July 22, 2020

Meet Philip Enewally of P2isTheName in East LA

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Philip Enewally.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Philip. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Well, if we are talking about how I started, the main thing I want to touch on is MENTALITY. I feel like I developed my competitive/hardworking mentality from playing sports at a young age, Basketball and football were my favorites. While I was in high school my older brother was 4-star Cornerback committed to the University of Washington. Seeing all this growing up planted a first place ‘mentality in me. From football, to me starting my clothing line in high school – it all helped me to find my entrepreneur side. After graduation I had a new project – YouTube. I saved money from the job I worked at, then quit when I had enough money to afford my YouTube equipment. I went to school and did YouTube at the same time glancing both. Then when YouTube started popping off, I eventually dropped out.

Has it been a smooth road?
It 100% hasn’t been a smooth, silky road to where I am today. When I was 12, my mom passed away from breast cancer and overall, it has molded me as a person. So due to that situation, my dad is a single father who’s also a Probation Officer. my dad is super HUGE on education so when my grades slipped slightly from this YouTube thing, my house was always toxic due to the fact that my dad didn’t approve of the YouTube career immediately. At the time I recorded behind his back for a whole year or two. There was only a certain time frame I could record videos and a creator I felt extremely limited. And any Youtuber that wants to blow up knows… feeling limited to your content and creativity can mess with you. My dad approves of YouTube now of course but I’d say the biggest struggle I have now is just trying to balance my work and private life. The bigger I get, the harder it gets for me to find nice, peaceful time for myself. Sometimes I feel like I’m always on the move and need a pause button, you know?

We’d love to hear more about your work.
My business is my passion. And that’s the beauty of it honestly. The fact that it’s a business but also my passion and hobby – that’s what is overwhelming to me. I played video games all my life and always considered myself an entertaining prankster so the YouTube platform just made sense for me. I think I specialize in understanding people’s emotions. When I post my videos, I have the ability to turn someone’s day around just from me jumping around screaming, inserting so much energy into the viewer. Filming and editing videos is an art because as an creator, you have the ability to make someone laugh, scare someone, make them think, make them smile, it truly is an exotic feeling. Overall I feel like I’m known for being a ‚lit‘, energized Youtuber who’s amazing at video games, too. The biggest thing I’d say, I’m proud of on this journey is that the fame and money that comes with social media really doesn’t define me and alter me as a person. so many people that are scared to talk to me or nervous to talk to me. once they open up and speak to me – I’ve been told many times that ‚Wow, bro you’re so genuine man. ‘ I feel like I just don’t take any of this granted & I’m thankful for this opportunity God has given me.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
The biggest thing I love about my city is that it’s nothing special. it’s what you make of it. I’m from a city where you don’t really see G_Wagons & Lamborghinis that often. But you can 100% drive 50 minutes down to Rodeo Drive and get inspiration which is beautiful to me. I didn’t come from much so that opportunity to challenge myself and achieve my goals from my city was a special feeling.

Haha I think the least thing I like about my city is the random Graffiti that would take place next to our house. Not because of me but because my dad used to hate it when that happened over night hahaha.

P2’s favorite spots in LA:

1. Fantastic Cafe. The fast food spot near my house where I grew up. After editing and posting videos, I used to congratulate myself and have a meal to cool off.

2. La Mirada High School. My high where I transferred my Junior year + Senior year. This school was special to me because as a transfer , I looked at this school as a clean slate so this was the time I tapped into my entrepreneur side and made a change for myself overall.

3. Cerritos Park East. The park where I played so many basketball games , went for bike rides , had picnics… I can name it all. There are so many memories at this park and till this day is my favorite park of all time. My childhood belongs to this park till the day I die.

4. Panda King in Norwalk (Chinese food place). I call this the Family Spot. Every Sunday after church, my family would eat at this spot and crack jokes and live life. Sunday’s are important in my family and we always at this place because it was like 5 minutes away from my Church. Family is important to me and my siblings so I will never forget where I spent my Sunday’s.

5. Cerritos Library.

This… Library… is the greatest library in the World. I have all types of memories in this place. Everyday after school waiting for my parents to get off work… I was here doing homework and watching YouTube videos. This is the place that made me want to be a youtuber. Having so much downtime after homework to browse the Internet finding my favorite content creators. The shows this place had… the gaming tournaments. This place is really me in many aspects. The Amount of studying . And my favorite part … the animal noises you hear when you walk in.. like you’re in Jurassic park. And the cherry on top…. the blasted AC you feel down your body.

Contact Info:

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p2isthename/?hl=en
Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn8wUiFIZsxbnvsiQmaVoIg

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