Check Out Spencer Mumford’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Spencer Mumford.

Hi Spencer, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Ohhhh, Man. What is my life? lol. – I think its starts with always wanting to make people laugh. Since I was young.

First acting stuff: I was the only 4th grader in the 5th grade play and then in 5th grade, I was Tom Sawyer in Tom Sawyer. From that, my Theater teacher recommended to my mom and dad that I go to a theater arts school thing (school of the arts, Bach and Dreyfoos, in Palm Beach County). As I sit here writing this and asking my mother she tells me the story. Lol. Apparently, I was a very strong-willed kid. I don’t know what changed (Hahaha, jk). My mother asked me about the school of performing arts and I thought it was a cool idea, but once I found out there were no sports…….I said, “No, I’m not doing that.” (Apparently, I said no to Ballet classes, dance classes, soccer, lol. I guess I knew what I wanted, what an idiot).

From that point, I went full into sports, middle school was very successful (only 6th grader on the baseball team. MVP on baseball team 7th and 8th grade. Basketball was captain. played volleyball, ran track and came 7th in the county in the high jump.) I peaked. Hahaha. Played Varsity Baseball and Basketball for all four years in High School.

In high school, I took an acting class in 9th grade and the theater department wanted me to audition for Footloose but because of Basketball and Baseball, I had no time. The next time I would take an acting class would be eight years later at Rollins College, hahaha.

I decided to play baseball in College over Basketball. I had MLB scouts look at me in high school. Next, I got a scholarship to Hillsborough Community College. (I had been asked in High school if I would be interested in playing at Rollins College, which has very good academics, and I was pretty adamant about not playing there cause they said it was the Harvard of Divison 2, my ego wasn’t having that).

However, 2 Shoulder Surgeries and three colleges later (I transferred to a couple of schools, I got Cut from one team, that was fucking hard mentally). I ended up at Rollins College in 2013 to play baseball, and I was very grateful. I had been through a lot and Rollins is so pretty and amazing.

I speak of this because Rollins College changed my life and is the reason why I am an actor today. I decided to major in Critical Media and Cultural Studies. (CMC for short, nobody knows what that means, my major). This is probably the changing point in my life, why? It woke me up (Like the matrix). My Major dove into Race, Poverty, LGBTQ, Human Rights, Social Justice issues.

On my college website this is what is listed: “The “critical” in Critical Media and Cultural Studies stems from our commitments to: 1) critical thinking, 2) critical theory’s analysis of social systems and the distribution of power and inequality, and 3) critical issues in our world today, including climate change, poverty, war, and mass incarceration.”. – Rollins College Website.

I believe it has made me an ally. I don’t necessarily post about social justice issues a lot on my social media (because who wants to hear this “Blonde Hair, Blue Eyed, 6’0, White guy, post about these things. I don’t know really get social media sometimes.) However, in conversations I am constantly learning and trying to fight oppression, learn how to fight oppression and changing ideologies that need to be changed in the country and trying to be an ally in any way I can. In my major my favorite, most eye-opening book we studied was “The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” By Michelle Alexander. Gosh, this book just opened my eyes to systematic racism, discrimination, oppression. Honestly, I look back to before my major and I am disappointed in myself and how I saw the world. I try to give myself a break because I needed to be educated. That’s why I think everyone can learn and I’m trying to formulate conversations that can “Wake people up” like I did. The best thing about my Major was that it was all conversation. So we would have these in depth conversations and bring in speakers and it really taught me a lot on how to listen and also converse with African-American men and females about issues like these, being a white man. I’ll never understand or know what it feels like, however I can Learn, empathize and fight.

(This major and my teachers and the subject matter changed my life. This was the same for feminism and LGBTQ rights and learning systemically the history of oppression on groups in America) I was in conversations with all females and conversations with LGBTQ activists and members, and I am White Heterosexual male. But I learned and I listened. And I grew.

Why I bring this up? I took two acting classes at Rollins during this time while trying to understand all of this complex material and basically changing my thinking on issues fundamentally. (I grew up in Boca Raton, Florida. The suburbs, I didn’t know shit, while 18 years old thinking I knew how everything worked.)

