We’re looking forward to introducing you to Lamark Plaskett. Check out our conversation below.
Lamark , a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
I’ve learned that intelligence and energy are powerful tools, but without integrity they can easily be misused or lose their meaning.
You can teach skills, you can recharge energy, you can gain knowledge but integrity is the foundation that holds everything together. It’s what keeps you consistent when no one’s watching, honest when it’s inconvenient, and committed even when it’s hard.
On Lamark After Dark, I always try to have conversations rooted in truth and authenticity. Intelligence helps you think. Energy help you move. But integrity? That’s what help you lead, love, and last.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Lamark Plaskett — better known as the unofficial King of Queens, because I proudly represent the voices, stories, and humor that come out of one of New York’s most culturally rich and diverse boroughs. I’m a storyteller, host, and creator of Lamark After Dark, a podcast and emerging media platform that blends entertainment, identity, humor, and emotional honesty.
I currently work with iHeartMedia, where I’ve had the opportunity to be featured on stations like Power 105.1 and KTU 103.5, and step into rooms I didn’t grow up seeing people like me in — rooms where culture is shaped, voices are amplified, and narratives are built. I bring community, authenticity, and just enough chaos with me wherever I go.
What makes my brand special is that I’m not trying to fit into representation — I am my representation. I didn’t grow up with someone who looked, sounded, or felt like me on a mic, so I became that person. I like to say I’m my own role model — building the kind of platform I once needed, and now using it to open doors for others who don’t see themselves reflected in media.
Lamark After Dark is more than a podcast — it’s conversation, performance, culture, and personality. It’s a stage for honesty with humor, healing with heart, and being seen without apology. As I build this brand into live shows, visual media, and community experiences, I carry Queens and every unheard voice with me — crowned, confident, and unapologetically loud.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
Before I truly saw myself, my mom and stepdad did. They never had the “blueprint” for what I would become — nobody in my family had walked into radio, media, or built a brand the way I’m doing now. But they believed in me anyway. They heard my voice when I was still learning what it meant to speak up, gave me the confidence to own my identity and never doubted that I belonged — even when I couldn’t yet see it for myself.
Growing up in Queens, sometimes I felt like the world wanted me to shrink down to fit in. But my mom and stepdad kept reminding me that my story mattered. The values they instilled — resilience, pride in where I come from, the courage to show up as my full self — became the foundation of everything I’m building with Lamark After Dark.
Through their support I learned that representation isn’t always about seeing someone who looks like you on a big screen or podcast. Sometimes — oftentimes — it’s about having someone in your corner who believes in your vision before you can see it clearly. That faith changed everything for me.
While I’m carving out my own path, I credit my man Jadell. Because he saw me clearly before I could see it for myself.
Special Shoutout to my brother Lamel. Because of our deep talks, meaningful conversations, and our growing relationship, he truly knows me through and through.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
If I could say one kind thing to my younger self, I’d say:
“You don’t have to shrink to be loved.”
You don’t have to dim your personality, lower your volume, hide your identity, or apologize for being different. The things you’re trying to tone down now are the exact things that will make you unforgettable later.
I’d tell him:
Your voice isn’t “too much”—it’s powerful.
Your dreams aren’t unrealistic—they’re uncommon.
And that’s why they’re yours.
You’re not behind. You’re not lost. You’re becoming.
So keep laughing loud, keep feeling deeply, keep speaking honestly — you grow into someone you once needed. And one day, people will look to you to feel seen, heard, and validated.
Because you weren’t made to fit in — you were made to represent.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
Yes — and also, I’m still figuring out the rest.
What people see — the charisma, the confidence, the humor, the deep talks on Lamark After Dark — that’s real. I don’t put on a “mask.” But I also don’t pretend I have it all together. Because I don’t.
There’s a “me in progress” behind the mic: the parts still learning, growing, healing, asking questions, discovering identity, purpose, and self-worth. The public me is my expression, my best self on good days — but there’s a real me in the background, still navigating, still evolving, still becoming.
I hope that one day the public version, the private version, and the version I’m still becoming all merge. Because authenticity isn’t a destination — it’s a journey. And I want people to know I’m on it.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
That’s a question I’m still figuring out.
I spent a long time moving through life doing what I was told to do, what felt safe and what felt expected of me. But growing up in NYC, dealing with bullies, abuse and always been seen as the underdog has pushed me to discover who I really am.
Deep down, I always knew I was meant for a platform. Even as a kid, I felt that pull toward something bigger so a mic, a stage, a place to speak my truth. That’s why I created The Fresh Movement in college, and why I built Lamark After Dark today. Those weren’t choices made out of pressure but choices made out of purpose.
So moving forward I’m not living by someone else’s script anymore. I’m walking in exactly what I was born to do, not what I was told to settle for.
And shoutout to my family, friends, my man Jadell, my co-host Chelsea & my best friend Kerwin because without their love and support I wouldn’t be able to stand in my purpose this confidently.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wattpad.com/1544583751-mark-my-words-sneak-peek
- Instagram: @Lamark_Fresh
- Twitter: @Lamark_Fresh
- Facebook: Lamark After Dark
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Lamark_Fresh
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