two for sure that really helped molded me growing up.
Let’s talk a little bit about Grow Unwind Connect. So tell me more about the organization, please. Yeah, so when I started my yoga journey, again, I was doing it just for myself, for the practice. And then my teacher, Leah, she’s like, you should do teacher’s training. And I was like, no, no, I ain’t trying to be no teacher.
She’s like, no, no, it’s just you can take it. And it just deepens their practice. And I was like, okay, that’s true. So I did it with that mindset, but she knew what she was doing. She was planning to see to me, but how good people that God puts in your life. And you’re like, you look back sometimes and you’re like, ah, that’s.
Why you did that? Go, go ahead. I just, I’m just smiling on this one because I already know, because I was, I was only back for less than a year like I was, I didn’t know what I wanted to do and I had an idea, but I still needed to put into action. So I did teachers training and for 200 hours I was around nine white women.
five, four, four, four months. So each module had one week modules where we five days a week, 7 a. m to 4 p. m. So I was in a room with white women and I’m the only man, only black man. And it was like, it was like I was a fly on the wall. I feel like I was in an episode of sex in the city. I was just hearing them talk and be free.
And I was just learning so much, especially about the yoga, but just to be around women. And so. During that teacher’s training, it really clicked that I needed to do something with a program. I just didn’t know how, I didn’t know the name, I didn’t know where I was going to start, but I knew that would be some kind of global wellness initiative.
And, you know, as I said, I lived in Seattle, I lived in Italy, I lived in LA. So I wanted to kind of plant seeds or water those seeds that I planted through basketball, but now reconnect them through my wellness program. So growing up Compton is my, my multimedia e commerce store business, but Growing Wine Connect.
Is also affiliated with Growing Up Compton meaning they have the same acronyms. They have the same logo, but this is more for wellness I can take it anywhere around the world And I don’t know what when this is going to be out, but i’m going to turn it into a non profit right now It’s not so i’m on a mission right now looking for board members to plug in And we’re going to do yoga retreats.
We’re going to bring families to different areas, Seattle, Italy, LA. I do academic contests, art exhibits, contests. I do essay contests, video, because I love, I love writing. I got my bachelor’s in writing, so I’m naturally a writer. But when I was in Italy, I learned a lot of people don’t read books. So I pivoted into cameras and video editing, which is how I ended up making my video production company.
So Growing Wine Connect is my way to just re establish myself in those Homes that I lived in that I made memories through basketball, but now pour into those schools and those families and those athletes It’s been great so far. As I mentioned, this is only year one for growing wine connect But i’ll be doing this for the next 20 or 30 years.
So I I obviously, you know, your own brand, your own name as a, as a, as a former professional basketball player, and you obviously understand branding. I mean, I’ve seen your work. So I found it interesting that you chose growing up Compton. And and I bring that, I bring that out just to kind of tee up my next question, which is really like, how, because you could have went a lot of different directions.
Like, how important to you is it to give back? Well, as, as I mentioned, Compton is known for so many things, but for the most part, it’s been people coming into Compton, filming it, and then them controlling the narrative of the story. And the narrative. And now we’re growing up Compton. I want to empower the next generation to tell their stories and to own their stories and to make money off those stories.
Not wait for people to come in and give you money and then they edit it and control. Because as you know, when you edit something, you can control the narrative yourself. So I want to tell all Compton stories, no matter their history, old history, old stories. current or future. I want to be able to empower people.
I want to bring the money back into Compton while telling these stories while building community, while healing, while inspiring the youth. And that’s what growing up Compton is. And you know, of course I love traveling. I love tourism because I learned a lot from being in Italy with how Italians do their tourism.
I want to open up a tour company in Compton and get ready for the Olympics. Like I have a lot of ideas to bring money and, and Just bring peace into the city and help change the narrative for good and I’ve been gone since I was 18 So this is i’m very fresh into this I don’t I have a lot of energy whereas a lot of guys my age Tried to put it into in their 20s or 30s and it worked But I got to travel and collect all these amazing memories and stories and energy And now I get to pour it back into my first community.
So yeah, growing up Compton is, is, is an abidement of me or who I am. It’s just, I needed to make a brand and a company that represents that outside of me. And everybody who’s from Compton, I don’t care if you live there for two years, you live there as an adult, your grandma lived there, you love the music fashion.
Like everybody loves Compton for one thing or another. So I’m just trying to monetize it and build a community. And like I said, pour it back into my, my first community through jobs, through mentorship. When, when things get tough as an entrepreneur, you’re juggling a lot of things a lot of businesses, a lot of initiatives, when things get tough, what keeps you going?
Yoga. When I get on that mat, man, it’s my way of just disconnecting from all those things you just mentioned. Cause when you’re on that mat, all that matters is you being present. And of course, when you’re in your mind, you start thinking about things, which is normal. But I, I, when I come on that mat, I go on that mat to humble myself, to surrender my ego, to feel inspired, to think of great ideas.
Cause again, when you’re moving, thinking and breathing with awareness, that’s where the magic happens. That’s when you get that idea. That’s where you get that extra. Motivation to push through that’s where you start. Stop worrying about things that are out of your control and again, that’s how I use yoga.
And as you mentioned on my page, you know, I think I do okay with my branding, but that’s the next part of being an entrepreneur. I need to find other people to delegate stuff to so I can worry about the next phase of being a business owner. Because if I don’t, then I’m stalling myself out. So that’s the thing for me this year.
I’m more centered on building a team, finding people I can trust, finding mentors. getting grants, finding investors so I can flush that stuff to the next people so I can worry about the next thing. So the yoga is again, that has healed me and helped me and inspired me. And I want to make Compton know from yoga, just like it’s known for everything else, just changing the narrative and healing these kids so they can deal with all this stuff that they’re going to deal with as adults.
