Evan Mock, the Jack of All Trades

On the collaboration, Evan revisited his roots in Hawaii 一 fusing his culture and lifestyle to emanate that Aloha spirit that he carries on his shoulders wherever he goes. He hand-selected three charms that perfectly captured his love of adventure 一 painting the picture-perfect days under the Hawaiian sun and melding together the beauty and essence of his memories. You can check out the gift set here. 

office, caught up with Evan to discuss his upbringing in Hawaii, his upcoming projects, his latest collaboration with Pandora, and more.

Check out the interview below.

In recent years, you’ve taken up your rightful space in the corners of the entire industry. Talk to me about what goes on in your head on a daily basis and what does the universe of Evan Mock look like right now?

I'm always thinking about the next thing or what I can do to get better at whatever I'm doing at the moment. My brain never shuts off, so it's a curse and it's also helped me in my career, but at the same time, I'm kind of just enjoying being home and just being with family. I think every year it's been a little harder to come back home. It's harder and harder every year to have quality time with my family. It means so much more to me because it's harder for them to come to the east coast and it's a little easier sell for them to get me to come home to Hawaii for the holidays. I’m also working on my tan and having a little downtime. We start back up in January for season two of Gossip Girl. I’m probably gonna have to be in New York for another eight months. So I'm just enjoying being somewhere warm.

You dabble a bit in everything. From skating, photography, designing, acting, to modeling – you’re an absolute all-star in the making. How would you introduce yourself to anyone that hasn’t found their way to you yet?

I'm still figuring it out. I think there are just a couple of different things that are more of a priority, but it's different every day. I have a couple of different things that I'm working on all at the same time and that's kind of how it always has been, so I don't know how to explain it, but I sometimes tell people that I’m still figuring it out. I get inspired pretty easily and I watch a lot of documentaries, a lot of films about people and their lives. So I get inspired to see how hard they work to get where they are now 一 which fires me up to do the things that I do every day and push and I keep working towards a goal, whatever it may be.

How would you say your upbringing in Oahu, Hawaii influenced your current values and lifestyle?

Growing up here has taught me so many things from respect to lifestyle, to outlook, to motivation to go out into the world and eventually hopefully be able to pay for a house here because it's not getting cheaper 一 but it's taught me so much. The people that I was around were typically a lot older, like my cousins and even friends were a lot older. So I kind of grew up around people who were kind of already figuring out what they wanted to do. So I think it jump-started me into thinking that I had to get an early start on whatever I was doing. At the time it was just surfing and skating and they were doing the same thing as well so it helped me Excel fast.

How do you emanate that aloha spirit in a city that can eat you up in the blink of an eye?

It takes a fair amount of years to realize what that spirit is exactly. Coming back once or twice a year helps to refresh your personality and your outlook on life because you can get lost in the city. It’ll eat you up and it has, I’ve allowed it to, but as long as you're still in touch with your roots, I think it's nice to have a refresher. People are really surprised when you treat them a certain way when they haven't had that. Especially in this time as well, I think it's much more valued because we're going through a rough time over the last couple of years. I think when people feel that love even if you may have just met them or you've known them for a while, they’ll always remember that. So I think if you can have those refresher trips and come back home for the holidays it’ll always remind you how to treat people again. I think this makes it a lot easier to deal with the city.

Yeah. I can relate to all of that. Whenever I come back home, I feel like it grounds me and re-centers my inner being. Then when it comes time to return to the city I can tolerate it and handle it.

I mean, you can see from even the way they walk from here in Hawaii compared to NYC, it's such a different change of pace. I think it's pretty much the polar opposite of Hawaii. I mean, I think the reason I love New York so much is because it is such a polar opposite of Hawaii and it was something that I didn't grow up around. It's also kind of how my brain works as well, like, we're doing this interview right now, but I'm looking at the waves and seeing which way the wind direction is coming and seeing if the waves are good.

The city is nice because there's always something to do and you can have your schedule and you can go do it. I just love feeling productive throughout the day, I tried to figure out how I could be the most productive and it wasn't necessarily work productive, It was more just like maximizing my day. I would go surfing in the morning and come back, do school, eat at home and then go to the skate park and probably surf before dark. It was just like, those were the things that kept me inspired. I was also just around a lot of my heroes at the time, because Hawaii is a place where the surfing world is kind of a hub. So that pushed me a lot too, just seeing my heroes in the surfing and skate world, being able to surf with them and see how they operate and how they are as a person.

Speaking of New York City, let’s talk about your role in the reboot of Gossip Girl. seeing as this is your first acting gig, How did you mentally prepare yourself to embody a role that can justly be labeled as a polar opposite from a Hawaiian lifestyle?

