Today we’d like to introduce you to Zay Dante
Hi Zay, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started off making TikTok’s in 2020 during the pandemic! I was a Theatre Performance major and quickly realized that my job would not be possible for the foreseeable future, and because I’m a mix of an Actor and a Leo I couldn’t stand going an unforeseen time without attention which led to me making videos (kidding, I truly just have a deep love of performance and needed a way to be creative haha!). In a little less than a year I had amassed over one million followers and a community I will be forever grateful for! However, I didn’t love the content I was creating. I had been trying to play the TikTok game of “doing what’s best for the algorithm” while neglecting what my true passions were. Because of this, I was extremely burnt out and in the year 2023 took a hiatus from posting (only doing it once or twice a month as it was my full time job at this point). In 2024 my break had proved completely worth it as I was ready to reenter the content creation world with a newfound love and desire to be good at it again, and the opportunity to prove it came as quickly as I ever could’ve dreamed with the Kendrick-Drake beef in late April-early May. I set out to be the first content creator to drop a video whenever anything happened, and it worked! I was able to grow the community I loved to a place I could’ve never dreamed. I extended my audience to Instagram and YouTube, something I hadn’t been able to accomplish with the videos I was making before. Eventually that turned into making my own parody songs, dropping a full length music video with my friend Cassius Pettit in January of 2025. It’s been an absolute blast, and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s definitely been a struggle, but many of the challenges I faced were put in the way by me. The worst content I’ve ever made was the content I made while trying to go viral instead of just being myself. I was left unfulfilled and empty, eventually leading to a year long burn out. I’m so grateful I found the desire to come back and start making things I’m passionate about!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m an actor and writer outside of content creation! In 2024 my friends and I produced a production of Pulitzer Prize nominee Rajiv Joseph’s “Animals Out of Paper” along with acting in short film and producing a live comedy show for New York Comedy Fest!
I think I’m most proud of myself when it comes to having a passion that allows me to get up after times I’ve been knocked down. There’s been many moments where I’ve been ready to quit, but believing in myself and that I’m truly meant to create has kept me going, and I hope that hunger to be great is something that never goes away.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
When it comes to networking I have found the best way to make real relationships is to just be normal about it. When I moved to LA I thought that I had to play the networking game, pretend to be someone I wasn’t, and do whatever it took just to get people to like me. I actually started finding success when I realized I couldn’t rush it, and I found my best collaborators when I started doing it with my friends, people that I liked, and people whose visions aligned with mine creatively instead of who I thought would make me famous the quickest. If you believe in yourself then you don’t need to rush. Your time is coming, so be ready for it when it does by just being chill. People can sense that and want to work with you because of it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/zaydante
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zaydante/?hl=en
- Twitter: https://x.com/zaydante
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@zaydante
Image Credits
Cassius Pettit
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