Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Da’Ante Bowman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Da’Ante, 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 honestly don’t think my resilience was something I got. I think it’s one of those things that my cards forced me to have. Growing up Black and Gay in a small-minded town wondering why God didn’t just make me a girl forced me to build this thick skin. A skin that most people with sheltered lives never develop. My resilience comes from my upbringing and the things about me I can’t change. Being a man, Being gay, and being black is a combination of its beast and I think navigating that on my own with no role model helped me to become a force of nature that even the biggest of giants can’t sway. My life has been hard from the moment I came into this world I came out fighting. I’ve seen so much that kids shouldn’t experience. I’ve overcome obstacles that have left lasting imprints on my brain. I had to grow up fast. I am the older brother of 8. My family is blended from my dad stepping out on my mom multiple times. I saw my mom struggle and fight my father mentally and physically, teaching me that in this life I will always have to fight. I watched my dad punch my mom dead in the face and my mom ate it like a champ. I was 7 and couldn’t do much but yell and scream. My mom got a knife and stabbed him in the arm in self-defense. In a twisted way, I saw the strength and resilience of a petite woman going up against a 6’3 football player. My definition of resilience is never giving up and I think the way I grew up keeping going and fighting became my mantra to never stop.
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?
Hello reader,
My name is Da’Ante Bowman. I am an artist. I write, I sing, I dance and I express myself in an authentic way that transparently shows the world who I am at my core. I believe my art has the potential to change the world. My dreams have been the only thing I have. I don’t have any money, I don’t come from a rich family or background. No savings. I moved to Los Angeles with $200 in my bank account. I prayed to God asking him to walk before me and guide my steps in LA and everything that has happened to me has been because of that prayer. Right now, I’m focused on my film career the most. I recenty wrote and directed a short film called “Like father, Like daughter” that has been circulating in film festivals in LA. My team and crew were phenominal, couldn’t ask for a better one. After LFLD, I started to want to really tap into my story and where i wanted to take my writing. I believe our art is all we have to leave behind. One of my goals is to leave something behind that connects people something greater. A kind of self discovery or realization. For years, I’ve had this story at the tip of my tongue about the artist Journey and how hard it is, how it’s so easy to give up and say fuck it on this journey of chasing our dreams. I’ve been told so many times to have a back up plan and that I need to get serious or focus but this life isn’t linear and is very different for everyone. What works for some doesn’t work for all and I wrote a story about the highs and the lows of the artist way so that people could connect to it. Anyone with a dream would be able to relate.
I’m so excited to have started the process of making this show a reality. I posted a video on Instagram with me just explaining what I wanted to build and rewatching you see the passion and the love for the story because it’s about us. It’s my story and your story. A story about why we do what we do. A story for those people who don’t believe in us to understand all the hell we go through to make our dreams a reality. All the trials and trobulations we embark on. I poured my heart out in this series and “Courtnee Larkins” the main character of the show is an extension of me. All the characters are variations of me at some point in my artist journey. So in creating a show like this I want you to get to know us and see us and see yourselves in these characters in order to understand what we as artist go through while on this journey. As a son and grandson who has parents worried about my lifestyle, this is for them to understand how hard I work to make these things happen. The sacrifices and the struggles I endure silently. With this show I want people to really put themselves in the shoes of the characters to really relate.
If you are an artist or a dreamer this show will inspire you and allow you to be seen.
So be on the look out for “The Island of Misfitz” Written and Directed by Da’Ante Bowman.
I’m also looking for sponsors and investors and Executive producers that are willing to hear my story and aid in making this happen.
I also just started working on a feature called “Seedz” about a group of young black men who band together against an enemy that seems to be a greater threat than they could possibly imagine. A pyschologcal thriller about manhood and race. This story is so close to home for me and I think it will definitely have people thinking. So stay tuned for that one as well.
As a writer and director I want to be limitless and genreless. I feel as a human there are so many versions of myself that I want to tap into and within the realm of story telling I can.
Also in my music which I will be releasing more of in the coming years is vulnerable and raw. As an artist, Daantes Inferno, I want to allow you to step inside my mind and meet me where I am. I believe us artist who want to inflict change have to be so transparent that we call to our audience which can relate us and the only way to relate to everyone in the world is to be the one thing we all are. Which is Human.