While taking these acting classes, I honestly thought I was pretty good at acting and from sports, I saw a lot of comparisons to acting. From a performance standpoint to preparation, teamwork, passion, I loved it. But I was in school to become a radio and tv broadcaster in sports after of course I played 15 years in the MLB. (spoiler alert: that didn’t happen. hahahahaha *starts to fake cry*lol)

CMC (my major) helped me to realize that I could become an Actor. Just because it wasn’t my reality and I didn’t know anyone who made a living being in Arts didn’t mean that I couldn’t. I knew professional baseball players, professional basketball players, people who owned their own multi-million dollar business, but no actors, or painters or anything. I could change my reality. There is no successful way to live life. The idea that I would get married and have kids and have a job and talk about sports started to fade. Like, Why couldn’t I be an Actor? (Now I hope to have kids one day, I believe I would be a pretty darn good father. Wife, that’s never happening. Hahaha, just kidding, I hope that I get the chance to have a family one day. And we can go down a rabbit hole of alternate realities and a conversation of all that as to why I would say, “I hope that I get the chance to have a family one day” but we will not do that. Lol. I will say that my parents have given me so much love that I refuse to give a child I bring into this world anything less. And right now, I am grinding.)

Alright sorry, I haven’t even gotten into me being an actor yet. Hahaha. Sorry for rambling, that’s just kind of me. I feel that it is important to talk about my decision to become an actor the idea that I COULD be an actor. All I knew was Sports and I would’ve been pretty darn good talking about sports on tv or being a coach. I still love sports but looking back, I would always have the idea that “I think I could honestly be a really good actor”. Now, I could have been the most successful sports tv personality but in the back of my mind, I would have always thought that I could have done acting. AND NOW that I am doing this, I wish I would’ve chosen sports. hahahahahahah just kidding. This Acting stuff and business is a mental grind. I love it so much, and I’m so happy I’m doing it. Sports just come easier to me. So, it’s like I wouldn’t be happy in the long run being in sports but right now as I work four jobs and get told NO a lot. hahahahaha. Sports would be cool. But I’m so happy I’ve gone done this path of acting life for so many reasons. I am so much smarter now, more real, more capable of love, opening up myself to more empathy. I know myself so much better now. And it’s been hard finding myself after sports. But I am meeting myself and it’s wonderful. Sports for the longest time were my reality, my identity, my self-worth. When I decided to be an actor that ended pretty quickly and the last four years, I have been trying to figure that all out and I love it. Also, I just get to meet some many different people that come from different walks of life and backgrounds.

So after College graduation in 2015, I moved back home. I was the head coach of a travel baseball team that was ranked the four-team in the nation (out of thousands) for kids in the graduating class of 2020 (2020 high school) at the time they were 14 years old. Since then, all of those kids are playing College Baseball and most of them are playing high-level Division 1 Baseball. They are all studs and I am really proud of them and proud of myself. I feel like I had an impact on their lives right before they all went to high school. I still stay in contact with most of them. <3.

I worked out for the Miami Marlins, Baltimore Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres. Throughout 2015-2016. I did not get picked up. I did not play professional baseball. *eyes start to water*. Not joking, lol. It was a lifelong dream that was coming to an end and it still hurts, being honest. June 2016, my friend Alex Fang, now a music agent for New Frontier (at the time he was not). Tells me I should put in a picture for a country music video shooting in Nashville because I still had this idea of wanting to be an actor. So I put in a picture and they picked me. That was wild. I got paid to act for the first thing I ever put myself up for, and it got over 100K views on Facebook. “The Island” by Matt Austin. Thank you Matt and Dre.

From there, I had my friend Derek for four months telling me to come move to Atlanta and live with him for free. I was between going to LA or Atlanta. 2 actors, Marcelo Tubert and Jason Turner (Jason lives in Atlanta), very experienced and good actors helped me to choose Atlanta because of the opportunity here. That and I could live for free. Hahaha. I moved to Atlanta October 16, 2016.

I got my first modeling agent and my first theatrical agent in May 2017. I booked my first two jobs with my Theatrical Agent. So the country music video and then that, I was like, “yoooo, this shit is easy!” lol. I then proceeded to not book anything for like a year and a half. hahahahah. Hahaha.