Man, so I gotta ask, you shootin the documentary? You documentin all this stuff, man? I’ve been gettin my cat out the bag? Come on, man, this is I’ve been filmin Yes. So, back to the production stuff. So, eight years ago, I did my first documentary when I lived in Rome. So, I lived in Rome for three years. So, I interviewed nine Americans.
It’s called Basketball Jones, The Overseas Journey. And we talked about the trials and tribulations we go through livin in another country. Meaning safety, money, bein away from family, goin out. performing on the court, just all those things. And that was when I did that, that let me knew that I love storytelling.
And then from there, I did a short film three years ago with my daughter, a proof of concept trailer called girl dad. And it was about a dad, daughter going to Verona, Italy. We get into a fight our first night and you know, I ended up going out and going on an adventure. She ended up meeting some teenage girls outside the window.
She goes on an adventure. And we used the Romeo and Juliet story and kind of, you know, put a twist to that. And then I’ve been filming my life the last seven years, man. I’ve been buying GoPros and cameras and drones. So I have all the footage from the last six years of my life. I was in Italy when COVID hit.
If you remember, Italy was the second country that was on lockdown after Japan. So I was on lockdown for three weeks before America. And so that’s when I really started documenting my life day to day. That’s when I thought of growing up Compton and that concept. And I have all that footage to use for another documentary too.
So I have a lot of proof of concept things. It’s just, I need to. Flush it out and you know, again, it takes time but I had a lot of free time in Italy to work on stuff Now that i’m in america, all that free time is gone, but i’m happy. I got that start started back then. Yes It’s hard man. Like it’s hard to be back It’s hard because you don’t all that free.
I had hours and hours a day away from people not distracted I got to just work on all my passions and just play basketball and see another country and get paid good money It was amazing. I was depressed when I found out I had to come back to america, man Like i’m italian. They didn’t want to pay me no more.
I was like i’m 37. No But I found, I pivoted and I found a new way to come back to Italy and give back to Compton and also give back to my home in Seattle. My daughter, she’s 17. She lives up there. She’s about to graduate from high school next year. So I’m a girl dad. And so, yeah, I have a lot of stuff I juggle, but we all do.
We all do. It’s awesome. Bobby, first off, great having you on the show today. Yes, I’m going to take you up on that and I gotta, I gotta come practice at some point and, and come check out the studio. We’re going to organize a yoga event with you guys. You guys always got stuff going every month. So I’m in, I’m in, you know, you already know, make sure I just be like Chirag man, we’re gonna do a yoga event.
Adam and me like we were talking. You need to, yeah, we got the sound bath. I got all the practitioners on deck, man, with dude in that house over there in Beverly Hills. There you go. Go. I’m man, man. Just get she rock and hook for this. I go where he says, you know how that is. I like, we all, I’m recording all day.
Just, just get him on the hook and it is done. . Yeah. We, we all need it, man. Like, I love to work with students because they’re still innocent and open-minded. Mm-Hmm. . But the teachers need it. Their parents need it. Adults need it. Like we all need a chance to reset. and learn other wellness practices to help us deal and cope with all the stress we deal with every single day.
We make over 50, 000 decisions a day, meaning I’m gonna get up, I’m gonna go this way, I’m gonna brush my teeth, I’m gonna look at my phone, like every second we’re making a decision. But yeah, we don’t take a 10 minute timeout, meaning meditate or just be present to let our brain take a break so we can be more efficient.
Our brains are a smartphone. So sometimes we need to just organize all those apps and put them in folders and get a software update because our brain needs it. It’s a beautiful thing, but it gets overloaded. So again, man that’s my passion and I’m very fresh in it, but I’m in it to win it, man. I’m just looking for people to align with me and build and partner and sponsor.
So I can pour back into the community and to others and to myself. And, you know, it’s the best, that’s the best way to live. That’s awesome. Bobby, how do people follow you? Like, how do people follow you? How do they connect? So you did mention my Instagram is my personal one is Basketball Jones 84. My new moniker, as I tell kids, is Yoga Bob.
So that’s my, I don’t have a Yoga Bob IG page yet, but that is my, my new name at the moment. And then my, that’s awesome. My company growing up under Compton, that’s where you see anything with activations I’m doing, I do monthly yoga, sound Bath once a month. Last year I did at the Compton Airport. Yes, Compton has an airport and then this year I’m doing it at planet Hill Compton, which is a vegan restaurant.
with beautiful murals all over the wall, Compton legends. And in summer 2025, I’m hoping to open up the first yoga studio in Compton. So right now I do free activation because I have to do it for free. I have to, I call it my Costco samples. I have to give out my Costco samples until the, until I build community.
And then once I have the studio, then I’m sure they will support me because I did it for two years for free. So again, it’s all about the vision and pouring back. And just meeting, you know, people who want to help other yoga people out there, business owners, because I don’t know everything, man, I know enough, but I also need people next to me who knows how to do things as I learned from them.
So I’m always looking for mentors. I’m always looking for people because I’m still only been back for two years, man. So, again, I appreciate you giving me a platform. My website is Bobby Ray Jones, jr. com. My email is Bobby Ray Jones, jr84 at gmail. And yeah, I just love meeting people. I love stories.
I love giving back. And yeah, again, thank you for having me on. Absolutely. And well, thank you again. And to the audience, as always, thank you for tuning in. Hope you got a lot of value out of this. Hope you learned a lot. If you did, don’t forget, hit that subscribe button. This is your personal special invitation.
Hit the subscribe button if you haven’t already. And if you’re feeling really friendly, leave that review. We sure do appreciate it. Helps the show grow Bobby until the next time. Thank you, sir. Appreciate you.
