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

Trek, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I had always been rapping at a young age and thought the whole “I want a record deal” thoughts. But wanting to take it seriously as a profession? It was 2008. I had graduated from college the previous year and I didn’t have many options besides what my degree offered. I was doing shows and recording here and there but at that point, I saw the impact I was having and wanted to pursue it beyond just as a hobby.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Trek Manifest. I’m a Hip Hop Performing Artist, speaker, and soon to be author. I provide services as a creative performing in numerous venues nationally alongside my band AYE-1. I’ve been performing over 15 years and it’s been one of the most rewarding feelings in the world. Some of the things I’m truly proud of is that I refuse to quit regardless of the changes in the landscape of music, Staying grounded in my gifts while still adapting and adjusting to everything has been a big thing for me. It’s provided me opportunities to travel to so many places and be in rooms as a hip hop artist I never thought about nor imagined. I live by the motto of “New Day, New Energy, New Focus”. Simply means each day is a new day to give it your all and focus on the next big thing no matter that may be.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

As an artist, you’re always looking for inspiration and ways to reach your audience. At one point I almost didn’t want to be an artist. I recently lost my mother on my 36th birthday. I was just warming up in my career with so many opportunities and shows coming up. When that happened in addition to the pandemic coming a few months later, I had no direction. I wanted to quit on everything. As months went by though, I knew the best way to heal was to do the thing that got me through everything: God and my music. I got back to work and one year I saw my music getting some love on T-Pain twitch. That created a domino effect in the best way ever. To be honest, my life has never been the same over a simple shoutout that he didn’t even have to do.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Everyone isn’t out for you. At times in this journey, it can seem like there’s people not wanting the best for you. When I first started as an artist, I was not all that good in my craft but my performances were always on point. I knew I needed a lot of shaping and scaffolding in order to be great. But I found myself surrounded by people who either wanted to use me or people who just didn’t want me to succeed it seemed. What I learned however in that process is that I was surrounding myself with the wrong people. I had to reset and create a tighter circle with people who wanted what was best for me. In doing that, I slowly unlearned that it’s not necessarily people being out for me, but I was just around the wrong people. Once I learned that? My journey became much more fun and exciting. I get the most out of them and they provide me with the constructive criticism I need to be the best artist I can be.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.trekmanifest.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trekmanifest
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trekmanifest
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/trekmanifest

Image Credits
flickedbyBoog