Meet Sam Qavah John

We recently connected with Sam Qavah John and have shared our conversation below.

Sam Qavah, so great to have you with us and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with the community. So, let’s jump into something that stops so many people from going after their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. We’d love to hear about how you dealt with that and persisted on your path.
John 15:18-19: If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

I consider myself in the best company when I receive hate. It is not only a part of my story but it is an undeniable thread that ties into the chord of my life. Hate is something I’ve had to overcome time and time, again. It was not an easy path I chose. To come to America on my own in the pursuit of being an artist and a leader with no connections and no pathways to success chiseled out for me is something that tested me more than I could have possibly expected. I was hated back home for not being like everyone else and I came here and was hated for refusing to step into the stereotype attached to a young Indian male immigrant. I chose pathways that made my life harder. I knew I had to. It was the only way I could be who I wanted to be and serve as a representation of my God and Savior. I entered an industry where my choices of abstinence and sobriety were not appreciated yet my talent and work ethic were undeniable.

I moved to Los Angeles when I graduated and immediately was ostracized for the passion and joy I brought to every element of my work and way of life. There was no way I was going to quit. Even if the whole city and the whole world was against me. I stepped into the hate and overcame it… To paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr., only light can drive out that darkness. Facing that hate and freeing myself of the need to be liked is what allowed me to be loved… by the people who mattered. Throughout my story, there have been seasons of grief and heartache. In these seasons, as a person who refused to numb myself to those feelings, I faced them head on and used the tools I was blessed with to continue to plow through the darkness and cultivate hope, peace, and the pursuit of my dreams not in spite of it but in partnership with it. My journey started out as a giant act of rebellion towards the hate people gave me and the hate they used to hurt me. It was a stand against the hate and the desire to prove something to people.

Hate started the story and love saved it from a unexpected ending. Love for everyone and everything in this world that played the role of substitute till I was ready to truly love myself. The passing of that baton is an ongoing yet rewarding process over a decade in the making. Hate made me do the work. Love made me cherish and find purpose in 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 focused on expanding my tool kit as a creative and as a leader, building myself up into a leader that can empower employees and cultivate community relationships and growth. Make no mistake about it, I want to reflect my God by being the greatest of all time, for and with people. I want to build up a new way of doing business and tapping into passion-driven creative consistency.

I am in the business of building brands up and creating pathways for anyone I come in contact with to become the best versions of themselves both inside and outside of the workplace. I don’t doubt that I am destined for greatness. I was cast aside and relegated to the realm of failure. I was categorized and placed in that bracket because that was what was expected of me. I want the effect of The Qavah Collective to create a brand centered around hopeful expectation. I believe in a world and an economy where selflessness and empowerment can partner to build bridges, enhance thoughtful relationships, and create room for conversation. I am currently working on my 4th and 5th books and developing my business stratagem with the hopes of further research through a PhD in Social Organizational Psychology at Columbia University come Fall of 2025.

My brand is one of relentless growth and compassionate rest. I want to carve out a space for myself in the pantheon of servants. I consider it an honor to serve people and serving them is something I pride myself on. I consistently put myself in a posture of a balanced ego and a heart, mind, and soul that is open and learning. The endgame is clear: to pick up all the tools I hope to acquire and to set myself apart even further in this world, through my creative endeavors and leadership roles leading up to a position serving the beautiful state of California as their Governor. My path is hard and narrow but it leads to my destiny and who I was destined to be. A man of God interceding for people and giving them the tools and the training to be the best versions of themselves and in doing so, establishing a legacy of servitude and hope.

 

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Never stop learning. The temptation often arises to believe that we know enough. Why know enough when you can learn more? Why would you do yourself the disservice of doing just enough when there is a seemingly limitless wealth of knowledge all around you. I wish someone had told me this 4 years ago. Learning is something that I believe should only end when my body returns to the dust from whence it came. I want my children and my grandchildren to know that their father did everything he could to learn as much as he can and keep his mind open to the possibility that people believed things different from what he did. That he listened well and was thoughtful and patient in his responses. I believe we all have a unavoidable responsibility to listen more than we speak and to trust that there is a reason there are 8 billion different personalities on this planet. Please don’t do yourself the disservice of believing that you have it all figured out. A closed mind is incapable of growth.

