Meet Allen Boatner

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Allen Boatner. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Allen below.

Allen, 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?

I would say that I get my resilience from the wisdom of the people I am close to in my life, the strength I have built, and hope.

So I grew up with parents who were deaf and, being the only hearing and also the only child in my family, life was far from easy. At a young age, I had to grow up real fast and become the doorway for both my parents and my peers of the “hearing world”, as the deaf community would call it. So it became hard for me to take care of myself and as I became older I ignored it a lot, because for quite some time I had believed that any form of self-care was not something I was allowed to have. Mostly because I didn’t think of it that much. It also didn’t help that, while being out in the world and becoming my own, I was always the odd one out with my peers, so I was doubling down hard on that belief and making it worse. But yes, I will say that, while it did suck that I had to endure so much to get to where I am now. I am also grateful for it as well. I would not have gained the wisdom from people I am close to, including my parents, the people at the church I attend, and the other artists I have met from the film industry. I am forever thankful for their help and advice for helping me see and get that help I need to fight this battle to get where I am now. So, I am very glad that it happened. It made me see that in order to grow as my own person in this world, adversity had to come my way. Now, at 27, I can say that I am in a much better space with it and finding that balance. But it’s far from where it needs to be and that is okay.

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?

What a great question. I am an artist through and through, haha. As of now, I work as a photographer for a company called CADY. I take photos for high school students either by going to different schools around the Austin area for their yearbook photos or at our studio in Cedar Park. It usually depends on what the client wants and needs are. It has only been a year so far, but it has been a good experience so far and when I am not working, I dabble in other creative passions, like performing arts through acting on some Film/TV projects and my YouTube Channel when I get the chance. Even though what I have done on both ends has not been too impressive for some people, I will say that I am super happy with where I am at. These roles have mostly been featured or just normal background characters, but I am okay with that. I do have to start somewhere.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Honesty, integrity, and empathy have been the big ones for me.

Being honest has helped in a lot of ways. It helped me grow a lot in my 27 years of life. In work, relationships, education and my well-being. It’s a great skill to have. Integrity was a hard one for me, but I am glad about the time I took to get where I am now. Having to put a stand on your own beliefs can be hard, but they are rewarding in the end. Empathy is a great one for me, because it helps me understand other people and walk alongside them. I have met so many people of different backgrounds and to get to be around them and get to know them is incredible. (“So, in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this is the law and the prophets”. – Matthew 7:12)

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

As an Artist, I would say that networking is my biggest obstacle. Working hard can only get so far, but having the right people in my corner would be such a lifesaver at the moment. I have a great group of people at the moment, but I also don’t mind expanding it as well.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

CADY STUDIOS (Dark Blue and Light Grey Shirts), Dave Hawks Photography (2 headshots Green and Light Blue), and Robert Cantu (for the feature/important photo)

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