Derek (who let me move in with him for six months) was the luckiest part of all of this. Looking back, I don’t know if I would have had the guts to move away and pursue acting if he wasn’t in my corner telling me to come do it, realistically. Nowww, I haven’t booked a SAG credit acting job yet hahaha so it’s not like I’m coming from this place of I made it. I’m freaking grinding right now.

When I moved here, I got job at a restaurant and worked my way up to bartending. Before I got moved up, I ended up with three jobs. But I realized bartending allowed me to make more money, so thankfully I was able to quit two of the jobs. I bring this up because it made me think about how hard it was and if I was living in LA instead of Atlanta, how I might not of been able to put so much attention on acting because they say in LA how expensive it is. Just food for thought for myself.

Ok, now to Atlanta and Acting:

The first big thing I booked was Dead Silent in 2017 from Jessica Fox Casting. <3. What an experience that was. I think most people see me as a goofball and comedic. Well, I auditioned for Killer and I got it. I was really excited to show people that I can play some really dark roles. When my family and friends watched it, they were really supportive and loved it. My mother’s friends who tell her stuff like, “Wow, Yeah, I really don’t like seeing him like that” lol. I thought that was a big compliment. I love that I am able to have that on my reel and show that side of me. It was such a good experience to work with Director Dan Bush.

Jessica Fox Casting, when you audition for her during the callback, she has you audition with actors. It’s actually a really cool experience. I bring this up because the actor I auditioned with was Erin Burns and she was the Meisner Technique teacher at Drama Inc. (this all has a reason). It was taught by Erin Burns and Dustin Lewis (he is now the teacher of the program). I took that class in late 2017. It wasn’t the first class I took at Drama Inc. I took a couple of other classes and Catherine Dyer really preached taking a technique course. I figured it was very Kismet that Erin Burns was the actor I auditioned with and I remember thinking how good she was and then I booked it. So I take the class.

The reason I bring this up is because in January of 2018, my friend Amber Neukum who or whom (I don’t know hahaha I’m an idiot) I took the Meisner class with at Drama Inc., She calls me and asked, “If I can Read on like a microphone in front of people”. “Yes. I can definitely do that, why?” Hahaha.

Basically, Amber helped to become a reader on the set of “First Man” Directed by Damien Chazelle and starring Ryan Gosling. I basically was there for continuity and was reading NASA’s parts for the filming of the spacecraft scenes. I GOT TO SIT NEXT TO DAMIEN CHAZELLE FOR 6 DAYS AND TAKE DIRECTIONS FROM HIM AND DO WHAT HE NEEDED. Wow. He called me by my name for six days and I got to watch an Oscar-winning film be made while watching an Oscar-Nominated actor act. I still can’t believe it happened. Through that Meisner class, I was able to experience what it was like to be on a huge set and watch one of the most creative directors work. And I got to watch an Idol of mine, Ryan Gosling. I would say my NASA lines and then the Gosling would say his lines (which were being taped), so technicallyyyyyy I acted with Ryan Gosling? Hahaha

Gosh he is so good! He was so comfortable around the camera. I think the hard thing about Film/Tv acting is getting used to the camera being around and in your face and staying in the moment when realistically the moment is really weird because there is technology and people holding microphones. Ryan Gosling was not phased by it and just relaxed. And that just comes with time.

From there in August 2018, I auditioned for a play at Drama Inc. and they cast me in it. “Bash” by Neil Labute. Directed by Jason MacDonald. Starring Alex Collins, Emily Topper and I, and Elizabeth Houston. It is a three act play kind of three stories. I was really honored that Jason MacDonald (Part Owner at Drama Inc.) took a chance on casting me in this play. It was the first theater audition and played I had done since 5th grade! Hahaha. It was such a great experience and it really gave me a lot of confidence. Being in that play with such great actors helped me to believe that I wasn’t just some athlete trying to do something. That I am an actor.

