Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mark Tullen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Mark, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
My family and I came to the United States in the early 2000s with barely any money. Homeless for almost a year and only with a few hundred dollars in our pocket, my parents worked tirelessly to get us to the west coast where one of our cousins lived. I fully believe in the mantra that if there is a will, there is a way. The only way I look to move is forward and up. I’ve experienced actual hunger and what the bottom can feel like so I will always fight for not only me, but for my family and for those I love.
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?
Professionally, I am both a computer engineer for one of the biggest tech companies in the world and a professional dancer and choreographer. At the moment, I am balancing both at the same time, spending almost every waking hour working in the engineering industry or honing my craft in the dance industry.
I feel that this niche is so special and should be highlighted more. Many dancers around me are doing their best to balance both dance and their full-time careers. However, they will always receive feedback such as “you can only do well if you focus on one or the other.” Albeit true in most circumstances, I’m here to break the status quo and let it be known that anything is possible.
My main brand currently is Passion Project: my dance team that works to unite dancers, break boundaries, and build connections. Every performance we do has a different roster depending on my goal for that particular season. One season it could be connecting industry professionals with those who want to get their foot in the door and another season it could be empowering feminine spaces with an all-femme project. I am always looking to help others with the project and have directed several performances where I do not perform nor benefit from it. Performance opportunities can be rare and meeting people can be hard, but I am not here to gatekeep any of the items I’ve worked hard for. I want these resources to be available to everyone who has been kind to me to help them succeed like they invested in me back then.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
My main three qualities that I believe were most impactful are my resilience, my adaptive nature, and my craving to learn new things and meet new people.
My main piece of advice for folks is to surround yourself with those that are like-minded. You are the product of the 5 closest people around you so spend your time wisely when you’re goal-building, habit-building, and network-building.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
For miscellaneous items, I am looking to get into both the modeling and voice acting spaces. I’ve received so many comments in random places about my voice and would love to explore it. Done some ventures in those spaces but would love to really get into doing more brand modeling and narration. If anyone would like to connect, I can be reached through Instagram and my email [email protected]
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @marktullen
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marktullen/
- Other: TikTok @marktullen
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
