By Alina Croft (Instagram: lina_gail, Twitter: alina_croft)
You Know About AAT, But Do You Know About Anthony?
This week I was lucky enough to sit (virtually) across from our wonderful, and self-proclaimed handsome creator of Anthony Around Town. I thought about what I wanted my debut piece for the site to be, and I came up with the idea that we needed to know Anthony. He has taken the time to sit and get to know us, but we’ve never been given the opportunity to ask him our burning questions and learn his secrets.
The Big Question
How was Anthony Around Town (AAT) started? This unique Elko vlog-style human-interest site and now expanded youtube channel was a long time in the making before our fearless leader Anthony Crosby brought it to fruition.
“So, my mom actually helped me realize this. I was kind of into it before it was even a thing to be into it,” said Anthony.
‘It’ was vlogging, and Anthony began by narrating family events, vacations, and creations with his siblings with an old school camcorder when he was a kid.
“Since then, I’ve always had a passion for putting out content in that way, but I don’t think it was actually until I started Anthony Around Town about three years ago that really did it for me and let me see the value in it,” said Anthony.
The journey to AAT was a storied one, though, beginning with a job search after Anthony’s time as a pastor at a local church came to an end.
“I saw that the local newspaper was hiring for a reporter. I went and showed them some work that I had done for myself, and the editor let me know they were still deliberating between me and someone else. In the meantime, I did some freelance work for them,” said Anthony. “For like a month, I did this work, and it was cool, but I realized pretty quickly that a lot of what I liked to do when I showed up for these interviews wasn’t exactly going to fit for what the newspaper needed. I would go back to write the article, and like ninety-five percent of the stuff I couldn’t use because it wasn’t newspaper appropriate.”
Freelance for Anthony was good for a time, but it wasn’t quite right. Anthony needed a different direction of content creation.
“It really hit me that what I like to do, what I’ve always liked to do is to tell stories. Whether it’s with my brothers and sisters in the backyard, whether it’s the story of a family vacation or the story of someone opening a new food truck, that’s what I like to do,” said Anthony. “So I asked myself, ‘Why don’t you just sit down and start your own thing?’ I told myself to do it for me.”
We are now lucky to have the wonderful creation that is AAT, which would not be possible without our amazing fan base and followers. Know Anthony Around Town-ers, you are why we do this.
“My favorite part is actually getting to sit down and talk to the people, without a doubt. I try to be as present with them as possible and just listen to them share their heart, and sometimes it’s about their passions, things in their life… Sitting down with people and actually engaging with them in that way is a powerful thing. I always leave, as cheesy as it may sound, changed a little bit,” said Anthony.
Tell Us About YOU
Okay, we know the basics, we’ve found out why our (hopefully) favorite publication was created, but there’s more to Anthony than his creation.
“My personal life is my main driving force behind a lot of what I do. A lot of that is centered around being a father, which is my favorite thing in the entire world, even more than writing, creating media, whatever. I love being a dad so very, very much. Part of me loving to be their dad is being as present as possible, I want to help them grow, I want to do everything I can to set them up for success in a lot of different ways,” said Anthony.
Now we all know this past year, 2020, has been kind of… interesting. Anthony took the challenges head-on, especially concerning his beautiful, creative, hilarious, intelligent, amazing little girls.
“With things this year, everything shutting down and schools closing, me having the ability to be home with them a lot, especially during the day, I try to show up and actually be there. Having a job and career like mine where I essentially control the schedule and work from home and do all of those things is super important to me. I want my girls to have that relationship with me where I’m constantly in their life. For me to be able to work from home and do what I have to do and still be with them is a huge motivating factor,” said Anthony.
Let’s all give a hand to Crosby, content creator and super dad.
“I consider myself very blessed, especially this year. I’ve been able to do what I love on both sides; I get to create content full-time, and that is my passion as well as it pays the bills, but because I’m doing that, I am able to be home with my girls,” said Anthony.
Anthony Talks A LOT
Anthony (and he’s probably not going to love me sharing this) was nervous about being on the other side of this specific content. Usually, he’s the one asking the questions; he gets to be kind of in control and knows what’s going to happen next, but this time he relinquished all control to me, and when we got down to it, this man spent fouty-five minutes spilling his life story out to me. So, with all of the wisdom I pretend to possess as a twenty-two -year- almost college graduate, here is what I think is the most important point Anthony shared with me.
“The point of Anthony Around Town is that everyone has a story. Show up and engage in that story, that person. Let their stories shape you,” said Anthony.
Until next week Elko, I am Alina Croft, writing from my bed in these COVID crazy times for AAT. I look forward to getting you know you and you getting to know me.
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Until next time, we’ll see you around, Elko!
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