At that point, I hadn’t booked many things and so that mental game of self-worth and confidence was in a weird place. I am forever grateful that they took a chance on me and I thought it went really well. We sold out every night. I got to meet some amazing people and bond with people in ways I never thought I would. Being in theater is so similar to being on a sports team; I love it. Victor Riveria was the stage manager and we grew to know each other and now, we have been roommates the last two years and he is a great roommate and a great actor. Voyage interviewed him a couple of months ago.

The first night we opened, I had these two girls walk up to me, Katherine Barnes and Erin Boswell, and Katherine goes to me, “Hey! Who the hell are you?” hahaha, they thought I was really good and that made me feel amazing. I still think about that. They said they hadn’t seen many male actors like me in Atlanta. They run a Theatre called Vernal & Sere Theatre Co.

Four months later, they asked me to audition for a play they were putting on and I got cast. So at this point, I was 2 for 2 on theater auditions, hahahahaha. Can only go downhill from here.

I also had Problem Attic Productions cast me in a web series one month after the play ended that got to show my crazy comedic style at times. =]. It’s called “Bro Time”. Thank you to Jono Mitchell, Alex Baxter, Kayla Gibson and Chase Anderson for allowing that to come to life. Just another way for me to gain confidence. Till this day, I have friends from home that quote that web series to me. That’s awesome! How cool? =]

Vernal & Sere Theatre Co. is utterly amazing. Run by Katherine Barnes, Erin Boswell, Erin O’Connor, Sawyer Estes. (Voyage should do an article on them and Avant-garde theater in Atlanta, their shows are so thought-provoking).

I’m telling you, all of this stuff is kismet. I’m in situations that are just too amazing and I’m so lucky. We did “Spirits to Enforce” by Mickle Maher. What an interesting play that just helped to build my confidence even more. I was in a play with a castmates that went to NYU and were booking tv shows and learning from them and just showing myself that I belong. That the choices I’m making are right, Acting choices and life choices. That my instincts are right, sometimes a little crazy lol, but I like it =].

VST (abbreviation for Vernal & Sere Theatre Co.) does a movement class online via zoom right now but for six months in 2019 I was taking their in person Movment class and just learning concepts that are so different that anything I’ve ever done. I think I am naturally good at moving my body or dancing but they were putting words to movements and using movements to help with acting. (Laban Movement and Suzuki Method). And I have met some of my closest friends in Atlanta from this Theatre Company.

It’s all about the process that I’m doing right now and trying to work hard and learn new and weird things to me so that hopefully I can see the benefits in the future. I’m getting to know myself as a person. Which is only helping my acting, and I’m getting better at trusting my instincts and making strong choices in acting. I don’t have any success with big credits or money but I do know that I am learning and I am getting better.

From that play, Stewart Talent Atlanta saw me and offered to be my agent, which has been just amazing. I’m telling you how Kismet this is. I had applied to every agent in Atlanta multiple times and by showing myself in a couple of plays, I was able to grab someone’s attention. The play was May 2019.

The funny this about 2019 is I won three dance competitions, hahahahaha. Not professional, but I won one at Monday Night Brewery Prom. So I was awarded the prom king of that night (dream come true hahahaha jk). It was hilarious.

The next I won was at a Minor league baseball game in Nashville on the Jumbotron, and I won a FREE 55 inch tv that sits in my apartment and I watch movies on all the time. hahaha

The last was a Rodeo. lol. (I went to the rodeo after binge-watching West World. hahaha) but in front of like 7,000 people, I won the rodeo. I have videos of all three if you want to see hahaha. So that was the funniest part of 2019. Fast forward to 2020, I have 26,000 Tik Tok followers for dancing and lip singing to my favorite songs of mostly the 70’s and 80’s. What a world ahahaha.

At the end of 2019, I booked “Your Worst Nightmare” with Jessica Fox Casting and got to work again with Dan Bush. three years later. Wow, I’m telling you this kismet stuff, lol. Dan Bush is going to do big things.

In September 2019, I had auditioned for a “Sheetz” gas station commercial and went to callbacks and first refusal but didn’t get it. Three months later, I get a call from my agent and supposedly the ad agency liked me and they wrote a character on the Sheetz commercial for me. ! so that was exciting. I did two commercials for them and got to make a tiny bit of money and that was exciting. My auditions were so crazy lol, I like jumped into frame and like all up in the camera. But so cool, because the commercial showed during the Super Bowl in North Carolina! I know a couple of people who live there and they sent me videos and that was just such a cool experience because of my sports background.