I have really big dreams and always have. At some point I dimmed my light to allow others to shine because of energies around me tellingme that i’m to much or i need to calm down. That my dreams were to big or I had my head in the clouds. Funny thing was that I loved my head being in the clouds It’s where I felt most comfortable. I can’t wrap my head around the 9-5 work sturcture and work for 60 years to only live 10 freely. I hate it and I think we are the generation that can change the world and make it a better place. Starting with being honest about how we feel about certain things going on in the world. Just because it is and has always been doesn’t mean it has to stay. We need to fight back.
And as an artist the only thing that touches everyone is Art. So with that being said that’s how I change the world. That’s how I make an impact and that’s how i will inspire the world to change for the better and aid in getting our humanity back because it’s been lost for ages.
To anyone reading I’m just a human on earth tired of making excuses for wanting change. I want to partner with organizations and busniess that want change and that make change in the world in a way creatively that I can be apart of. The world has been slowly dying because of humans not knowing who they are and what they want. I beleive that we can change it we just have to want to.
We have to influence the change. Like the greats did. Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Billie Holiday and many more.
My artistry from here on out is geared to making change and fighting for our humanity while showing the world a reflection of itself through my movies and tv shows.
If you loved what I represent don’t be a stranger :
My socials are : Instagram : @Daantes_inferno
Thank you for your time!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Looking back the 3 qualities that were most impactful for me were belief in myself, Knowing my why, and Ambition. I think with all those you get faith because you don’t know but you feel it’s all going to work out and that you can do it.
Advice I can give for someone early on in their journey would be to really know yourself and why you want your dreams to come true. If it’s to get back at someone because they said you couldn’t that’s not a big enough reason and will lead you to failure. If your why isn’t strong and built from good intentions then later it will crumble. I would say build a relationship with the creator of the universe who created you and dig deep to find your why and your purpose will become clear and your talents and gifts will make room for you. It all starts with building that firm foundation so nothing that comes your way can knock down your house.
Also, have people around you that understand you and love you. Keep toxic people out of your circle. Know that not everyone is meant to be at your table and it’s okay to distance yourself. Always listen to your gut and don’t be afraid to say no.
How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?
I believe on the road to chasing my dreams. I’ve encountered so many obstacles from Money, to Imposter syndrome, to being homeless and fear. All things that have held me back and kept me in this fear mindset. I think as an artist money is always the problem. Especially if you drop everything to come out here with no money. I took a Greyhound from Kentucky which took 3 days on a bus to a place I had never been to. I was young and alone but the only thing I had was a dream and 2 suitcases to my name. Fast forward to now, I have moved back and forth from Kentucky to LA over the years running when things got hard. I’ve learned that When things don’t go as planned not to run out of fear and desperation. That it’s best to stay and fight your way through. I’ve run so many times and every single time I run things get better but I’m nowhere to be found. So this time I’ve decided to stay even if it gets low and I feel like there is no way. Having faith and keeping moving forward has gotten me through some really tough times. I’ve been homeless slept in my car and starved for not having money. I’ve showered in YMCAs and done odd jobs just trying to figure it out. I had to go through all that to get to this point in my life. I say all this to say that If I can do it and still push so can you.
Money for me has always been an issue because I grew up in a single-mom household without my father in the picture and was always in and out of jail. I only knew to struggle and fight. When things got good I understood that they had to get hard. So I would always choose the hard way because that was what I knew.
I adapted to where anytime something was good I would just wait for the ball to drop or I would Self sabotage because I was comfortable in chaos. A thing I had to unlearn from my childhood. That it’s okay for me to want better for myself and to be better.
I had a lot of trouble with seeing myself on the other side for so many years. Now I don’t let my past define and I don’t blame my parents for not knowing what to do when they were kids having kids. I allow my past to be my past and use the tools I’ve learned from it to equip me for the harsh reality of the world. Which I feel is the reason my life has been so hard because nothing sways me anymore, I’m comfortable in every season because I’ve been through them all. I know how to adapt and I’m stronger for it.
Nothing can stand in my way so a lesson I’ve learned is to use what you have to create the future you see for yourself. I believe that God gives you battles to equip you for what’s to come. When we start seeing life from that perspective we are thankful for every obstacle and loss because it is equipping us for our next chapter.
So any challenge I’ve faced I’ve overcome but the challenges made me stronger so now I feel invincible.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @daantes_inferno
- Youtube: https://studio.youtube.com/video/usMm2b1sVIs/edit
Image Credits
Parker Burr Dominic Travels
