We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kayden Simpson David Simmons Iii. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kayden Simpson below.
Kayden Simpson, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
Kayden: It honestly predates back to when I was a young kid. When I was in middle school, I filmed vlogs with friends and family and posted them on youtube. I was inspired by my favorite creatives at the time, like Latoya Forever and De’arra Taylor. I edited my own videos, released them in a timely manner, and was dedicated to showing my everyday life as a middle-schooler. Fast forward to my first year of college, which was so life changing, the experiences I went through encouraged me to start a podcast. I wanted to share my wisdom, personality, and swag everywhere I went.
David: The earliest memory I have of pursuing any form of creative or artistic path is from the age of three. Dancing and movement has been one of the first outlets to have a space to pour my creative energy into. I started dancing with a company called K.E.Y.A, which stood for, “Keep Empowering Youth Achievements”. From a young age I’ve always tried to have my foot in every door, dancing allowed me to fall in love with most creative things. From modeling, to auditioning for commercials and even to live performances on several stages. All of these experiences have grown with me and pushed me to know that the path I’m meant to walk on belongs with the arts. Honestly, creating a podcast wasn’t in the books for me. However, as stated before I’m one who likes to keep his foot in a lot of doors. Being involved with anything creative brings me lots of joy, so once the opportunity presented itself I had to take it up.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Kayden: David and I started off creating a podcast which then led to the expansion of Vision Z Entertainment. Under our name, we plan to continue to bridge the gaps between generations and continue to share our vibrant personality full of fun with the world. David has an entrepreneurial background with his cosmetics line “Unfazed Cosmetics”, while I started off with just a thought and a vision. My vision was to create a safe space on the internet for others globally who also experience mental health illness as well as this nonlinear thing called “life”. I entered the “real” world at the young age of 19. My household at the time was very toxic and unsafe, causing me to exit childhood and embrace young adulthood. With that came an enormous amount of challenges. At many times, I felt alone and incapable. Through those very dark times, I had to pull myself to the light, to continue my dream. I always thought “I wish I had a person like me who would be able to share life experiences with me so I can learn from them and defeat the hard times.” Instead of dwelling on the fact that I did not have a specific person who I could have turned to for help, I decided to become the person I needed but for others. At the very young age of 21, I have seen and witnessed a lot. But it gives me the courage and strength to share my experiences with the world. I have had friends tell me that “I am posting more content because you inspire me” and “I am going to start a podcast on my own because I know I can do it.” Witnessing people being able to relate to similar struggles as mine has been rewarding because we all feel seen now. I want our community of supporters to know that we are here to uplift and listen to each other. I am here to share my experiences so you can learn from the mistakes of my past but also so you know you are not alone and will always have someone to lean on. Vision Z was created so young minds can feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and actually feel heard.
David: The Vision Z name has grown to become my baby. I hold this company so near and dear to my heart simply due to the authenticity. Vision Z Podcast has never been scripted or fake, and I truly believe that that’s why people want to hear what we have to say. As stated by Kayden I do have a history in the entrepreneurial world where I launched my first business in 2018. That kind of experience stays with you, even if you may think you wont need it. When the idea of Vision Z Podcast came to fruition I knew we would be amazing co-host due to our creative and dramaturgical backgrounds. However, there’s always more to projects than meets the eye. With the business knowledge that I have I knew that the knowledge would take Vision Z to new heights and we would soar simply from something that i’ve experienced years ago. With Vision Z we’ve created a space for inclusivity, diversity, and openness across all realms. Whether a part of the LGBTQ+ community, whether you’re Black, White, Asian, Latinx, whether you’re short or tall, older or younger. Vision Z has been founded with all these intentions and efforts for inclusivity. Oftentimes we find ourselves creating conflict simply from our words all throughout social media. With Vision Z we wanted to provide a space where people can all be heard. Not just the popular opinions but all. Nothing creates conflict more than two opposing sides of an argument now when both are heard equally that’s when healing and growth happens. That’s when Vision Z happens. Now are we the only podcast that exists, no, not quite. However, we do pride ourselves in community. A Lot of the collaborations we’ve had have all been from people within our community and have all been up and coming creatives. I truly believe that that sets us apart from others, our willingness to help and grow with these artists/creatives. That is something I want our audience/viewers to know that Vision Z is all about community progression and growth. Without the community we literally wouldn’t be anywhere.
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.
As much as creatives have the space to freely express themselves in their art form, showcasing your talent/art can be extremely vulnerable. Sharing something that could have possibly been formed from your own sadness, pain, heartache, etc, comes with a ton of bravery and self worth. Subjecting yourself to others’ opinions and views isn’t something that many people wake up and decide, “Yes, I’m going to do that today.” These are actions that people don’t do on a day to day. Unless you’re creative. Along with those vulnerable decisions we have to make. Oftentimes creatives aren’t nearly compensated enough for all the work that they do. Creating a lifestyle for yourself where you can comfortably live off of the income coming from your art is extremely hard to do. Even with all of the advances we have today like social media, it still doesn’t equate to all of the other funding and marketing opportunities that other occupations have. Creative on a day to day face, judgment, unfair payment, and overall unjust treatment. If you are ever in the presence of someone that is creative just know behind all of the beauty that they allow you to see, there are bumps in the road at every turn.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
When starting this podcast, we did not realize how many times we’d have to pivot and change course. As mentioned in one of our episodes, we were once working with a family friend who was acting as a manager, helping us maintain our content and keep us afloat. As a newly started business, we did not realize how much we needed that support. As time went on, our manager parted ways from us pretty abruptly causing us to find our way on our own. At first, it felt like we could not continue alone but our goals were way bigger than any mishaps. We have had times where we had to re-record episodes due to lack of quality in audio and visuals. Invoices were starting to introduce themselves to us as we started to use different resources to upload our content. When we take a look back at the first year of starting this show, there were plenty of obstacles in our way trying to defeat us. Huge shoutout to our co-host and co-founder, David, for not letting up. He was the force that kept us sailing through. When a problem came through, David was quick with a solution. That kept our fire alive. It reminded us why we started this journey. As a creative and as an artist, your roads are never linear. You have your peaks and valleys but it is always important to keep going. If it was easy, we wouldn’t have a testimony to share. If it was all sunshines and rainbows, there would be no character development in this. We would ultimately have no stories to share with the world. When you are taking on a role as an entrepreneur, resilience has to be at the forefront. Without it it’s quick to succumb to the storms.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/visionzpod?igsh=cnl1MnNydDk0cGFm&utm_source=qr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@visionzpod?sub_confirmation=1
Image Credits
@tianaayala_
@thesadrae