Joseph Hobbs, Jr.

Joseph Hobbs (born November 5, 1964) is a Celebrity Fashion Stylist, Image Consultant and Brand Ambassador located in Hollywood, California (United States of America). ^[1] ^[2] Hobbs got his start in fashion styling in 2011 after attending New York Fashion Week where he met Anna Wintour, who is a British-American journalist and served as Editor-in-Chief of Vogue since 1988 and Global Chief Content Officer for Condé Nast since 2020; she is also the Artistic Director of Condé Nast and the Global Editorial Director of Vogue. Also, he is the Founder & CEO of Showbizly, a marketing agency located in Beverly Hills, California (USA) that collaborates with brands to create content featuring celebrities and events for promotion on social and digital media. Hobbs can be seen in hundreds of photos with some of the biggest names in movies, television, music, sports, and fashion. Also, Hobbs is a brand ambassador for Showbizly and curates’ apparel, accessories and specialty items for fans of celebrities.

Joseph Hobbs
Picture of Joseph Hobbs
Native name	Joseph Hobbs, Jr.
Born	5 November 1964 (1964-11-05) (age 59) Goldsboro, North Carolina
Residence	Los Angeles, California, United States of America
Nationality	American
Education	Bachelor's Degree in Political Science; Masters Degree in Public Administration
Occupation	Celebrity Fashion Stylist; Image Consultant; Brand Ambassador; ContentCreator; Entrepreneur Content Creator Entrepreneur Brand Ambassador Celebrity Fashion Stylist
Years active	2002 - present
Known for	Celebrity Fashion Stylist; Image Consultant; Brand Ambassador; Content Creator; Entrepreneur
Home town	Goldsboro, North Carolina
Children	1 (Jeremy Tyler Hobbs)
Website
Joseph Hobbs

Early Life

Joseph Hobbs was born on November 5, 1964, to a mother who only had an 8th-grade education and a father, who in the 5th grade dropped out of school at 10 years of age. His father can be described as an abusive man who was illiterate, an alcoholic, and a chain-smoker. Hobbs with his brother grew up in abject poverty in a small rural area of Goldsboro, North Carolina. Abject poverty is the lowest extreme imaginable and is associated with misery and humiliation. Therefore, abject poverty is the lowest, most hopeless form of poverty. During the mid-1960s and early 1970s, the two-room shack (known as shotgun homes) where he lived with his parents, should have been considered uninhabitable by modern standards at that time. The living conditions were extremely poor inside the two-room shack that did not have any electricity or indoor plumbing. As a sanitation worker, the father was barely earning any income. He struggled to provide the necessities of life for the family. He did not have any career advancement opportunities given his lack of education. Despite the living conditions, his mother instilled in Hobbs the importance of looking his best as they would flip through pages of fashion magazines together. A career in the fashion industry seemed unrealistic for a poor African American boy living in rural North Carolina. However, Hobbs realized at 5 years of age that was would be his lifelong dream.

Hobbs father often brought home food thrown away or taken from trash cans through his sanitation job with the City of Goldsboro, North Carolina. His stay-at-home mother (Annie Mae Power) battled depression and was admitted several times to mental institutions. She sought to get her children out of poverty and realize the path forward would be to ensure they attended school. However, truancy officers would check on the children during their long absences from school. His mother saw school as the haven for a few hours away from an abusive father and poor living conditions. Hobbs and his brother would frequently risk their lives crawling under train cars parked on the railroad tracks which would block their path to school. To bring attention to the dire situation his mother set the shack on fire so that the local authorities would come and take the children away. Despite her efforts, the children remained with the parents as the abuse and neglect continued.

After years of observing the abuse and living conditions, a neighbor (guardian angel) contacted the Wayne County Department of Social Services (WCDSS), and finally, Hobbs along with his brother were removed from the home and placed in foster care. Between 1971 and 1989, he and his brother lived with five (5) different foster care families. In 1980 the brothers were sent to a group home (Kennedy Homes, a ministry of Baptist Children's Homes of North Carolina) located in Kinston, North Carolina. Despite so much trauma in their lives, Hobbs and his brother managed to overcome adversity and flourished there at Kennedy Homes and started participating in sports and extracurricular activities. It was also in high school where Hobbs regain an interest in fashion and often collected Vogue and GQ magazines and found himself marveling at the lifestyle the famous and influential lived. In high school, Hobbs aspired to become a fashion designer however a career in that industry continued to seem unrealistic.

In 1982 during his junior year in high school, Hobbs was told by a guidance counselor to consider a more realistic career path and not the fashion industry. In June 1983, he graduated from North Lenoir High School in La Grange, North Carolina, and was required to leave Kennedy Homes and begin living on his own at 18 years of age. In the fall of that year, Hobbs enrolled at North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina. During his time in college, Hobbs worked part-time jobs as a busboy and dishwasher at restaurants, a bagger and cashier at grocery stores, and janitorial jobs to support himself through college. In 1987 and within four (4) years of enrolling in college, he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science. He decided to continue his education and applied and was accepted to attend graduate school at North Carolina Central University. In 1990, he received his Master's in Public Administration and completed courses in fashion merchandising, wholesale & retail, purchasing, and marketing.

