Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Y$N. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Y$N, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I have been making a full-time living from my creative work for just a few months now and it is honestly quite liberating. For years I have been balancing my creative work with a practical day job, oftentimes more than one, to ensure that the bills would be paid. Doing that made it a bit more difficult because I would have to structure my gigs and other ventures around my work schedule which wasn’t always very flexible. I never let that get in my way though. I always managed to show up to every event, knock out every interview, or follow through with whatever the gig may have been and still was able to clock into work on time the very next day without missing a step.

To get to the point where I can do radio, podcasting, and all my other ventures full time is nothing but a blessing from God that I do not take for granted. It took a lot of hard work and sacrifices to get to this point, but most importantly it took a tremendous amount of faith, both in God and myself. Now that I’m here, I feel like I need to work 10x as hard to maintain this status because I know what it was like before I got here.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Born and raised in Nashville, TN, I got my start as a DJ at my local skating rink when I was 16 years old. Around this same time, I began making music and was able to create a small buzz for myself throughout the city. I continued to both all through high school up until I moved to Knoxville, TN for college in 2016.

I started college at The University of Tennessee and got involved with the campus radio station, WUTK 90.3 The Rock, for a grade in one of my classes. On the very first day in the station, I knew that I had found my place. I ended up getting invited back after my first semester and was made a co-host on The Edutainment Hip Hop Show and was promoted to music director shortly thereafter.

During my time at WUTK, I used my relationships that I built from making music and would consistently have guests on the show for interviews and gave a platform for numerous underground artists. I also began traveling to host events and perform in different cities throughout the south , further building up my following and making new connections.

The pandemic ultimately shut down a large portion of my operation, forcing me to adjust and make a few changes. I launched my podcast, YSN Radio, in the summer of 2020 and began working to solidify my brand as a multimedia personality independently.

I graduated from UT in the fall of 2020 and a few months later I began working as an On-Air Personality for B97.5, which is the #1 radio station in Knoxville. I just hit my one year anniversary with the company in July.

Now I am a full time radio personality, podcaster, DJ, emcee, artist, and much more. I’m currently working to build up my own multimedia entertainment company and venturing into concert promotions. I’m only 24 years old and have been blessed to live out my dreams in more ways than one. I still have a long road ahead of me until I’m at a place of satisfaction so until then I’m going to keep working and pushing the needle forward as much as possible.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I want to be somebody that my daughter can be proud of, someone she can brag about. When I first found out we were having her, I was fully willing to quit everything and get a well paying factory job to take care of her because I wasn’t seeing too much money from my work at the time.

I got a lot of pushback from everyone around me and was talked out of it. After that, I decided that I really needed to turn my hustle up and make everything that I was involved with make sense. Whether it be the radio, podcast, or whatever, I told myself I have to make it make sense.

Reason why is because one day my daughter is gonna be a teenager wondering what to do with her life and I’m gonna be there encouraging her to work hard and follow her dreams and she could do whatever she wants. But how could I expect her to take me seriously when I tell her to believe in herself or to never give up when I did the complete opposite?

I want my daughter to look at me as an example of being able to do whatever you set your mind to as long as you work hard and keep faith in God. That being said, everything I do is to build a solid foundation for her. So when she gets older she won’t have to worry about a thing because her dad never gave up and created a great life for her.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect to me is seeing the fruition of my hard work. I like to journal and write down my goals. So when I accomplish things, it means a lot more to me because I actually sat, wrote it down, prayed on it, and went out and made it happen. Just knowing that I have the ability to turn my ideas to real life things is amazing and it pushes me to work harder. Every time I reach a goal, I immediately think “Well if I can do that, I can definitely do this” and continue to climb the ladder even higher.

Contact Info:

• Website: ysnradio.com
• Instagram: @realysn
• Other: YSN Radio available on all major streaming platforms!