We recently connected with David Rio and have shared our conversation below.
David , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?
I want to tie this in with, “Unexpected issues” as well. First dollar I received as a creative was for being on ,”What Would You Do?” For ABC. Shoutout to my brother, William Gallego! The most I have gotten in one check was for my Makers Mark commercial in 2021. Shoutout to my agency, Evolve Artist Agency and Sonnenberg Casting! Funny enough I didn’t get so excited for the amount I saw on paper, I was and always ecstatic to do the work and be as great as I may be to add to the project. Even funnier, the first day it aired a co-worker of mine, Preston Brener posted it and tagged me. As I was making my way to my car to go take photos of a great friend, Margo Graff, Creative as well, I realize my battery to my car has been stolen. As I receive so many notifications for the Makers commercial I am looking at my missing battery with contrasting emotions all at once. I took a breath, I smiled, I laughed, and clenched my fist while looking up at the sky. It all happens at interesting times. Immediately had my brother Roman call me an uber so I can go get those shots of Margo. The show must go on!
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.
I am David Rio from Queens, NY born, raised, molded, loved, broken down and put back together. I am the baby of 3 older sisters, raised with two of them and Mami! Raised by Queens in Queens. The growth of my journey has been the consistent need for me to express myself. It began with happiness and reached anger at times when I didn’t know how to effectively say what I wanted or what I truly felt. With SOUL MUCH LOVE in me I had soul much to give. Whether it was holding the door, offering a smile, saying hello, having inviting energy, helping someone in need, all these small details helped me fully understand me. Watching my family, my surroundings, films, TV shows, being at the park, everything effected me and still does. I take notice and digest it into me. Expression is a huge part of my life and being able to be ME. I am in constant search of bettering me while sharing me. Acting has been a beautiful gift to add to that. Along with being the one people look at. I enjoy being the one to present emotion, feelings, point of view, character while many people feel they can’t do it themselves. They are frightened to be seen. Within the right circumstance I love it and I love the, “OMG I I could never do what you do” and I laugh because in a sense I view it as you do, We all do. We just dont have a camera on us all the time. Exanpanding my creativity, I picked up the camera and learned how to take photos the way I wanted to. I got help from my Brother Roman(Photog) and Cory and myself through trial and era. My other brother kAui (Artists) was my model for a very long time and it helped me a lot to figure out my perspective in how I love to capture essence. I enjoy capturing YOU not just taking a photo of you. In everything I do the main focus is what is our objective. Why are we here? what do we want? What are we feeling? And that helps curate the true essence of our creative output. What I know about myself is that I care. I care about story, I care about our time. About why we are here doing what we are doing. There is purpose in why we are even connected in this moment in time and I honor that. I want to be better than I was and I want to give love, warmth, perspective and evolving self expansion. I want us all to be happy. To work with me in anything we do means collaborative effort of giving our full selves as much as we may. And to beautifully guide each other to better and better places than we were before.
And I am proud of myself for Writing a book this year titled, “Healing is Surrendering” on Amazon and kindle right now. It is the Journey of letting go of the story I(WE) hold onto to continuously evolve into the person we are striving to be. We dont need to limit ourselves by the things we have gone through or what we have created in our minds that doesn’t feed our soul. We gentle, incredible beings and we need each other every step of the way. You need YOU every step of the way. Be gentle with yourself.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
My journey has been filled with I’m not smart enough. Things have taken me a bit longer than usual for me to learn it and understand it fully. I learned I have to take my time, I need to put myself in the best position that fits me. That may break down into my space, cleaning, calming music (music that feeds my soul – currently listening to Peace of Mind – Rama) It gets my soul involved and I feel the search for my peace. Operating at a calm fully engaged state to give my full self I am capable of. Everything boils down to SELF. I have struggled learning, grants got taken away for me to go away for college to study acting in San Francisco, then coming to LA 4days before flying out of NY the place I was going to stay at got taken away. Lived in a 1 bedroom with a brother of mine where I was in the living room for some time and then it was 4 of us before moving to a bigger space, conflicts arose because of differences and path of journeys colliding. Then misunderstandings that lead to big decisions that affect everything in our life and need to adjust to stay afloat. My car got totaled back in 2020 during the pandemic where I had a slight concussion and took some time for me to mentally get back in the swing of things. A list of things that could def. have me say – I QUIT. And NO, I didn’t and I won’t. I learned from Tony Robbins, “Life isn’t happening to me it’s happening for me” and that slight detail switch is the way I live my life now. I am not a victim to anything. I am in this life, I am a vessel, I am a gift and things do happen. I get to respond how I see fit and what makes sense for me to be the happiest I decide to be. I create my story and make the choices in my life. I choose happy. And this is challenging to accept especially when something happens that you truly don’t agree with. And that’s when It truly counts. That’s when the decision to give up or keep pushing is made. Al Pacino’s Monologue in, “Any Given Sunday” is part of my life motto. “I am still willing to fight..the six inches in front of your face”
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Being a creative, being an artists is being human. It is the journey of expressing who we are and we are all the same. We have the same five senses, we have the same emotions we all feel and desperately need to connect in order to be at peace with life. And this is all at different levels of life. We are the same. Now I say this to say Being a creative is taking that happiness, that frustration, that joy, that pain, that peace we want and putting it up for others to see. And when we go to the movies or watch TV, or go to a show, museum…we are in search of ourselves. In search of the parts that’s hidden in us, that pleases us, the past we know are there, and the parts that we are striving for. It’s all there. Art teaches us, reminds us, and encourages us to be US. It’s easy to forget most times because we are Living it. We don’t necessarily take time to break things down on a day to day basis to figure it all out, yet we are IT already. I love ART! I love being human and expressing the things most people love to hide. I want to shine brightly and break free time and time again!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: DavidxRio | DavidxHarmony
Image Credits
Stephanie Girard Chanel Williams William Gallego Bianca Otero Cliff