Meet Demetreus Moorer-Saunders

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Demetreus Moorer-Saunders a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Demetreus, thank you so much for making time for us today. We can’t wait to dive into your story and the lessons you’ve learned along the way, but maybe we can start with something foundational to your success. How have you gone about developing your ability to communicate effectively?
I can’t even count how many times I’ve been at a job interview, audition, or an event where I had to speak or act in front of numerous people I’ve never met and they say to me “You don’t seem nervous at all.” But if they looked closer at my palms, you could see the sweat crystals forming to drip before I reach out to shake your hand. If you paid closer attention you’ll realize I chose to wear a darker colored shirt because it’ll hide my armpit sweat if I don’t have a paper towel stuffed under them to soak up this tidal wave of anxiety that’s waiting to break me. If you were to take an adventure through my mind you’ll walk down streets of constant worry of what may go wrong, will I forget my lines, and what comments will they say later after my performance. Only to walk into a big sign that says “THIS MOMENT WILL PASS AND EVERYTHING WILL BE OK”

Most think just because I chose entertainment as my profession that I’m just radiating confidence. As if I was born with the gift of the tongue but are shocked when I mention I grew up with a speech impediment till 3rd grade. At least twice week I had to spend an hour with my own teacher who helped me pronounce my R’s and W’s. She would sit me down in this small closet with just enough room for 2 chairs and table and we would read numerous words and sentences to help me learn how to speak more fluent. Still didn’t help my constant running mind but it was a start hahaha.

As I progressed in age and ventured out to try new things. I still had a certain level of avoidance to conversations and social groups that intimidated me just from the fact that I thought I would say or do something embarrassing. But while hiding this anxiety, somehow I still manage to persist with the help of my father. My brother was a football star from a young age and that success was somewhat due to my father. He would have my brother and I in the living room performing mock interviews. During this time he made sure I wouldn’t say umm or uhhh and always told me if I needed a moment to say something just go ahead and stop talking to think of what to say instead of sentence fillers like the word like haha. Once I got into high-school and started working out, my father would have us walk down the street from the rec center with our shirts off in order for us to feel comfortable in the body we’re beginning to form. He would say “now remember you’re going to be getting a lot of attention and you may get a few comments, I want you to be comfortable accepting and noticing the reactions of the world.” Little did I know that his efforts of throwing me in the fire gave me one of the best attributes I have and that’s my ability to communicate.

Once I found my passion of acting in college through a random occurrence of being asked to perform a short play for a football teammate, I continued my pursuit of learning the art of communication. I watched countless videos of learning human interactions and behavior while taking my own notes from my own life experiences.

I still ran into issues due to the fact that I became great at pushing through my anxiety but I began to notice that when it came time to make certain decisions that may have involved others, I would take the route of not saying anything at all and allow the other person to make a decision. I would stay in a sort of hibernation until the decision was made for me. A lot of times it worked in my favor but most times I went down a path that could have been avoided sooner if I would have just opened my mouth and expressed what I thought no matter the outcome. I began to notice that deep down I knew what I wanted and what I wanted to express. This also became more predominant after a couple failed relationships and after the birth of my son.

I’ve learned over time that I had to take control of my life and that I had been living on autopilot due to not standing up for my own wants and needs. I started to write down what I wanted to say before phone calls. I began to have my own mock interviews with myself before meeting new people. I trained myself to have a shut off switch where even in those anxiety moments, I tell myself “this moment shall pass and everything will be OK”.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’ve been in the entertainment industry for over 13 years currently beginning my training in 2010. If I didn’t choose acting as my career, I would feel like something was missing. I made a conscious choice to persue acting full-time in 2017 when I got tired of clocking in at Kohls, Family Video, and helping run a nightclub. I started of dancing and although the money wasn’t the greatest as a consistent job, I relished in the fact that I became my own boss, made my own hours and was able to live my life through faith that I had made the right decision. I’ve had the opportunity to do all things that’s come with entertainment from modeling for Men’s Warehouse, hosting events, dancing, and all the way to being featured in commercials like Bath and Body Works and multiple films. Which also lead to me cohosting my current podcast Smoothlies. I’m on works of launching 2 more podcast with a close friend of mines along with cowriting a few short films and just finished a script for our own feature film that is in pre-production currently. My next big project is “Gonzo”, a story about a young man attending college while discovering a revolutionary project that changed the course of the DVD industry to usher in the streaming service era.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Looking back, I would say the skills that helped me most was gaining more self awareness, taking advantage of the free knowledge on the internet, and continuing to live by faith that the universe has my best interests.

I gained more empathy for others through my self awareness. I learned how my actions carry weight for others even though I may have dropped the load myself. That also allowed me to be open to learn more about others to perfect my craft of acting and portraying a realistic character.

Even today I still watch YouTube videos about psychology, how the human mind works, and videos made by experts in their fields. In today’s world, knowledge is at your fingertips literally. All it takes is diligence and you can search to learn about anything. There’s free college courses with free books online, free workshops or even paid ones.

I firmly believe that the best skill I continue to nourish is my ability to have faith. I’ve learned overtime that I have to trust that I’m making the best decisions. Time and time again I’ve learned that even while I was worried about situations such as homelessness, money to pay bills, or getting the things I needed for my son, I always survived and found a way. Doing these mental check marks of where things workout and I made good decisions gave me more confidence for my future.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I’m always looking to collaborate with other creatives. Whether it’s helping host an event or creating a weekend project for a short film, if I have the time I’m always ready. I love everything to do with creativity and learning about others. Anyone that’s looking to collab can reach out to me on Instagram or email.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
John Fleischmann Jay Monet

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