Meet Dashay Jocelyn

We were lucky to catch up with Dashay Jocelyn recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dashay, 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?

One time back in 2018, I had to fly back to the east coast. I took a flight from LA to Philly, then a bus to New York because it was the cheapest fastest option for next day. One of my best friends at the time lived there, so when I took that route I would have lunch with him or spend a night sometimes. We sat for a quick meal before my bus and he asked why this trip was more abrupt than usual. I let him know my mom was diagnosed with cancer and I’ll never forget his response. He looked at me and said: “I’m so sorry. You know what’s crazy, nothing you go through surprises me anymore”. Hearing that was so real and it’s stuck with me. We went to college together so he’d known me for about eight years and that season of life was nuts, but it’s honestly been a bit rocky most of my existence. Beautiful in it’s own way, but not easy. My resilience definitely comes from God. An old friend used to say “your Mom and God raised you”. I’ve always been close to Him, since very young. Anytime things were bad my Mother would say “God loves you, everything is going to be okay” and I believe that. I’ve come to a personal conclusion that yes, life can be extremely hard but I have faith that nothing we go through is meant to hurt us, no matter how painful. He wants us to develop into the best version of ourselves, how we get there is completely out of our hands. It’s up to us, to grow and trust. My strength comes from the desire to introduce more people to that idea while spreading joy. I love film, production, and entertainment. It’s the avenue through which I appreciate sharing the message. I’ve been struggling recently with my web series “Unstable”, I hit a wall with capture due to lack of funding. It didn’t go as planned, I was in massive debt, had to give up my apartment, it was incredibly sad, but my plan is to try again. I truly want help people through difficulties and maybe I’ve gone through a bunch so I can “talk the talk, because I’ve walked the walk” lol, who knows. As long as I use it for good and not cause others pain because of my own, I feel like I’m in my purpose.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

Currently I work for Buzzfeed. I’m the Production Manager for Celeb and The Identity Brands (Cocoa Butter, Pero Like, & APOP). I love it honestly, so grateful to learn and grow there. I’m also in the process of continuing to establish my own company, NJG Productions. It’s made my web series thus far. It’s been quite a learning curve but my hope is for it to be Yonkers, NY premiere home grown studio. I was born and raised in this city and it’s taking on a “Hollywood On Hudson” badge. I would love to help protect the people and businesses to the best of my capabilities while participating in development. I plan to offer classes, give back to the community, while simultaneously creating awesome projects. I want to open a space and doors to all who desire to learn or need assistance through the progress.

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?

Let’s do one of each, why not. One quality that has been impactful in my life is my care/kindness. Don’t get me wrong, it causes me a lot pain sometimes too but that’s not something I can control. People used to say “you’re problem is you too nice” and ya know what, that’s one of my favorite things about myself! Why change who I am because of the affiliations of others. I strive to be the change I want to see in the world by being the giving, loving person that I am. If I experience hurt, I let it water me (because I more than likely cried), learn what I can, and apply it to the future while moving forward. I hope to not let it change my heart which I try to leave open, for even those who may have caused it to ache. Keeping good, positive energy flowing through the world is important. A skill that has been extremely helpful is my ability to troubleshoot. One of my ex’s used to say “you always seem to figure it out” which I do, with the help of others (shout out to people). Unfortunately that expertise developed through trail and tribulation but I’m grateful to be someone who embodies the “where there’s a will, there’s a way” mentality. Lastly, an area of knowledge I’m glad to know is hospitality/service. I was a server/bartender for about ten years and loved it. There’s something special about someone who thrives in taking care of tables, different personalities, and does it happily. Knowing how to chat to people is such a strength that not everyone has (we all have our own gifts lol) but I’m so happy to have experienced flowing in that world. It’s task management, it’s high stakes sometimes, it’s very person forward. I had fun and believe it’s key in who I am today, which is service with a smile. Some advice I have is take things in life as a learning experience. Whether positive or negative, grow with both.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

Right now I’m trying to close part one of my Unstable production book. It’s the development, failing, and understanding. I want to close all my invoices, make a beautiful piece with the footage from the fallen Season, and make sure every person is spoken and apologized to (if needed) through the mistakes I made in learning. Then I would love to start fresh, modernize the scripts, and work with someone to produce it all again. I’d really like to apply everything I’ve learned and build a solid company that’ll produce projects that help the world. I’ve been crowdfunding, posting as much as I can to raised funding, and none of the videos have popped off quite yet but I’m hopeful. I’m going to try to apply for grants and such but overall I don’t plan to give up. I know I could be of real benefit on this earth and I work to be that everyday. If you’d like to contribute the dream you can “Buy A Coffee” link here: buymeacoffee.com/dashayjocelyn

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@artejune

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