viral sensations: donté colley

You may recognize them from a meme saved in your camera roll or their content shared on your timeline. This month, we’re highlighting some of our fave viral sensations killing it on social media. These are the Black creatives breaking, curating, and shaping viral culture today.

Name: Donté Colley
Pronouns: He/Him
Follow @: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube or Facebook.
Star sign: Taurus

How do you describe what you do?
I’ve always been someone that has had a love for digital media, so much that I knew I wanted to pursue it as a career post-secondary. While I am just wrapping up my bachelors degree in Digital Communications, the ultimate goal was/is creating content for brands and propelling them in a unique, positive, and creative way.

How has life changed since you’ve gone viral?
I get that question a lot actually, and the truth is. really not that much. I am so grateful and thankful for everything that comes along on my journey (good or bad) there is so much to learn in order to continue to elevate. We learn new things about ourselves each and everyday. I’ve been making these videos for about 5 years now, not on the search to have been found but really just to attempt to make someone smile as well as myself at the same time.

What was your reaction when your first video went viral (and tell us the story behind creating it)?
Making my first video of 2019 was really just to encourage my peers and my previous audience prior to “Pursue their dreams,” “this is their year,” and “they can do anything.” It is no secret that its easy to become discouraged on social media and constantly compare ourselves to one another. But we also forget that we are all on our own unique journeys that are curated just for us, and that no one else can replicate. Which is the messaging I wanted to share. I woke up New Years Day with about 25 texts and a bunch of DM’s being like “Your video is on twitter!!!” And in my head I’m like.. I don’t have a twitter..lol. So I made one and everything kinda started from there.

What advice would you give to a young Black creative, that you wish you were given while on the come up?
Consistency is key and what other people think about you is none of your business. Being Black we are always going to face obstacles. As long as what I am doing is bringing not only myself joy but others as well, and makes me excited to take on a new day, that’s all I could ever ask for. Life is the greatest gift.

What’s the emotional charge you get from posting your content and watching it go viral?
The emotional charge is usually happiness. Seeing messages and comments like “I needed this” or “this saved me” really hits home and means the world. We all need encouragement, we are all going through our own things and the road is never going to be easy. There is so much more road to go and so many more obstacles we are going to have to face. We just have to keep pushing!

You help motivate others with your videos, what or who motivates you?
I’ve learned from a young age that having a tight circle of people is the best kind of motivation possible. People who love you for you, will support you, help you with your goals and find ways to assist you in executing them. What also motivates me is encouragement, seeing how people respond to the things that I put a lot of my heart and energy into reacting in a positive way really helps recharge and refuel me so I can keep going, and hopefully help others keep going too. #SupportYourFriends! We’re all in this together, and there is room for each and every single one of us at the table. We are all just bringing different things.

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#Sunday #Reminder 💖 shit takes time yo. celebrate how far you HAVE come, there is so much more ahead for us all. Ily @victoriamonet ❤️ #tbt

A post shared by Donté Colley (@donte.colley) on Jun 23, 2019 at 9:55am PDT