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

Syeara, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

Taking a risk is synonymous with choosing to work out of passion and purpose, which has to be the biggest risk anyone (including myself) can take. Working out of passion and purpose is my life changing risk, because (in each stage of life) that choice is always accompanied with smaller risks and decisions that could either keep one in alignment or stray them away.

My choice to work and walk in passion and purpose has been reflected through many situations, and conceptualizing The Philosophy of Chillin’ was the spark that started the fire. Now, this may not seem like a risk on the surface level; it’s just an idea right? However, there is more to what meets the eye. Before having the idea for The Philosophy of Chillin’, I was an ambitious learner in college aiming to figure out how can I create credibility for myself, continue to utilize my strengths, and feed my desire to help people while doing work that made my mentally, emotionally, and spiritually happy. I had been apart of various programs and accumulated accolades in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, & mathematics) and business, because of my efforts I had a plethora of opportunities presented to me to become a teacher, a fast-tracked management leader within corporate finances, real estate, banking spaces, and more but I had not found the opportunity that really stuck with me.

Therefore, I had it in my mind that traditional job seeking was probably not meant for me. How can that be true though? In this world, one’s movement in growth and development can be limited by not having resources (especially monetary), so even if I wanted to take the route of building my own consulting company and utilizing The Philosophy of Chillin’ as my platform to build credibility and convey my ideologies; I still have to find a way to fund myself. With having said no to so many guaranteed opportunities, I decided to double down on building my ideas. Even with hesitation to get behind the mic and in front of the camera, I was filling out LLC’s and doing research within the podcasting space.

This work continued throughout my senior year of college. Everyone around me wanted me to just pick a job, but none of those jobs felt right, so I continued to say no. Then, a friend who was purely a creative asked me to help manage a podcast idea that a group of their friends had. The opportunity felt right and I soon became the Chief Operations Officer for DA BUKET LIST LLC. Due to this opportunity, I paused my efforts with The Philosophy of Chillin’; I was about to graduate; and I still had no guaranteed money coming in from a stability standpoint. Until I saw an opportunity to become a Media and Entertainment Consultant with a private company. This was the opportunity I needed; it fed my desire to learn continuously and it was in alignment with learning skills that I could implement to improve myself as a helpful vessel for the creatives around me.

Taking a risk is not just one moment. It’s a combination of mental assessments and physical actions that create domino effects towards the betterment or detriment to one’s vision of self. I stayed at that job for a little over a year before I was laid off. During that time, I grew tremendously in my knowledge and grew DA BUKET LIST LLC, but I had not grown my own vision. So, after the lay off I made another risky decision to restart and grow my platform through the uncertainty of what would happen next for me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Who am I and what do I offer? My name is Syeara Dunlap, but I am known as Dunlap “Da Connect”. I hold many titles and responsibilities within the Media and Entertainment space. I am a Founder, Chief Operations Officer, Host, Consultant, Scrum Master, Director, Producer, 1st Assistant Director, Analyst, Videographer, Photographer, Editor, Director of Communications, and more. Growing up, I did not have a specific vision for what position or industry I wanted to be in; I’ve always wanted to be apart of impactful projects where I can perform at my best and help people along the way. Due to that mentality I have gained the experience I have from people asking me to join projects or apply for opportunities and have been guided to opportunities that align with elevating my skills sets.

I have developed the reputation of being “the backbone of the business” due to my dependability. My specialty lies in management and execution. From my past clients, many have stated that they came to me specifically because of how I create an inviting, calming, and balanced space in project implementation. I view my job as one that is meant to aid someone in continuing to move forward in growth and development regardless of the personal obstacles that may be presented to stop or slow down that momentum. So, in terms of what I offer exactly depends on the project or opportunity that I am presented and within those opportunities my main priority is to convey the steps needed to be taken to grow one’s mental, physical, and spiritual well being.

In terms of the platforms and opportunities that I aim to create, I aim to build platforms that welcome diverse ideologies. I aim to create a safe space where diverse ideologies and people can come to collaborate and build, not necessarily in constant agreement, but through respect to host and produce impactful projects and conversations. I aim to associate myself with people who are developed or developing maturely and open to the endless possibilities of one’s vision and projects that are purposed to challenge, grow, or entertain within their respective spaces.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Let me start off by saying I have a degree in Business Management with a concentration in Marketing and I dislike utilizing social media, but I am consistently placed in a position to support and become a creative(s) who have to utilize social media as a medium to distribute their visions at any level of execution. Therefore, the following reflects what I aim to keep in mind when dealing with the mental obstacles that social media can present:

1) Aim to look at social media as a business platform, when I am utilizing social media it is not for entertainment or just for looking at what other people are doing. It’s there for me to add my visions into the pool of distributed content.

2) Posting on social media and creating content can be very tedious and draining, and it can be easy for one to let the days go by and to just fall into the tunnel of being a consumer. However, if one is committed to being a creator you must add to the space and find your path through the tedious tasks.

3) One’s social media is a reflection of themselves. Therefore, when you are posting or creating content an authentic reflection of one’s self must be conveyed if you are actively living your authenticity in real life. Yes, it is strategic for you to have content that can get hyped through trends, but do not let the trends define you.

4) Once it is out there it is out there. The key to help one keep pushing through whether people are looking and engaging with your content or not, is protecting your mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. One must address why they create content before they put it in front of the world. Are you solely looking for those thousands of followers? If so, you are going to have a hard time mentally when dealing with the lack of engagement that all people experience when they are building a platform. Are you solely just trying to create and are utilizing the platform as another resource? Well, you still may feel discouraged when there is a lack of engagement, and unless you are going to stop creating it shouldn’t matter who is engaging when your goal is to just put it out there.

Once one has addressed that, keep consistent, and let everything work itself out.

Any advice for managing a team?

My reputation is still growing within my industry and career, and people are starting to recognize me more for the ways in which I manage a team and maintain positive energy. So, my advice would be to implore active listening. Active listening is a skill that I utilize within every encounter that I have had within my life. Active listening allows for one to open their mind to the world outside of their own perspective and routine. It is not easy to utilize consistently, however when it is it opens one’s mind to different levels of understanding. If you know you are working with a team that is locked in on achieving a goal and are experiencing internal or external obstacles, active listening can help one understand how to meet a person when they are standing in their frustration and finds ways of effective solutions. I can go more in depth with different strategies and other technics but this will definitely turn into a 3 hour read. Nevertheless, active listening has always been key for me.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thephilosophyofchillin?igsh=dGNIZzRjZzBhaXQx&utm_-source=qr
• Facebook: https://ww.facebook.com/HonestProductionsLLC
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/syeara-dunlap-network/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePhilosophyofChillin
• Other: Spotify : https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thephilosophyofchillinDunlap “Da Connect” : https://www.instagram.com/justcallme_dunlap?igsh=MTdicm93azVkMTZqdA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

Image Credits

Photographer : Rain Check Live @rainchecklive

Graphic Designer: Annchan @a.nnchan