Fast forward through the pandemic, I did some short films, 1 with Amber Nuekum who is a female writer/director/actor producing a lot of content. Great content! She was the person who got me on First Man! Wrote a script with me in mind and we filmed it, I was very excited to do that. It’s called “Surfer Boy”, a really beautiful story. I would work on anything Amber is involved in.

I have been in five acting classes in 2020. Four in LA over zoom and one here with Zane Stephens Acting Studio (who I have been taking classes with for two years, I love him). Zane is also with Stewart Talent here in Atlanta. He has really pushed me to be a better actor and his openness to talk about his journey in this business and the ups and downs really has built a strong bond between us.

Through Zane, I was able to me Zac Thurman who is Director, Writer and Film Maker. He is currently in USC Film School. And since Covid he is taking classes online and living in Georgia. We created a short film together for one of his assignments. I have really enjoyed working with him he is also just so creative and the short film we created. I think it really shows some of my best work as an actor. I’m really grateful and humbled that he believes in me. I look forward to the creating with him more.

Next, Ava Davis who was the person who recommended me for this article. I met her on set of a Sozo Bear Films set in July. I don’t know what I did but Ava believed in me and cast me in her Waltz film. We performed on zoom and I really love the script. I really hope Ava gets to tell this story and I would be honored to help her bring it to life. I say all these examples because I have just been really Lucky with people believing in me, especially the last 4-5 months. I’m optimistic about the future. I’m optimistic about my growth.

It’s interesting that I have wrote everything that I have wrote and that Voyage would want to do an article on me. Like I said, I don’t really have any super “success”. It’s like, would anyone want to hear my story if I haven’t really accomplished much in the industry comparatively? I have not booked any SAG-AFTRA jobs yet. (One day bebe). To me, I have to look back at the beginning of my journey. I have only been acting for four years. I have auditioned for some really cool projects and I have gotten callbacks on some really cool projects (big projects). And I have one casting director who has thought I’m doing something right to cast me in two of their shows (Jessica Fox Casting). And writers writing projects for me. Other Actors want to work with me.

I don’t know if I’m inspiring, I come from a pretty easy life. I have two parents who given me all the love. I am so beyond lucky to have that in this world. However, I started in this business with not knowing anyone and leaving everything that I had known (sports). I have to remember to be easy on myself and remember that I have made money acting and modeling. How cool is that!? Like if you would have told me that while in college playing baseball, I probably would have said, “yeah, well of course. I’m awesome” hahaha. jk. I wouldn’t have believed you.

I’m just going to keep on focusing on getting to know myself and grow as an actor. I believe the two go hand in hand. All of the Dark and the Light in me so that I can bring that alive in characters. I keep trying to talk to people about their lives and learn from that. Especially the hard times. I bartend (that’s how I make most of my money) and I have really got to meet some interesting people and more so, meet people at points in their lives that is tragic, sad, happy, joyful. I have had conversations with people who have come into my bar and lost their parents that day. I have had people who have came in that have just decided to get a divorce. I have had people down to their last paycheck come buy drinks. I have met people who are celebrating anniversaries or engagements. Graduations. I love putting myself in scenarios in this world that is out of my comfort zone or something I’m not used to. I think actor or not, you have to learn from people and connect with people. That’s all we have is community. Empathy. Love.

I believe the two things I do well in this life is learn and connect with others. I am pretty proud of myself for that because I think it comes from being open. You have to be open to other ways of thinking.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I feel like struggles are all relative, you know? If I compare my struggles to others, I feel like I have no struggles. I know people my age who have had to deal with cancer, loss of loved ones, homelessness, Addiction. Just as I am sure most people know people like that. This world can be very cruel.

If I compare my journey to others that have been through real tragedy, well, then I feel like my life has been super easy.

I think most of my struggles have been the mental battles.

