We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brandon Juezan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brandon , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

In high school, I started to take dance seriously. I joined the school’s competitive dance team, started training at studios, and joined dance groups to train and perform after school. I was fully enveloped in it at some point, spending the majority of my free time dancing outside of studying. By the time I hit my senior year in 2012, I was a somewhat recognized dancer in the 626 region between various schools and studios (particularly because I had a curly afro all the time). The director of a dance studio called Stylz connected with me at one of the various local dance events and asked if I wanted to become a beginner hip-hop dance teacher and have a weekly slot. They made a flyer and everything. At the time, kids my age were all slowly transitioning from the social media platform Myspace to Facebook and Instagram, so I’m pretty sure I spammed my class flyers on social media every week I taught until I left that studio. My first class was a couple of my dance team friends who came to support me, and I was so nervous since it was a new experience teaching my own structured class. When I got handed somewhere between $20-30 as my class cut, I was more excited than ever. Even though I didn’t make much or have that many students weekly, I didn’t care. That’s when dance and the possibility of making a living from it became real. That was my first job ever, and the first dollar I ever earned as a creative.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

What’s up everyone! My legal name is Brandon Allen Juezan-Williams, but for simplicity’s sake, I use Brandon Juezan professionally. In the dance world, my aka (also known as/alias) is BeastBoi. I am currently a professional Hip-Hop and Street Dance artist, educator, event producer, and touring manager for Versa-Style Dance Company. I also represent The Beast Camp, an internationally renown Krump group.

In terms of background and how my interests developed, I was raised in Azusa, CA, about 40 minutes from the Downtown Los Angeles area. I come from a large family, particularly on my Filipino side, and grew up in a full and loving household. Music and dance were a large part of my family culture growing up, with some of my relatives being musicians, singers, and dancers on the side or in their past. Every family party felt like going to a club. I didn’t know at the time how much that would influence my future, since what I only really cared about were video games and anime/cartoons most of my childhood, and I was normally taught to find a “stable” career after college. But when I was in middle school, street fashion, and culture were becoming important to me and trendy in various ways, so I started listening to Hip Hop and learning some dance moves for fun. I found that dance felt good and was something I was naturally attuned to, so I kept on going and taking advantage of opportunities that came my way. Various directors and dance mentors took me under their wing throughout high school to help guide me down the path of becoming a high-level, professional dance artist. However, when it was time to start thinking about college in my junior year, my brain defaulted to what seemed both interesting and stable, like my family wanted, so I chose to pursue an entertainment business degree. It seemed like it could connect with dance somehow, while also providing full-time work opportunities with benefits. But during my studies, I continuously had an itch to move my body, and I found myself taking classes, going to rehearsals for performances, or attending dance sessions late at night even if I had class the following morning. It became clear to me that I wasn’t meant to spend most of my time behind a desk, at least not for a very long time, which went against my previous logic of only dancing as a side gig. Eventually, I was offered multiple teaching opportunities at K-12 schools and I let go of all other types of jobs aside from random summertime temp work. In the back of my head, I thought I’d eventually have to stop and get a “real job” once I graduated, but instead found myself performing, teaching, and planning dance events to pay for all of my bills. Now I work almost full-time for Versa-Style Dance Company, my dance family, and a world-renowned grassroots non-profit arts organization. My position consists of being a principal dancer, tour manager, and event producer, performing, teaching, and creating events for the youth and dance community at large. This organization in particular taught me the history and depth of Hip-Hop and related Street styles, how the culture is historically rooted in underprivileged BIPOC communities and the struggles that were overcome, the physical and spiritual connection between dance and my ancestors, and the importance of being in service to others.

Although I still have many personal, self-fulfilling goals in the creative industry with dance, and a newfound interest in modeling, my passion is to use my art form as a tool to educate and instill confidence and healing within individuals. Serving others through my craft is my calling, whether that be as an educator or as an administrator providing platforms for other artists to express themselves. I have a few aspirations for the future, all based on the 3 forms of wellness: physical, mental, and financial. I am working my way to eventually be a licensed physical trainer and financial coach and have visions of starting creative wellness programs in the future. I’m currently going through significant changes and evolutions in my life, with doorways to various life paths opening up, which at times is overwhelming to think about. I just now follow my gut and let God/the universe/fate guide my path, always reminding myself of the philosophic principle Amor Fati, which means “love fate”. It’s a principle I’m bringing into my work and something I would like to encourage in others so that we don’t feel like we have to force life to happen and dwell on past negativity. Instead, we follow life’s ups and downs, have no regrets about our past, and find comfort in the fact that where we end up is where we were supposed to be.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

There are so many places I can start with this. First off would be the community I’ve become part of. Outside of my two early childhood best friends, my closest friends, collaborators, and confidants are those that I connected with through dance. These friends have pushed me to be the best version of myself, helped lift me up during my lowest moments, and supported me in and out of dance. My tribe, my life crew, specifically my Versa-Style and Beast Camp families. This community is also international, so dance has put me on a plane and taken me all over the world. Nothing better than traveling with your best friends and getting paid to do it. Aside from this, pursuing dance gave me an opportunity to grow into a teacher and mentor, and I love seeing some of my close students over the years grow and shine in different ways and eventually become my friends. It’s highly motivating to see my students, both young and old, not only enjoy themselves but find meaning in life through dance and use it as a path for personal growth.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I tend to consume a lot of content, most of it being educational in some way. I’ve definitely fallen in love with books and podcasts that have helped with my mental health and personal growth as an artist and an aspiring full-time entrepreneur. There are ancient philosophical, self-help guides like The Bible, Daoist and Buddhist texts, or Stoic philosophy like the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, since I like to take ideas from various spiritual paths and frames of thought. Some more modern classics for entrepreneurship and mindset are Think & Grow Rich, Rich Dad Poor Dad, How to Win Friends and Influence People, The Power of One More, and The 4-Hour Work Week. Other books I’ve really enjoyed for my mental health, creativity, and inspiration are The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F***, Big Magic, The Four Agreements, This is Not a T-Shirt, and both of David Goggins books (stay hard!). The list goes on with books, but I haven’t finished some books on this list and quite a few others I didn’t mention. I don’t listen to podcasts as much as I read but a couple that I’ve listened to are the Mel Robbins podcast, the Jim Fortin podcast, Care Your Way to Success by my good friend Crystal Castillo-Guster, and a few others I can’t think of right now. But really, anything that has to do with physical and mental wellness, mindset, and related subjects backed by science and philosophy interest me.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: instagram.com/beastboithehypegod
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-allen-juezan-williams-ba-a012ba60

Image Credits
Will Yang, George Simian, Whitney Browne