Meet DeJay McNeil

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

Hi DeJay, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

My personal resilience comes from hardship. I learned to keep getting up when life continuously knocks me down. When you grow up like I did, you should want change. I say should because some people get comfortable with hardships and just barely making it, asking for favors every other day. In my opinion, that makes people lazy. Get up and get it for yourself. That is the only way you will begin to appreciate life and see the value in it. Resilience comes from within, no one can gift it to you. You have to want it.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I love to tell stories, and I love helping people tell their stories. That is the basis of what I do. On the more technical side, I write, produce and direct short films, feature length films, music videos, vlogs, interviews, etc. Not just for myself but I love to help other creators that are passionate in what we do as filmmakers or as I like to call it, storytellers! I am launching soon a feature film, written, produced and directed by me, a film called Flip The Finesse based on my original song, the story is inspired by true events in my life leading up to present day. Be on the lookout January 2026!

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?

You have to have drive. Not a lot of people of have this and it what sets you apart. People who see that you have this usually will follow and you will be a leader, whether you like it not! Some people are just natural leaders, like me, even when I try not to be.
Knowledge is power also. I went and got three degrees after serving time in the military before starting my own business. The more you know, the more you can do and the less you have to rely on people. You will need to rely on people as some point but its best to know all the angles yourself if you want to see your vision. Take the time to learn from people who care capable of teaching and never stop learning.
Determination. Life will throw things at you 24/7. You have to be able to keep pushing and never give up. Picture the end goal and set goals for yourself. Always try to have a backup plan because plans don’t always work how you want them to. If Plan A doesn’t work, move to Plan B, then C, then D until your goal is reached.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?

In my opinion this is subjective to what you want out of life. When I was getting my Masters in Film, I went back and forth with a professor saying how I was a jack of trades, and I thought that was best. She said you should be proficient or the best in one area if you want to stand out for specific jobs in the industry. Bosses look for masters in their craft, not jacks of all trades. Now that I am a boss, I understand that. So if you want to be a master in one trade and work for someone else then that is your goal. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit, like myself, it is best to be well versed in different areas, because to start a business, means you have to do a lot of things yourself.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: official_kingdee