Finances * – I mean at multiple times on this journey, I have had three jobs that don’t include acting. Bartending, Working as a Bacardi Representative selling liquor bottles And doing Data entry. I just try to pick up jobs as needed and try to figure it out.

When I first moved here and moved out on my own, I was working three jobs, Serving at two restaurants and got a job at Starbucks and then got into two car accidents (like a big idiot!) in four months. So at times it felt hard, looking back at it, that point in my life really just made me tougher.

Finances is one of my biggest insecurities like most of us I would believe. I have worked really hard to develop mantras in order continually give myself positive feedback. One I say a lot is, “Throw your heart into Spencer and money will find you in abundance.”

Being on this journey and a lot of the times really feeling alone. I don’t have any family here in Georgia and because of this pandemic, I’m gonna try to see my parents and family more. I think I have to deal with loneliness a lot. Which I think if we are all honest with ourself that is something that we all struggle with. At times I just want to sit around with my family or people in my life who truly love me and do nothing. I don’t have that much of that in Atlanta. I battle that feeling sometimes. Which again, I feel like we all battle those feelings. Sometimes it’s really hard to be really emotional in a product and then have to go home to being by yourself. But it’s all Gravy =]

As an actor constantly dealing with rejection and trying to stay confident at the same time. Making sure you are doing the right things when you really don’t know what the right things are. Then people are telling you what the right things are but you are trying to follow your gut because that’s someone else’s journey and not yours, While at the same time trying to be open and take as much advice as you can.

hahahahahaha

***BASEBALL & SPORTS

I think the hardest mental battle I have been dealing with is giving up my career in Baseball. At the age of four, I started playing organized sports. All of the sports. And at the age of ten, I started playing travel baseball and basketball. From that point, I wanted to play in the MLB and NBA. Highschool. College. Professional Workouts.

The hard part is that for most of my life, I gained my self-worth from sports. And then all of sudden one day, I went from working out for the San Diego Padres to three months later living in Atlanta, Georgia. I feel like I had to get to know myself all over again. I didn’t do a good job at first. Hahaha. I spent the first year living here in Atlanta playing pick up basketball four days a week at LA Fitness and just spending hours trying to fulfill the hole that I was missing from playing sports everyday. I went from playing sports everyday of my life as an 8th grader in 2005 to 2016. Pretty much every day working towards becoming a professional athlete. Dreaming of it. Believing in myself that I could do it. To trying to become an actor and really not knowing what I’m doing and just missing sports a lot. Missing baseball a lot. Since I have retired from baseball, I don’t really watch it, I don’t really go to games. I know players who play on the Atlanta Braves that I played with and against. So I feel like physically, I am still able to compete, I don’t know.

The Journey has been me coming to grips with the fact that I am not an Athlete anymore. And taking time to me truly believing that I AM AN ACTOR. And I am a pretty damn good. Because of this insecurity, I have tell myself every night before I go to bed, in the mirror, “You are a Great Actor, Spencer. YOU ARE GREAT!”. I know it sounds cheesy but I have to believe that. You have to believe that to be successful in this business and you have to put the time in. But you have to believe it even when you aren’t. I believe it. But it has taken time to get here. Being in acting classes 2-3 times a week for four years and constantly trying to push myself to learn. I’m getting more confident.

It’s funny at the first 2-3 years, I wanted other actors to view me as an athlete and I wanted athletes to view me as an Actor. Like I would always try to defend my athletic career in front of actors and brag about acting in from of athletes. Hahahahah it was quite funny. It came from my insecurity of letting go of my identity that I got from sports and the insecurity of not feeling like I was an actor in the beginning.

I love to credit Drama Inc. with always making feel like an actor when I went to study there. I first started at drama inc. And every time I was in class they made me feel like my instincts were right and that I could be a successful actor. I am grateful for that confidence.

However, I think that has been the struggle along the way. Getting to know myself outside of sports. I think it has led to some depression. I believe if you interview any athlete that is mourning their career, we all go through this. Even the people who make the Hall of Fame. At one point, their careers end too. Mine just ended a lot sooner than I had expected.

