We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful DeQwan Young. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with DeQwan below.
DeQwan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
I moved to California at the beginning of the pandemic with the intention of finishing my MFA in Digital Cinema and starting my career in Hollywood. I moved here with $3,000 and my two cameras. It took me a lot of time, work, and self-confidence to even show people my film, let alone finish it. After three years, I’ve completed the degree, and continued my journey in this industry, with the hope of improving with each project.
DeQwan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m a filmmaker. I recently graduated from film school and have made a few documentaries, with plans to release my first feature film, The Beast by 2025. It’s the story of the real-life Rocky Balboa, Brian Minto, a man who quit his day job to pursue a career in boxing. Brian was a former division 2 football player who dropped out and ended up taking a job at Armstrong Cable as a line worker. One Christmas, he tried his hand at boxing to make some extra Christmas money. At the age of 27, turned that one victory into a 15+ year career, fighting on ESPN, HBO and more, while also winning multiple heavyweight championships.
I was privileged to shoot his final fight in Butler, PA on September 17th, 2016, which is the subject of my next documentary The Beast: The Final Fight, which I will be releasing in December.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I played arena football for 7 years of my life in hopes of moving up to a higher level (similar to Kurt Warner). In year 7, I realized things weren’t going the way I wanted and pivoted to my degree in communications. I lost my job and my apartment and had nowhere to go. I emptied out my 401k and bought a digital camera and I started a production company. I made videos for a physical therapy brand and videos on YouTube. . I had to reconfigure my life on the fly and was doing it by myself. This gave me an opportunity to find something that I enjoyed doing, while still maintaining who I was as an athlete. This led me to create content with the intention of becoming a sports journalist.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
I’ve encountered a great deal of growth as a creative. Leading up to my graduation from film school, I had to finish a documentary. The subject matter was about myself, and in it I interviewed my family. That film led me to the greatest personal growth I could ever ask for. I learned a lot about myself, I understand why we are the way we are and I gained a massive perspective shift. For the last few decades of my life, I’ve lived life as an athlete and with that mentality. Once I stopped being an athlete I had to strip away parts of me and become somebody new. I discovered new things about myself and revisited parts of myself that had been lost in the process. I understand who I am, and what I want and I owe it all to being an artist
Contact Info:
- Website: http://deqwanyoung.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/q3_media/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/QMedia3
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Q3_Media
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@QwalitySports/videos
Image Credits
Pierre Davis Photography