Mr. Swagnificent
CEO of Ambi'ance Magazine Uncut in Phoenix, Arizona
Mr. SwagNificent aka Jonathan W. Fields was born & raise in the Bronx, New York. He was third team All-City in Basketball & received several art & science scholarships offer’s while a sophomore at Sacred Heart Heart High School, Yonkers NY. In 1975 he left New York to attend Benedict College and the University of South Carolina in Columbia SC (Lettering in Varsity Football & Basketball).
It was there his interest in writing, began the take shape (writing articles for the school newspaper on sports, entertainment and politics).
After college and a brief stint with the NFL, he joined the Navy in 1980. It was in San Diego, CA while working as a Navy Operating Room Technician, he began to write poetry.
He eventually became a Naval Aviation Medicine Specialist Westpac (.attached to Marine Corp Squadrons traveling Exclusively between Iwakuni Japan, Okinawa, Hawaii, Guam,Manila and Korea).
After his discharge from active duty in 1991 he returned to school (North Carolina Central University) to pursue a Degree in Pre-Law, while working as a Correctional Officer in Raleigh, NC.
In 1996 he relocated to Washington DC and became a Certified Addiction Counselor. That same year he worked at Lorton Correctional Facility as a Case Manager. In 1998 he was named Assistant Director of the Women’s Safe House (A residential program for mothers in recovery with children). In 2000 he became the Coordinator of Taylor Manors Adolescents Drug Treatment Program in Ellicott City, MD.
In 2001 he also renewed his passion for writing, by publishing his first book of poetry “Shades of Ebony-Epigrams of my life”. In 2002 he received his Masters in Criminal Justice-specializing in Juvenile Services. He later became the Program Director for Vanguard Services, Phoenix Program in Arlington VA.
In 2008 he became the Director of The RSAT (Residential Substance Abuse Treatment) program at the Baltimore County Detention Center, in Towson, MD. In 2009 he decided to pursue his writing and entrepreneurial aspirations full time, eventually relocating to Phoenix Arizona and creating his “Better Youth, Better Tomorrow Program" and the “Black Felt Pen, Inc”.
In 2010 he officially became the CEO/Founder of the "Ambiance Magazine Uncut" in Los Angeles Ca.