Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Haquann Chavours. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Haquann, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

Well, it has not been an easy journey by any means, but I suppose we could say that this started back when I was a child. I grew up in harsh environments, involving family issues and neighborhood safety concerns, and often found myself escaping in video games, drawing, and music. I fell in love with the way all of these things made me feel like I was in a different world and also how I came to start building worlds of my own in my head (happier and safer ones).

Naturally, drawing was the easiest to cling onto because I always had access to pencil and paper in school and not always music and video games. I remember that the first thing I ever drew was a caterpillar, following my reading of the hungry, hungry caterpillar in pre-k (haha). I remember my family gathering to make fun of the drawing, and it did hurt my feelings, but I still found a comfort in knowing that it was still mine. I could still create what I wanted, even if others did disapprove.

Around 1st grade, I got access to my first pair of earbuds, a small phone without service, and a gameboy advance. This was *groundbreaking* for me. The combination of my ability to create, along with the constant exposure to magic, power, heroes, and different worlds created by game developers and musicians, made my mind explode with creativity. My art looked different. It involved more color & depth now, a range of emotions, and development of characters that only I had imagined. I began to build my world away from the hell that I was living in real life.

I ended up taking a liking to anime shortly after and quickly developed a bias for entertainment that felt grand & magical, mixed with drama and action. This reflected itself in my art and what I chose to consume. They say that children are sponges, and I believe that if I had access to my art over the years, it would be irrefutable.

Enter: The Anime Kid (with depth no one could see)

If you grew up loving anime, you know how this goes.

As the years went by, and I experienced more life, I was naturally burdened by what the other participants of life believed purpose to be: follow an academic-based path, become what society deems as useful, relinquish your “childish” desires, and be an adult.

I get it… but no one should listen to this shit.

The music I listened to got all dark and depressing, my art was all grim, and I associated gaming with a waste of life.

This was the DEATH of my individuality and passion. Life didn’t feel meaningful anymore, and it took years of depression bad enough to almost erase me along with instability due to job dissatisfaction until I finally said e-fucking-nough! I left my job that same day, literally running to my car so that they couldn’t catch me (lmao), and they were not going to chase me anyway (I was just going insane). I listened to “Part of Your World” by Halle Bailey on my way home and immediately felt the magic return to me. I could feel like a prince, princess, hero, dragon, or whatever. I could DREAM again, and so I did.

When you experience the rebirth of passion, something weird happens to you. You get this sudden awareness that allows you to see your life clearly, look at your environments & decisions, and say “what the fuck?” You’ve built a life based on things that don’t align with you and drain your energy. Change needs to happen NOW, but it starts with one thing:

The ability to create.

You create the life you want in your head, and you make the changes to your reality to mirror it as much as possible (with flexibility). For me, I had to do this by first isolating myself and feeling different about me. You could say that I went through a metamorphosis. Actually, metamorphosis MAY be the theme of my life, especially considering my first drawing. Anyway, I came back invigorated with dedication to create a better life for myself. I centered the beliefs I held dear as a child, and I saw things change.

This birthed my idea to build & live in a world that I call the “KYUNIVERSE,” with me, Aechkyu (“HQ”), at the center but not in control.

I know that I’m not the only one in the world with my dreams, and I also know that I’m not the only one in the world with my struggles. My magic returned to me, but I want to be a symbol for others needing the same. I knew that I wanted to have an impact on others where I could bring joy to them, remind them of possibility, help them to get their magic, and encourage them to dream. Through acting this way, I got to see how others who watched me got the courage to try different things and step outside of their comfort zones. Dreams have been shared with me, and there’s nothing more precious.

This world can be very cruel, but it can also be very beautiful. It’s all about what you’re exposed to and how it supports you as you learn to support yourself. I choose the side of beauty.

I feel that I will succeed because, for me, there’s no alternative (haha). This is just who I am and what I love. It’s bound to work out as long as I stick with it. I am now stronger than the things that tried to break me. I know that the world needs what I want to give, and I just have to keep learning to get better at giving it.

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.

Hey Reader!

I’m Aechkyu (“HQ”), and I got into my industry of creation and entertainment through real life experience. Most of it was having an idea and then executing myself or collaborating with others. I grew up loving video games, music, drawing, and anime, so those are my main inspirations for the things that I do now: content creation & making art.

My work is not always client based, and it not always easy to measure (unless I’m doing photography), but if I have done my job correctly, then I have inspired someone to dream more & step out of their comfort zones to build the lives that the want to.

What may set me apart from others is that I see life as a video game and big canvas. Every choice that I make can be anything I choose and will contribute to the overall journey, but I can have fun doing them and won’t be bound by the limitations of others. You can say that I’m a lot more liberated in my approach to my life.

I’m most proud of the person I am, as well as my dedication to build and contribute to a world where lots of magic and dreaming exists. If there’s anything at all that I’d want for potential supporters and friends to know about me, it would be that I believe that we are all powerful and a lot more capable of creating the worlds we want as long as we are willing to let go of our limitations, and I’ll always be rooting for the beautiful side of life to flourish.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think that non-creatives and people with more mental limitations that I have may struggle to understand why it’s so important for me to only follow what I believe, especially when it comes to deterring from a traditional path that the majority of us are taught.

It’s that I believe that my way is meant for me, even if others have different paths. We all get to make our own.

For some of us, creation was a form of survival and holding on to hope in grim times. For others, it was simply a way of being.
For most of us, though, traditional paths have demonized and even damaged our relationships with the very things that feel like they keep us alive. That’s what passion feels like for me, at least. To dream and create has always felt like it was what made life so precious, aside from the fact that it ends. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because I’m not dependent on this, but it is a driving force for me.

All sorts of different people exist, and we’re supposed to be different. I don’t think we could expand without difference, so if there’s a system that attacks this difference, you would also be attacking a vital part of many other humans and the nature of our development.

I’m not denouncing those with different paths from me, though. I just believe that we could be more accepting of the paths that others take because it has varying levels of value for each person.

For example, we may both have mothers. Your mom is a mom, and so is mine. They both have value, but I may not feel the level of care that I do for yours that I do mine, and vice versa, because they have different levels on involvement in our individual journeys.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

“Master of Me” by Keke Palmer, easily.

The biggest takeaways I’ve gotten from this book are:
1. Do your best and let go (illusion of control)
2. Business is about objectivity
3. Passion should remain at the center of your actions
4. Freedom exists within flexibility & self mastery.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @Aechkyu
• Youtube: @Aechkyu
• Other: TikTok: @Aechkyu