I think the weirdest thing for me during filming was acting like I was in a school because I was homeschooled my whole life. Obviously, you don't wear a uniform if you're homeschooled, but it was interesting. I mean the whole thing was such an experience because I’ve never gotten anywhere close to doing something like that before. I don't know how much mental preparation I had going into it because I didn't know what to expect at all. I was kind of just keeping every door open and not, you know, thinking it was gonna be a certain way. I was kind of just taking it day by day. I think meeting the cast and some of the crew before we started was a little precursor in how people are and working with them.

So it was nice to be able to hang out with the cast and go out with them. It was kind of like a crazy COVID time during that time. So we would, we mostly just hang out at each other's house. So that made me feel so much more comfortable going into it because they all knew that I hadn't acted before and I think they kind of fell for me because they were in that position once in my life. So it was cool that I felt that they had my back straight off of the jump.

Aside from all of that, you recently partnered with Pandora to host the brand’s relaunch of the Pandora ME Collection in Miami. Paint a picture of the night for anyone that didn’t get to attend and what were some of the standout pieces on display?

I had a lot of Pandora on and I had the pearls on, my girlfriend had my charm on, some bracelets, and some rings and it was just good vibes. I had a good crew, we got on a boat, just had drinks, and just hung out. I think that's kind of how I've decided to learn to enjoy places, if I have a good crew around me, I think anywhere you go would be fun. Especially if you're on vacation in Miami, you kind of know the deal during art Basel. It's crazy. It was cool to see Sabrina again, I've seen Sabrina on multiple different occasions now, so it's nice to revamp our hang out again, but it was fun. They know how to throw a party, they know the right place and they know the right people to invite. So it was nice that we got to hang out again.

You’ve also been branded as Pandora's latest muse, how did you conceptualize your vision and capture the essence of your Hawaiian roots for the gift set?

The first time I met Sabrina, I think it was my birthday. I went into the Pandora Soho location on Broadway and she kind of set out a couple of different options for this charm that we made. I kind of wanted to capture things that remind me of Hawaii or life in general. I was thinking more of a travel set to have wherever you are and so that it could kind of relate to your trips. So I had a camera, a van, and a Palm tree. I also helped design the packaging for it. So it was all embossed like a Palm tree. Then I was there for a signing and I had my picture taken and it was put on a box. So yeah, it took a few tries to get the right one, but it ended up looking, alright. For the first time, it looked like I could write something because I'm left-handed and my hand doesn't flow as great as if you're a righthander. My hands are always in the ink, smashing it everywhere.

Yes. I love that. You've also been super busy this year or honestly like the past two years. You've just been doing everything. What’s next on your agenda? Anything you can let us in on?

Well, right now I’m kind of just enjoying my time off. What I know for sure is next, we're starting back up for season two of Gossip Girl in January, so I'm just kind of mentally preparing myself. I think we're all getting into our characters a lot more now. So I think I've been kind of thinking about what we can do this year or this season. Then you know, obviously setting goals for yourself, which I still haven't finished my list for 2022. I'm just excited to eventually get back into the workflow of things 一 what's next? Who knows? To be honest, I'm still just enjoying the things that I guess I’m now known for, but I think, I’m just trying to figure out how I can get better at what I do at all times.

But like I said, my brain never really turns off. So it's always about thinking how you could be better, you know, how you can tweak the things you need in life, the things you don't need in life. It's different every day. I get inspired easily, so it could be, you know, I could get really into chess like everyone did or I could design a water slide. The Mattel monster truck that I just designed was something of a bucket list for me just because it was the truck that I had in Hawaii and it was the truck that I sold to move to California. So it was like a nice little Check off the list. So I guess what's next is just to keep inspiring.

Lastly, What’re some of your go-to spots when you’re back home?

When you say go-to spots, I just think instantly of restaurants, but I live in the east village and I'm a skateboarder. So you would mostly try to find me at Tomkins. It's just easy. It's close to my house. Tomkins is fun to stretch your legs and go skating with your friends, I don't have a go-to spot. I think I just have general areas because I like riding my bike around everywhere, either skating or riding my bike. I think that's why I like New York so much because it kind of reminds me of the landscape or the vicinity of how close everything is in Hawaii.

So the fact that you can do that in New York is such a big thing for me. You never know who you're gonna see on your way to somewhere else. You have a whole set schedule and then that whole thing goes to shit because you're just enjoying wherever life takes you. If you don't have anything to do that day, you're just going with the flow. I think why I like New York so much is because that's what I do here in Hawaii, so there's not necessarily a certain spot. I think it's just New York and as a whole.