Three essential skills: Patience, Confidence, and Rest.

Patience: It has taken a long time for me to develop this skill. I come from a “get angry first” kind of environment and I perpetuated that mentality for a long time. And then, in an attempt to avoid the idea of “I didn’t change because no one told me there was a better way”, I searched for alternatives, for answers, for tools, and for skills. Through a consistent decade long pursuit of mental, physical, and spiritual health, I have been blessed with the ability to be patient in every circumstance. No matter the situation, the people involved, or the possible trigger points, I am proud of the trained skill to stay even-keeled and step up for my team members and partners in situations that would otherwise create a sense of tension and insecurity, leading to a pointless game of pride and one-upsmanship. My patience is my superpower and I am unafraid to use it in every circumstance.

Confidence: This is the most challenging skill I have had to develop. I spent most of my life feeling like a failure and believing the lie that I had no value and that I would never be enough. In 2020, everything changed… starting with the physical and a weight loss of 140 pounds. My body was where I always dreamt it would be but my mind was lagging a little behind… as was my soul. The last 4 years has been a journey of growth and believing in myself, the way my God sees me and created me, and stepping into the wonder and triumph that is my story. These past few months have been all about growing in my confidence and the ability to love myself. I don’t consider it an easy task but it has been so worth it. Sometimes, I have swung the pendulum towards over-confidence but with consistency and training of the mind, I am able to acknowledge the power I possess, and the gifts that make me who I am and who I can be. I have nothing to prove and no one to prove anything to. I rest in the security that took work to develop and solidify and stand firm as the new leader and preserver of my bloodline.

Rest: Man, oh, man. Rest. It almost feels wrong even saying the word. However, it has now become an essential part of my life and of my story. I make it a top priority to rest my heart, body, mind, and soul, and being intentional with the time I spend doing it and how I do it. I also find it special to find rest in the work I do. I infuse a sense of personal, internal motivation and an unrelenting drive to make my job at SCAD, every single one of my creative pursuits, and all the relationships I steward an act of rest and joy, while ensuring that I set aside time and resources to be intentional about my rest.

 

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
My parents challenged me to be the best version of myself. They pushed me to overcome the odds and write a brand new chapter in the story of our bloodline. They did this in a way that I don’t believe most people would anticipate. I honor my parents with every fiber of my being. My father gave up everything for me: his dreams, his time, his humanity, to give me the life he wanted growing up. He made so many mistakes and so have I. My mother fought with everything in her being to make me better than those that came before me. She strived for greatness and wanted me to be better. Be stronger. Change the story. Break the chains. And I did.

They made a lot of mistakes. They made me feel unwanted and unloved. They left me when I needed them the most but they are my blood and I will die before I dishonor them and the lives they lived. They lost it all to give me a shot at everything I wanted. Their decision to stick with what they know caused chaos to reign supreme in my life. I wasn’t like the other kids in my school or country. They needed a different approach but were too concerned with the norms of society to take those steps and open their minds. I approach these failures today, not with resentment but with grace and a sense of deep empathy. It doesn’t absolve them but it does give me the room to forgive them for their natural, human shortcomings. I am certain that I will have my fair share of shortcomings with my children some day and I hope that they will view my failures with a similar sense of grace and compassion.

My God took their sacrifices and their failures and turned it all towards a life and a story that is so far removed from what the world had for me.
My parents are older and sick and I don’t know if I will get to see them before their time on this earth draws to a close but I will use every breath in my lungs to honor the sacrifices they made and create a new legacy of hope, love, and peace through the son they gave their all to support.

Their refusal to learn created a rebellious fire in my heart that led me to become the man I am today.
The most impactful thing they did was doing what they thought was best which for better and for worse, led me to the start of a new legacy and a new story that will stand out in the Hall of Faith when all is said and done. To God be all the glory. Now and forevermore. Yours faithfully, Sam Qavah John.

 

 

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Image Credits
Photo Credits: Alexa Mendizabal Meyer (an Absolute Legend and a Professional Powerhouse)

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