We were lucky to catch up with Waldron Dunkley recently and have shared our conversation below.
Waldron, 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?
Being in a place where I ended up saying “enough is enough”. I went to Florida A&M University for college in 2004, and my only concern was marching in the band, along with gaining notoriety amongst my peers. Because of this, I paid less and less attention to my grades and my studies while in college. With my grades not up to standards at all, I stayed in Tallahassee without a real purpose working any low income job I could get my hands on at the time, and just trying to “stay afloat”. I strongly believe my resilience comes from me not ever wanting to be in the position again and almost needing to complete my missions/goals I set for myself. From that point it was important for me to make the change by coming back to South Florida, taking classes at Broward College (to start over), graduate, then head to Tallahassee to attend Florida State University, and successfully achieved my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music performance. That reminded me that if I set my mind to it, I can achieve it!!
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am of Jamaican and Bahamian descent. I love to listen to and play all types of musical styles and genres including rock, jazz, country, rap, soca, reggae, calypso, bluegrass, zouk, r&b, classical, and pop just to name a few. I graduated from Miami Central Sr High School then attended Florida A&M University to perform with the “Marching 100”. I then attended Broward College where I graduated and moved on to Florida State University to achieve both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Upon graduating I came back to South Florida, and began providing clinics, lessons, small group performances, and mentorship. A few years back during the pandemic, me and some close friends started a nonprofit organization called the “Travis Quinn Young Musicians Foundation” that provides musical instruments, mentoring, lessons and accessories to young aspiring musicians. This nonprofit was created to help motivate and promote young musical talent that may be experiencing financial struggles in their families to continue pursuing music freely. We also started this nonprofit to honor a dear friend and colleague in Travis Quinn, who was an amazing musician and fierce humanitarian. During this time, I also had the honor and privilege to come back to Broward College and direct the Broward College Community Big Band as an adjunct professor. I am now the Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Jazz Studies at Broward College. I also still take time to perform and travel when I am able.
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?
– Finding your true purpose/ working in it – learning how to fail
– learning how and when to say no.
Understand, and find peace in these areas as best as you can! I strongly believe you will be able to find happiness and joy in what you do when you master these three areas.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
Take it one step at a time and create a plan to move forward. This plan needs to be realistic and goal oriented.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tqyoungmusicians.com
