Today we’d like to introduce you to Destiny “Dessie” Starnes
Hi Destiny “Dessie”, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My name is Dessie, and I am an independent artist out of Atlanta GA. I moved here over a year and a half ago to pursue my career in the entertainment & music industry.
When I arrived in Atlanta, I started out working with GoatHouze studios as an audio engineer. I did that for a few months and continued performing at open mics and artist nights throughout the week. During those months-now I have been living out of my vehicle. Making it hard to maintain my image, it was a challenge to keep up, I felt like. It almost felt like I was drowning. On top of feeling not adequate enough for the dream I wanted, I also was dealing with things in my personal life that made it a challenge to continue on. I found myself in a world of problems. Days sometimes felt like years but I kept pushing working on changing my situation. Hoping for the best I began creating and studying the algorithm.
Me and my previous mentor, were having our weekly talks, and sparked an idea to shoot me a mic drop video. I was not prepared considering I had no outfits, no hairstyles done, nothing (so I thought, God said I had everything I needed in front of me”.)
It was odd because the night before our video shoot, we seen somebody use our idea so I felt discouraged, but God said “get UP”. So that next morning, I pieced together what I could find out my trunk of my car; put my hair in some lil bun balls and called it a day. We ended up shooting a video to a song I had in my catalog for over a year called “ChickenHead Freestyle” )out on YouTube.)
I was kinda bratty like almost because he’s like “I wanna shoot this video outside of Popeyes.” I’m like “Popeyes? Louisiana Chicken Popeyes?” wild but ok.
We shoot the video, release it the next day. I kid you not, 7.8k views on Facebook, 13k views on instagram, reposted by DirtyGloveBastard, liked by Trinadad James.. he also used me as inspo in one of his videos & last but not least 1017 FOLLOWED ME!
I said alright God, I hear you loud and clear.
When God says, act! You act! Since that post I’ve reached over 1million views in the last 30 days.
Never give up! Even if you feel like you’re not qualified enough, you are! Even if you feel like your clothes aren’t good enough you still put that best foot forward.
I’m currently working a 9-5 and selling art to try to get me in a place before the winter. In the mean time I’ll be writing, learning, networking and continue bettering myself and my community so when it is my opportunity, I will maximize.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to share my story and testimony on this platform. It’s an honor to be here, and I look forward to another great collaboration with VoyageATL again very soon!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been easy. I fight depression daily. It’s a lonely lonely road of trial and error. Some of the challenges I had to overcome would be trusting the wrong people. Sometimes when we want something so bad, we ignore all red flags. I’ve put myself in a lot of dangerous situations just for the sake of chasing my dream. Everybody that smiles in your face does not always want the best for you. Stay on guard, always pay attention and never let nobody give you anything. They’ll feel like they can take it all. Work hard, and don’t give up.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a musician, engineer, model and artist. I have a few other side skills that I do monetize off of such as hair, sewing, nails and eyelashes, but I specialize in music mostly. I’ve been engineering audio for 4+ years. Special thanks to my cousin Nate B. who purchased my first studio equipment out in Dallas Tx summer of ‘21.
For my 9-5 I am a Loss Prevention officer. I’ve kinda dabbled in a lot, but music is my number one.
How do you think about happiness?
What makes me happy is connecting with new people, similar like me and being able to share my craft and be supported. I enjoy time with my family, I’m a very family oriented person. But if you wanna have a blast? Play some beats and let’s go bar for bar! I think about happiness and the possibilities of what I can do every day. If I didn’t think about happiness I wouldn’t be here today. Life has been a challenge for me. As I’ve lost a lot of loved ones over the past few years. People who’ve molded me into the person I am so sometimes I feel like without them there is no happiness, but God shows me everyday that there is. VoyageATL reaching out to me, made me happy. Sometimes all we need is that one shot to open many doors so I’m grateful again VOYAGEATL for the
chance to speak my truth!
Pricing:
- Ghostwriting
- $50-300
- Verse
- $300
- Painting – $10-$1.000
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dessiedadonnn
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@dessiee1234
Image Credits
@DuceNior
@DameDohza
@AshleighNicole
