Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Remington Allen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Remington, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
Being a young black man in this country, as I have grown there, are many times where I’ve had to overcome, smile and grin at it and pull myself up by my bootstraps. But far before the challenges of being a black man, and an artist, navigating life came into the equation for me, I had seen remarkable examples of resilience in front of me, before I even knew what it was.
I am a first generation American, from two Caribbean parents who had to travel to this country in hopes of making a better life for themselves and those not only after them, but also before them. This as I can only imagine is no easy feat. I only saw a glimpse of it. Growing up my father was a FDNY Paramedic having started in the late 80’s. I watched my father leave for work before my bedtime, to come back after I’ve woken up to repeat again the next day. Things changed when he had dreams of becoming a nurse, to which he would then leave at night for work, go from work to class, and from class to work again. Catching a couple hours of sleep in his car at the station. This would go on for days at a time, over the course of years.
My mother on the other hand had a similar routine, although instead of school she would hold the house down. Her resilience came in the form of sacrifice. Sacrificing her formal education and her dreams for her family. To ensure every need of her family was met, she went without.
Without fail and with love, she did everything she needed to do to make sure her family was taken care of.
All of their hard work paid off. My resilience comes from their resiliency. Seeing them do it, I learned that though today is hard as it can be, tomorrow will be everything you want it to be.
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?
About me!?! The first thing I tell people when they ask me what I do is, Im an Actor. Because. Acting is my first love and all of my other passions were introduced to me because my love of acting. I found acting my Sophomore year of High School when I stumbled across this room of people doing something that looked “Mad Litt”. Turns out it was an improve organization called Opening Act. Apparently I missed the deadline to sign up to join but that did not stop me from trying to sneak in. I remember hiding behind the curtains in the auditorium until they started up and seamlessly intergraded myself in an activity, to which I would seamlessly get caught and subsequently get kicked out. They got tired of me and started locking the door, to which I would watch them have all the fun through the door window. This continued until the next semester when thee registration opened up and they couldn’t stop me.
Thats a bit of my origin story to acting, but where I am now, last year in 2024 I was able to hit my goal of being in 5 different pieces of work, ranging from play reading to short films, to ensemble dance pieces. I have been so grateful for those experiences. I am now in the process of writing my first two pieces of work. that I plan to fully produce this year. I am also seeking representation and trying to continue to build.
In addition to the arts, I am also into E-commerce and enjoy building website and running an online business. I started this during covid. While the world was on pause (For good reason) I figured instead of waiting things out and do nothing, I might as well use the time to learn a new skill, create something from scratch that can also put some money in my pocket. Something about creating, wether it is an online store, or a short film has me in a choke hold. I love it.
I am also a founding member of a creative collective named Euphoric Ent. We work to give a platform to creatives and artists of all kinds. Giving them a place to share their work, passion or hustle, and network. We throw events throughout the year from parties to open mics, and meet and greets, all with the intentions to bring our community together, give them a platform where we can create and grow together.
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?
<b>Open Mindedness:</b> In almost every aspect of the term. I go into many situation with two questions; “Whats the worst that can happen” and “what can I gain from this experience”, and more times then not I feel like I WILL gain more than I MAY lose, so why not? Being open minded has put me in rooms that I would have never imagined myself to be in prior to me adopting this mindset. Never am I saying to go against your morals, your identity, or beliefs, but I am saying challenge yourselves in ways that will allow you to grow.
<b>Go with the flow:</b> Going with the flow helped me not lose my mind when things don’t go as planned. When I was 15 I had a 5 and 10 year goal for myself. 5 Year be on Netflix, or Hulu, 10 years have an Oscar… and here I am at 25 struggling to get seen at EPA’s (Eligible Performer Auditions). If I was steadfast in ” I NEED THIS BY NOW AND I SHOULD’VE HAD THAT, THEN.” I would go crazy, and miss the lesson that will eventually get me to where I need to be, and miss the journey. I learned to be grateful where I am, have faith, and trust that what is for me is for me. Yes, have goals and work hard to achieve them, but don’t destroy yourself because of them.
<b>Doing it:</b> You got to get up and do the dang thing. If you don’t how are you going to get to where you want to be. If you want to run a marathon. How do you do it… you start running. You could watch running videos as long as you want but until you start training you’re no where closer to where you want to be.
If your hungry, looking at Pinterest recipes all day is not going to put food on your plate… You need to cook. I say this because if you have a goal, and you’re not doing anything to achieve it. Your will not achieve it.
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 my biggest challenge is myself.
In life i’ve always had people keeping me accountable to do the hard thing. With Track & Field it was my coaches and teammates, in school. In school, its grades and professors. At work you have deadlines and a boss, but when its you… If you don’t have the discipline to do it even when its hard, You wont get there.
What I do now? I write down my goal. We are 42% more likely to achieve them if you write them down… But thats not enough. So I write down my “Why.” Every time I get lazy or feel unmotivated I read my “Why”, because your “Why” is your driving force. Your why is your motivation to do and be better, Helping you get to where you want to be.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: _r.g.a_ & Euphoric.ent_
- Other: Email: Remingtongallen@gmail.com
