Today we’d like to introduce you to Quia McKnight.
Quia, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been in love with words. I’ve been in love with this idea of storytelling and being able to share my imagination with those around me. Before I even knew how to form a letter, my mom would buy me ridiculous amounts of journals and I would eagerly scribble in them. I would imagine the whole time that I was crafting this separate world or this story that, at first served as entertainment for me but, eventually over the years, it turned into an escape. Growing up, I mostly wrote stories and scripts, but when I got to high school, I found an inviting home in poetry. I would write poems about any and everything, but hide them in a back of a notebook or a crumpled up napkin. It wasn’t until I got to college that I finally felt comfortable enough to share my poetry. To me, sharing your art is one of the most vulnerable acts possible and being vulnerable was always something I struggled with. I didn’t like to face my emotions or even try to comprehend them, let alone talk about them. But through poetry, I found a voice and a safe way to express how I felt inside. The stage and spoken word became my niche and to see people resonating with my words and finding comfort in them was the greatest reward possible for deciding to step out of my comfort zone.
Since experiencing firsthand how writing or any creative outlet can serve as a safe haven and a source of healing, it became my mission to provide that for everyone. I want to really be able to craft extraordinary moments, whether it be a song, a poem, a story, a short film, just something that allows for people to completely forget the worries and stress around them. I want to give them the same euphoric yet peaceful feeling I had when falling in love with writing.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think with all life, both ups and downs are inevitable, but how someone handles the lower points is what’s extremely important and indicative of how the rest of their life could possibly go. That has been the biggest lesson for me as I’ve gone through challenges. For example, I have wanted to attend USC since seventh grade. I knew that was the college for me and nothing was going to stop me from achieving my goal. I went above and beyond in high school, confident that the acceptance letter was on its way, but it wasn’t. I definitely got rejected and it was one of the hardest moments I had to get through. My second, third, and even fourth options all fell through too, and it made me feel completely unwanted, unworthy, and incapable of achieving my goals. Yet, I have an incredible support system in my family and friends and God always has my back as well, so I took a chance and went to community college for one year, re-applied for USC, and got accepted my second time around. I learned the importance of delayed gratification and how having patience, working hard, and being consistent is a vital part of making my dreams reality.
During my time at USC, I’ve gone through battles with mental health, the loss of a very close friend, financial hardships, several struggles to find balance between work, school, and a social life, yet as I said before, how one handles the lowest lows can lead to the highest highs. So I channeled all of the anxiety, stress, and sad energy into writing once again to provide an escape for myself, and ended up with a few bodies of creative work that I can now look back on and be super proud of. I was able to release two poetry videos, several performances, and a whole mixtape of spoken word and music. All of these provided solace for me and created an insatiable hunger within to create more. Now I’m currently in the beginning stages of working on a debut EP that is very close to my heart.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
There’s a specific Christmas of my youth that magnifies the feeling of what it means to have joy and how to find pleasure in the simplest things. I think I was 5 or 6, the youngest out of all my cousins and my brother. We were super excited and ripped through the presents, just sheer glee on our faces. And although we were very much grateful for the gifts, we didn’t even really play with them. Instead, we took some of the huge cardboard boxes a few of the toys came in and just played with those for what felt like forever. We came up with a bunch of adventures, all that included us traveling to every corner of the world as rulers, spies, pirates, superheroes, etc. and we truly felt nothing but joy. That’s honestly where I think the beauty of childhood lives though; in the pure, unfiltered imagination that allows children to go anywhere and be anything their heart desires, despite life’s circumstances. Looking back on it now, I feel as though that day probably played an integral role in the development of both my artistry and my character.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/just_quia/?hl=en
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/just_quia?lang=en
- Other: https://soundcloud.com/user-683051852/sets/of-paradise
Image Credit:
Avery Davis, JayWill
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