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

Derrick, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I actually knew very young. I would listen to classical and theatrical music every Sunday afternoon with my mother and quickly found my love for how the music moved me. My parents took me to see Phantom after seeing my love for the music of that score and after that moment I was preeminently hooked on the art form.

Derrick, 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 am (much like my IG handle suggests) a Dreamclimber. As a child I dreamed of being a theatrical performer and took every step needed to accomplish just that. I know that I am among the fortunate that get to actually do it for a living, however there is no hesitation in sharing that it took a lot of self discipline and work to get here. I have had the honor of performing in many incredible roles such as The Phantom, Mufasa, Scar, Billy Bigelow, MLK etc.
One of my greatest joys is to be a help to those climbing behind me. I offer virtual coaching and career conversations through my website therealderrickdavis.com.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Something I had to demystify was the audition process. There is this idea that you walk into a room and have to be absolutely perfect with no nerves and that the people behind the desk are something other than human and are scrutinizing you for errors that add up to you being eliminated from consideration. It’s quite different from that IF you allow it to be. Everyone in the room is a creative of one kind or another working with the person auditioning to try and fill a role. (and yes, they are also all human for the most part)
Everyone gets nervous or as I choose to see it excited about the moment and so there isn’t a need to get caught up in that energy…let it propel you into the performance.
Perfection is boring, story telling is exciting and stories aren’t perfect they are nuanced. Live in the moment!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I feel like there are so many beautiful commonalities amongst humanity as a whole that when you allow yourself to be yourself completely, people will gravitate. That’s the best place to start out. Don’t try to be something other than what you are naturally. Explore other successful peoples pages for how they post what they post. (Not trying to imitate what they post). learn what the algorithms put forward and adapt that to how you tell the story of you.
engage with others and when you find what works for your brand…your expression, lean in!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.therealderrickdavis.com
• Instagram: @dreamclimber
• Youtube: @dreamclimber

Image Credits
David Noles (headshot) Brian Berson (concert photo)