We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kayden Simpson David Simmons Iii a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kayden Simpson, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
As we progress on this beautiful journey called life, we get to gain knowledge and wisdom along the way. Like most people, we go through life’s ups and downs. We have the days when we’re super excited to be here and ready to conquer the world. We also have our days when we’re down and not in the best mental space or even emotional space. What comes to mind on a daily basis is how far we’ve come. Looking back and reflecting on the cherished moments you’ve created is a great way to reignite that spark again. There were many moments in the past where we felt like there was no way life could get brighter, and yes we were definitely wrong about that. Life always gets better. When you sit back and appreciate the “right now”, it begins to shift your perspective from a place of sadness and pain to a place of gratitude. You become grateful for the strength you had that brought you through the storms and into the ” right now.” Faith is a practice that I (Kayden) keep very close inside of me. As long as I have faith in myself to conquer anything through God, I will always keep pushing, breaking barriers.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Vision Z Podcast has been nothing but a rose that grew from concrete. A show created by two best friends with large dreams. This business started as simply a thought and conversation. Our goal is to bridge generational gaps within the world through our show. From there it blossomed into a fully functioning machine, run by two individuals. Both being young, black and queer learning ways to navigate this difficult, yet rewarding world. Our podcast focuses on creating safe spaces to heal and connect with people who may not be two young, black and queer individuals. No matter the generation, sexuality, color, or even your favorite food. We all are here experiencing life in ways that should be heard/shared. This platform gives us the opportunity to do so in more ways than one. Whether the stories are being shared by us ( Kayden and David III ), or the guest we may have on the show, or even the listeners who contact us via social media. That’s honestly the most rewarding thing about this show is the way it forms a community based on relatable or even non-relatable topics. With both of us ( Kayden and David III ) being from New York City, we naturally feel we have that “NYC Mentality” that helps us with our drive and determination. So we knew that once we had an amazing idea, the work would snowball from there. And snowball it did. From staying late nights to record episodes and get content out. To stressing over getting the content released on time. Even cutting ties with previous collaborators. We’ve seen and faced a ton of challenges which in the long run have helped us build our brand and become the independent young, black, queer, content creators, and aspiring creatives we are today. We, Kayden Simpson and David Simmons III, hope you take the time to untangle our misunderstood stories, Vision Z Podcast.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I’ll say this personally, being that we are all different as people, we will handle a lot of challenges differently. I know that what worked for Kayden and I ( David III ) is knowing when to take a break. We’ve gone through 2 Seasons, successfully heading full force into our 3rd season. Within those 2-3 Seasons of us constantly working. We took breaks. We enjoyed life. We didn’t have business meetings every time we talked, or hung out. We maintained our friendship before business partners. If i had to make that into either one word or phrase, i’ll have to say, Put your relationships first. Creating magic is so much more joyous when it’s created with someone who you wholeheartedly trust, who you genuinely enjoy being around and someone who truly pushes you to be your best self. The journey of becoming an entrepreneur has so many peaks and so many valleys. Resilience is a huge quality to adopt. You have to learn how to keep the passion alive. There are so many events that took place in our journey like stated before that can be a huge disappointment, especially when you work so hard to get microphones on the right setting, softwares ready to run, and even getting social media marketing posted. When creating a podcast, I’d suggest familiarizing yourself with different softwares to edit your show. Having the most expensive software does not always mean the content will be quality. Starting off with something free will do the trick as well. Lastly, to be the best, you have to feel the best. Work hard and push through the turmoil, but slow down and breathe when necessary. Take time for yourself. Aside from maintaining your relationship with your partners, maintain a relationship with yourself. Be well with yourself, understand yourself, trust yourself, LOVE yourself.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
We would absolutely love people to collaborate and partner with. Working with a wide range of creatives allows for different magic to be made. We are always open to having people on our platform to share their gems and experiences with us and our community. With that same token, we would love the opportunity to be guests on another show or podcast. Supporting and uplifting other businesses similar and different is just what Vision Z Podcast is about.. We are multi-faceted individuals who love the arts and media so it only makes sense.
To connect with us, email us directly at myvisionzpod@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you all.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @Visionzpod
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@visionzpod
Image Credits
Paul Jeant
@therealpauljeant
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
