Glasses: Ray-Ban. Sweater: H&M. T-shirt: H&M. Jeans: Levi’s 511. Sneaks: Supras. Tattoos: Eddie Hatts.

What are you listening to right now?

AWOL Nation, a song called “Sail.”

What do you like best about it?

The beat. It’s a real smooth, mellow beat that you can think to.

Do you live in New York?

I live in the Bronx.

What do you do?

I’ve in the music industry for over 10 years now. I manage artists, DJs. The next big mogul.

I hope so. Then I can say I took a picture of you once.

There you go. Boom.

What’s your favorite thing about your job?

Working with artists. Helping them fulfill their dreams and their ambitions.

It sounds exciting.

It’s very exciting. I love it, I love it, I love it. When you take an artist from the studio to hearing their song on the radio, seeing their progress, it’s an awesome thing.

That sounds amazing.

It is truly amazing. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

I love hearing that. It makes me feel good about choosing to follow my passion.

I tell everybody the same thing. Any person who’s ever made it has always said that he’s followed his passion first, and then the rest just kind of fell into place. We’re taught to chase the degree, the job security, we’re not taught to chase what we truly truly want, the inner stuff, the vision, the goal. Someone once said–and I don’t know who–that the worst thing for a person to do is to die with their talent still inside of them. And I truly believe that. You only live once.

One of my photographs of Mike made it into the New York Times online “Best of Readers Streetstyle” slideshow. To see the full show, click here.