Career

In 1992, Hobbs accepted a position in the education department at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. During his tenure there he completed Ph.D. courses in Social Foundations of Education. However, in 1994, he discontinued his academic studies and relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina to start a men's retail clothing store. It was at UNC where he discovered a gift for technical writing and was given grant writing and fundraising assignments. In 1993 Hobbs and his wife had their only child (Jeremy Tyler Hobbs). In 1995, he and his family relocated from Durham, North Carolina to Charlotte, North Carolina and he attempted to start a men's retail clothing business, but it did not materialize. During his time in Charlotte, North Carolina, he was employed at three agencies (Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte Housing Authority, and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Arts & Science Council). In 1999, he started his own fundraising company for nonprofit organizations. Divorced by the year 2000, Hobbs sought a new beginning and in the year 2002, he relocated from Charlotte, North Carolina to Los Angeles, California. Between 2003 and 2004, he pursued an acting career but later shifted his full-time focus back to fundraising for nonprofit organizations. In 2005, Hobbs assisted in obtaining a $1 million grant through The Kresge Foundation to support an effort to build the William H. Hannon Library on the campus of Loyola Mount University in Pacific Palisades, California which opened on August 20, 2009. Over three (3) years between 2005 and 2008, he raised approximately $4.3 million for nonprofit organizations. Hobbs raised over $100 million for charities and nonprofits during his career as a grant writer and fundraising consultant.

In 2009, Hobbs was hired as a fundraising consultant for a nonprofit in Los Angeles, California, who hosted an annual Oscar viewing party. His involvement with the nonprofit put him on a new career path. He coordinated a fundraising committee that focused on obtaining financial support for low-income communities. It was through that committee that he began meeting celebrities. A few months later, he attended the CNN Hero Awards and American Music Awards. The celebrities he met during those two days included Paris Hilton, John Legend, Molly Simms, Hill Hopper, Selma Hayek, and Deepak Chopra. It was through those experiences and meeting Paris Hilton that Hobbs began pursuing a career in celebrity fashion styling and event concierge services. In 2010, Hobbs created a partnership with an event concierge service based in New York in which he focused on scheduling and assisting clients to attend fashion shows and other events. He began attending events with clients and would style them and coordinate their overall appearance and public image. Also, Hobbs continued to meet celebrities and make connections within the entertainment industry. Also, he began attending GQ Men of the Year events as he continued to obtain clients.

In 2011, Hobbs attend New York Fashion Week where he met Anna Wintour who is a British-American journalist and served as Editor-in-Chief of Vogue since 1988 and Global Chief Content Officer for Condé Nast since 2020; she is also the Artistic Director of Condé Nast and the Global Editorial Director of Vogue. Wintour had a significant influence on Hobbs, and he began to focus on a career as a fashion stylist and image consultant. In 2012, Hobbs realized that social and digital media marketing was rapidly growing, and brands were inquiring how they could get their products in the hands of the famous and influential through him to promote on social media. In that same year, he attended the Academy Awards in Hollywood, California. That was a remarkable experience given he had never been to a movie theater until he was 17 years old. In 2013, he started taking brands to gifting suites during awards season while providing celebrity fashion styling for events. In 2016, he later expanded to other events in television, sports, gaming, social media, and more. By 2018, he had taken over 100 products to gifting suites at events in Hollywood. He later determined that in addition to gifting suites that brands could be marketed on digital and social media platforms featuring celebrities and events. Hobbs expanded beyond image consulting and fashion styling with a focus on content creation and brand promotion for brands that lack or have limited access to Hollywood to promote their products. In 2017, Hobbs started a marketing agency (Showbizly) to focus on brand promotion featuring celebrities and events for digital and social media marketing.

Personal Life

In 1988, while in graduate school at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in Durham, North Carolina, Hobbs met and began dating Willa McGirth from Charleston, South Carolina. She was also enrolled in NCCU. In the summer of 1990, they got married and in that same year purchased a home. In 1993 they had one child (Jeremy Tyler Hobbs). In 1994 the family relocated from Durham, North Carolina to Charlotte, North Carolina where they purchase their second home in a suburban area a few miles southeast of downtown. In 1998 Hobbs and his former wife were separated and in the year 2001, were granted a divorce. In 2003, Hobbs relocated from Charlotte, North Carolina to Los Angeles, California to pursue a career in entertainment, His ex-wife along with their son relocated to Charleston, South Carolina where she continued her career as an elementary school teacher in Mount Pleasant. It should be noted that according to Bloomberg CityLab just 16 percent of children who grow up in poverty manage to become economically successful adults. The odds of Hobbs succeeding in life were less than 16 percent given the many obstacles he had to overcome.