Barrier Breaker of the Month of June 2021

The Barrier Breaker of the month of June 2021 Is…

Danny Constant, an Actor, an Event Host, Creative Consultant, a Producer who is passionate about young people and the Creative Arts. Being in this Industry for 15 years has helped him touch lives as well as impacted his.

Did you desire to be in this Industry?

I wanted to become a firefighter. I was scared of the limelight and being out there. Firefighters are selfless people, they put their lives on the line and face danger for people. That career thrilled me but I was mostly an introvert.

I had a near death experience that changed my life forever. This involved acrobatics. There was a day I had to climb on other people to get to the top (more like be the icing on the cake). Well, I got to the top and someone missed their balance. I fell and passed out. I woke up with a concussion and a fractured rib and that changed my life. A different person woke up after that. I became outspoken, audible and transformed. From then on, I wanted to make people feel good. What I have achieved if anything is the ability to make other people feel good, I mean helping people see the good in themselves.

After my architecture degree which my parents had paid for (I could not just drop out), friends of mine invited me to join youth organizations, and from there I got picked up into creative arts working with Aunty Janet at Ebunjan theatre which made a series of domino events that propelled my life.

Ebunjan Theatre in The Gambia

Importance of Impacting Young People

It’s mostly about molding the future as they say, young people are the future. Looking at where I am and what I am able to do stems from a place where someone took their time and allowed me to grow while coaching and guiding and molding me into this person. That’s what is required from us to pass down that knowledge. Whatever it is that we’re going through right now is supposed to help us garner and harness and eventually give to the young people. All they need is amazing people that are around, that understands them regardless of the changing times but we also cannot force them to become better. We have to live our lives and show them that this can be achieved if you follow these guidelines. It does not mean we’re perfect but looking at the lives of the greatest of all times, they also had flaws. In order for civilization to progress we pick out the good from what they did in order for us to move forward. This is what I do with young people. I created a platform where they are able to express themselves and to freely say what’s on their heart. 

Importance of Coaches/Mentors

I became an assistant to Xmyls and dedicated time and passion to just following him with no pay, just learning, watching, taking my time, and asking questions. He took me under his wings when he was doing a radio show at Paradise FM called Job Shop. I was literally just there watching and looking at what he was doing. The first day I got there, I was told not to be in there. I was really upset, especially thinking of how far I’d travelled to be there but I did not quit.

I worked with him for four years. I always stayed at the end just to help pick up the wires and carry boxes and just learn from the back end. At the same time, I was studying, learning performing arts with Aunty Janet, broadcasting, writing, producing and directing, stage acting, music and dance. I was under the wings of so many other people because there was a vision I had. You do not want to be a light and when you’re asked to speak, do not know what to say. 

A lot of people are overwhelmed by the idea of striving and becoming successful but don’t think about what is going to happen when you are at the top. Most of the time we are too focused on climbing the mountain than preparing ourselves for what is going to happen when we are at the top. How long are we going to be at the top? Can we maintain ourselves at the top? That’s also a problem. Some people are so focused on being seen and not the longevity behind being in the limelight.

At some point I did not have to apply for jobs, everyone was seeing what I was doing. I didn’t need an introduction anymore but I started with being an apprentice. 

Challenges

It’s hard to get your family and society to understand what you’re going through because if you’re always a happy person they expect you to be that all the time. There are a lot of mental struggles. You need to talk about some of the things you’ve gone through at some point in your life and that’s where therapy comes in. Its healing. Moral support is important. Not turning your child into a narcissistic being but allowing them to just feel that it’s okay to be a child, a young person, it’s okay to fail, it’s okay to go to school and not be the best in class. Creating an environment where everyone regardless of their talent or their gift is welcome.

Challenges are definitely going to come from different angles. Know that in every career you’re not the only one there. There are thousands of people doing the same thing you do. You’re going to be rejected multiple times. You’re going to be cursed at, ridiculed etc. Even I get ridiculed. You’re not going to be perfect and you may not change the entire world. Whoever anyone is in this world, not everyone knows them. There are still people that do not know who Michael Jackson was. Regardless of how much greener the grass is on the other side, you can impact where you are and that impact can change the world.

Lessons

Perseverance, Consistency, Patience and Learning. You can never know too much, you can never be done learning, you can never fast forward a process and for most of us the Higher Power determines how long your process is going to be. Someone can get one phone call and that’s a life changing experience for them while another person that has the same element can find themselves struggling for twenty-five years to get that same opportunity. Life is Patience, Life is Consistency, Life is Perseverance, Life is Learning but above everything that I’ve learnt, Life is Relationships. Your money is not going to bury you, your faith in God is not going to bury you. Your dreams and hopes and aspirations are not going to take care of you when you cannot take care of yourself anymore. You lose track of that. Don’t burn bridges because you’re always going to need people. You never know where you’re going to find yourself. You never know who is going to be that plug. Make sure you end things on good terms. We need each other. Don’t live your life burning bridges to the extent that when you need someone, no one is there.

Advice

As long as you can breath, as long as you can get off from where you are, as long as you are mobile, that’s a cause to be out there hustling to make yourself better. You have people that can’t move a limb. We are all here for a reason, we may not know and may never find out but it’s an adventure and you want to live that adventure to the fullest. It’s imperative that you take each day as it comes and make the best out of it. As long as you’re able to help out and equally elevate yourself. Regardless of what happens, we all may never become billionaires and it’s okay as well. Keep doing what you do but above everything just keep living. That moment could be the best moment of your life.

Thank You so much Danny for inspiring us with your story.

For more information about Danny and what he does, visit http://www.dannyconstant.com

You can follow Danny on

Intagram https://instagram.com/iamdannyconstant?utm_medium=copy_link

Twitter – @constantdanny

Also support Constant Creatives https://www.buymeacoffee.com/DannyConstant/ where young people are supported by  entering an online course into the presenting & communications.

If you want to listen to the whole conversation and other conversations on the Podcast, kindly click on any of the links below.

Apple Podcast – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-barrier-breakers-corner-podcast/id1533084510?i=1000524055003

Audiomack – https://audiomack.com/barrier-breakers-corner/song/308-barrier-breaker-of-the-month-of-june-2021

Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/episode/2QeqM8pSqfnkA25NONwhJB?si=7zVJ093HSl6PNvyYPc0K2g