Meet Camille Elston of Q26 in South Bay

Today we’d like to introduce you to Camille Elston.

Camille, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My road as a creative has been a winding one. I started off as an undergraduate student at Cal Poly Pomona as an architecture major, fully believing that I was going to be a dope-ass architect someday. During my second year, however, I ran headlong into some personal issues, took a six-month hiatus, and switched my major to graphic design with a minor in art history.

While I was in school, I got involved in the campus’ Pride Center. It was through the center that I learned more about queer culture and social justice. I also made some of my best friends through it and became obsessed with queer media (particularly film).

I also got the opportunity to intern for Outfest, an organization that puts on queer film festivals every year. Being able to be a part of Outfest, even during that short period, solidified my interest in LGBTQ+ media making. To this day, I volunteer with Outfest and am immensely grateful for that opportunity.

During my last quarter, I took an acting class and a voice class and enjoyed both more than I expected. I started writing and composing music again, something I hadn’t done really between starting college and my 6-month hiatus. By the time I was about to graduate, I understood that my major goal in life wasn’t to be a graphic designer. I didn’t know exactly what it was yet, but I knew it would have something to do with the arts and media.

After graduating, I spent time working in a toy company, interning in galleries, and freelancing for a music production company. At some point during that time I got the brilliant (read: insane) idea to try architecture again, not for the sake of architecture itself, but as a way to set my path towards set design.

I got through one semester at USC before fully understanding that the last thing I wanted to do was spent another 2.5 years without sleeping or hanging out with my then – girlfriend, now wife, or enjoying the light of day. I switched to Heritage Conservation (still in the school of architecture, but focused on historic preservation and culture), and graduated with a couple of honors under my belt. Even so, during my time at USC, I constantly berated myself about making the “mistake” of going back to school. Until recently, in fact, I saw it as the biggest mistake I had ever made, pushing me away from my original goals.

The reality was that during grad school, I learned exactly what I was capable of. I made some awesome friends and took classes in media installation and crowdfunding. I visited more places around California and the country in two years than I had during my entire life. I learned how to write nonfiction pretty darn well. It was also during this time that my then-blog The 26 (now the online magazine Q26) really began to take form.

I realize now that a choice only becomes a mistake when you fail to use the result of those choices to better yourself and the world around you.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Ha, no. For full disclosure, I have Bipolar II Disorder. The symptoms of it make up the “personal reasons” why I quit architecture the first time, and it has been a big part of me doubting my abilities in the past. It can be hard to complete something when half the time, your mind wants to be everywhere at once or in bed, doing absolutely nothing.

Although I’ve had many successes over the last few years, I’ve also heard “no” a lot. In order to finally get a “yes,” you have to put yourself out there, learn from failure, and try again. The no’s have made me crumple more than once, but I have grown from them as much as I have grown from hearing “yes.”

I’ve been learning, slowly but surely, to not assume what’s possible through the lens of my disorder. I’ve learned to accept the concept that I am entirely capable of reaching my goals, both for myself and for Q26.

Q26 – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Q26 is the amalgamation of everything I love and hope to see more of in the world. It is an online magazine geared towards highlighting queer artists and media makers, particularly those of color. At Q26 we strongly believe that we can find our freedom through storytelling. “Freedom” includes creative freedom, social freedom, and autonomy over our funds/livelihood. We want create a community of creatives in Los Angeles that can learn and grow from each other. As of now, we’ve been able to interview a lot of amazing up-and-coming artists, as well as some mid-career and professional queer folx. It’s been really exciting to watch these folx continue to grow and help uplift the queer community.

What sets us apart is the fact that we don’t discriminate between the L, G, B, or T. Most sites only focus on one subsection of queer folx. Instead, we focus on anyone who is doing something cool and/or impactful. We feature more people of color because our voices aren’t often heard, and our issues are multiplied when our intersectionalities are taken into account; even so, we understand that as a queer community, we have a bigger impact when we are all working together, regardless of color. The impact of our words and stories is lessened when we’re only sharing them in a vacuum.

During this summer in particular, we’re making it our goal to engage and create new communities around queer creatives through events and hangouts, calls for art, and the like.

Our most ambitious goal is to eventually open a studio in Los Angeles. Not only would it be used to create original content through Q26, but we want to open it up to queer creatives in Los Angeles for little or no fee. The amount of dough it takes to create can get real sometimes; we want to help ease that burden and offer support while we’re doing it. Right now we’re promoting our Patreon to help raise the funds needed to make this a reality.

I’m extremely proud of how far the Q26 team has come so far. We went from throwing up a million ideas and scrabbling around, to steady growth of this community and a clear path forward. Much of our efforts have been concentrated between August 2018 and now, and the support we’ve gotten has been amazing.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I am a goal-oriented type of person. When I reach a goal, then I call it a success. Then I make more goals. I’m always pushing myself to achieve new goals at a higher level of quality than the one before. That way, while I am succeeding, I am also growing.

Pricing:

• Patreon – www.patreon.com/q26. There are patron levels from $2 – $15

Contact Info:

• Website: www.theq26.com
• Phone: 4242219818
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @thequeer26
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thequeer26
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/thequeer26
• Other: www.patreon.com/q26

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.