Ya know, I am on such a beautiful journey of getting to know myself. I don’t think I would be on this journey if I didn’t become an Actor and had just stayed in sports as a coach or an analyst. (Granted, I probably would’ve never experienced depression because of the illusion that *Everything is happy* lol. But who knows, I probably would have. Some people are just better at hiding it than others, however you choose to interpret that). Sports will always be a part of my life, but I no longer get my self-worth and identity from it. I am proud of that. I am proud I made it through that. (I just said “good job spence” to myself out loud ahahaha).

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a jackass. =]. I am not afraid to embarrass myself or put myself out there in any way. (Maybe this is what I specialize in? lol)

I love to make people laugh. I love to evoke emotions in others. Sometimes I like to be a little provocative to get things going.

The most consistent thing in my life, even more than sports, is my want to make others laugh and smile.

I don’t know what I am known for. I would imagine my humor is in the realm of what I’m known for. Or the fact that I have big ears that stick out. hahahahaha.

Something I specialize in is music. It’s not really anything I profit on, but I love music. It ignites my creative fire and fulfills me in so many ways. I think that is why I have over 26,000 followers on Tik Tok because of how specific I get with my songs and the range of songs I choose to dance and lip sing to.

I make playlists on Spotify hahaha. I have a Christmas playlist I just made that has over 55 followers. That’s kind of cool. And I have two other playlists that people follow, 1. a playlist I update with new music 2. a playlist called “Happy Days” that you should listen to when you want to feel happy.

I love to connect with people through music. I listen to so many different types of music trust me. For example, I have over 300 followers from Nigeria, hahaha. I had an artist DJ Spinall share me on his feed and story on Instagram of me singing his song with Dotman. Dotman also shared me. Adekunle Gold also shared me on his story. It was really cool. I love Nigerian Afro-Beat music.

I mainly listen to Hip Hop. I love 90’s hip hop especially. I would like to say I study the history of hip hop. I’m enamored with it. Hip Hop started as such a subculture, a way for an oppressed group to have a voice, to create art. I will always side with the oppressed and Hip Hop at its core is so beautiful.

So is Grunge Rock. That started as a subculture too with mainly white kids feeling like they don’t belong and pushing against society that doesn’t accept them.

Music is art.

I love disco. I love old country. Pop music, 80’s. Soul Music. R&B, 90’s R&B <33.

I Love just great music. I could talk for days about music. And I don’t play any instruments.

Top 10 Favorite Artists: (no particular order)
James Taylor
John Legend
Burna Boy
The Eagles
Big Daddy Kane (Who! shared one of my TikTok’s on his Instagram feed. That’s when I knew I peaked in life)
Rakim
Kanye (God, he makes me mad right now, but I love his music)
Pharrell /Neptunes/N.E.R.D. (I’m gonna count all of those as one)
SZA
Glen Campbell

I have so many favorite artists, hahaha. I could do a top 10 for every genre so here we go…….. hahaha jk.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I don’t know. I think the best way, especially being an actor, is to be the most genuine you can be. Learn about people. Take an interest in learning about the person across from you. As people, all we want to do is talk about ourselves, so ask questions and hopefully, if they are being genuine they will ask questions about you.

I’m not good at going to “networking events” I find the energy in places like that to be off. I feel like it’s a bunch of people with metaphorical walls up so you can’t really see their true selves. I try to stay away from those events, the energy turns me off and then I just get really sarcastic and mean sometimes, hahaha.

I think the best way to network is to genuinely take an interest in the person you are talking with. Also, making people laugh doesn’t hurt. Making people laugh, that’s a whole other thing, like I can’t talk about sports in front of actors, it does not work. You have to find common interests or generic common interests and then just observe your life. Everyone has parents and laundry and you know, lol.

I don’t know if I have found a mentor yet.

Actually! (As I re-read this) the best way to network is to get in Acting class. The best way to meet people in this business is to take classes and get better. Show people your skills in class and ask questions and learn from people who are better than you. My best networking has come from Acting class or being on Set. Showing people what you can do, hopefully people will want to work with you. If not, their loss and they are idiots. hahaha =]

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Image Credits
Chase Anderson Kurt Yue Kolin Murray Erin Boswell Jonathan Wade Bryce France Zac Thurman