We recently connected with Delanté Mclean-sanchez and have shared our conversation below.

DeLanté , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

I am a very complex person, as is everyone. The person on the exterior is not who the person is on the inside, especially when we bring in the conversation of intersectionality- black, queer, being biologically male by society’s standard, etc.

I think my first experience of being misunderstood is from childhood and in conjunction with family. As a child, you are typically molded in whatever your parents want you to be. You adopt their thoughts and opinions, their goals and ambitions, their traumas and fears, and so much more. This is the same case for me, coupled with the fact that I was the complete opposite of everything my parents wanted me to be either by my own choice or just naturally.

Being an only child was and is hard cause all the attention is on you. I couldn’t afford to really make mistakes and tried my best to be perfect. I didn’t want to fail and had to be the best at everything I did, from academics to sports, even leisurely activities I did for myself, like art.

My parents envisioned me as a young man who would go to college and come out with so many degrees in whatever I chose or go to the military for the Air-force. These were passions at one point and time, but they never lasted long. I went to school for Civil Engineering and don’t get me wrong, I loved designing highways and mapping out cities and such (hence why I have SimCity Buildit and play it to this day), but that wasn’t who I was. I went to make my parents proud, but not really for myself. I used to paint and sketch as a kid but that passion was kind of snatched from me when it became a mandatory thing that I was told to do. “Go draw, go paint, go practice this-“. Once it became mandatory, I lost the love for it. It became a chore rather than a choice I made. Looking back, that was a tale tell sign that I would not do well with taking lots of orders from people, for reasons I deemed unnecessary.

I was expected to be a traditional person and be a traditional man and have a girlfriend and “do all the things a man does” but turns out, that none of that would really happen by the time I left home.

Constant back and forth with motivation from “you are smart” to “you’re not good enough” created a human being that is very turbulent when it comes to self esteem and motivation. Looking back all these opinions and standards molded me into who I am now on a personal level. The person on the outside doesn’t seem to be this way, but it’s who I truly am when not in the public eye.

I have such a wavering self esteem and the only way to stabilize is to dress up and look my best. As long as I look good, I can’t tell myself otherwise. I was under pressure from family and the dichotomy of society.

I grew up with having a lot of interaction with the older generations and my own generation. Different worldly views and being stuck between innovation or tradition. I had to make up my mind when I left home and I’m glad that I have/had those experiences.

I’m able to live a life where I have a lot of wisdom. I am mom and dad by tradition, providing for myself and going to work and being nurturing. I work a grueling 50 hour a week job, but I balance it with self care and artistry and showing up for my community. I’m a complex being because of these experiences and it feels like the perfect balance. Being a rebel within the system but also knowing how to work within the system to make change and even flowing naturally with the energies of masculinity and femininity.

DeLanté , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am an advocate, more specifically for youth that are LGBTQ+ and experiencing homelessness, and BIPOC youth in the arts.

I do my advocacy through the means of art, especially through media: Modeling, videos, and photography. I give back to my communities to ensure that the environment that I was once in changes for the better and becomes safer for youth who are just entering. I devote most of time to this work because it is my passion and brings me satisfaction.

It also allows me to connect and foster relationships with other BIPOC artists who may or may not be experiencing homelessness, who are looking to be exposed and recognized for the work they equally put into the community.

As of recently, I finished a project to celebrate AB2711 Ramos being passed and to raise awareness for youth who are struggling with substance abuse, where I created a Look-book, to give youth the platform to share their personal journeys with substance abuse. These stories provided invaluable insight into
the youth’s lives and highlight the importance of breaking down stigmas surrounding youth who use substances. This took about six months to create with the help of organizations who dedicate their time to this type of work, like CAYEN.

I am now embarking on a journey to create another project that raises awareness for the communities that were affected and are still being affected by the fires happening in LA. These communities that I am focusing on are the black and brown community of Altadena and the homeless population of LA as a whole. It’s still in its beginning stages but I feel it’s important work that needs to be done.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think non-creatives, or people who have yet to explore their creative potential rather (change the language cause everyone is creative, but there is a difference between people who actively create and people who haven’t tapped into their potential) will struggle to understand the concept of “going with the flow” or trusting the process.

It is such a scary thing to do because we have been conditioned to do everything in a methodical way or a way that someone has already done and wrote down that it is the “tried and true” way of doing things and achieving anything.

Everything cannot be done the same way that the next or the last person did it. We are all on a journey that calls for you to try something different. You won’t know unless you fall away from the beaten path and that’s where the feeling of uncertainty and fear come in, because you don’t know what will happen.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is watching my work come to life and it doing exactly what I intended it to do- heal communities or individuals, inspire, challenge mindsets, etc.

I love creating and getting the desired results I wish for it to have. From the beginning stages of developing the idea and communicating and creating with other people to rolling out my finished product to the general public. It’s a wish fulfillment rather and it makes me feel satisfied with the work I do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/delante.m

Image Credits

Junior Ntepe
Kolby Hill
Elijah Benfante
Sebastian Hinz
Isaac Kennedy