A Bay Area native, Dutch Santana operates off of originality, old school work ethic and muscle. Over time gathering game from his environment, he’s definitely able to put up a perspective for not only the Bay Area, but from the perspective of a man who really knows how to use his creativity to go out and get it.
EvenRights: How do you feel creativity and optimism is important to our generation?
Dutch: I think that technology and social media have started to clog natural creativity. I think it’s important that people really find themselves and who they are in order to really tap in to that creativity. A lot of people don’t give themselves the time to figure out who they are and I think that also blocks creativity. It’s definitely important to remain optimistic throughout that process as well as everything else you do in life. You get the same energy you put out. As long as you think positively, you can accomplish what you want.
EvenRights : What are your beliefs of how we can all be characterized as equal beings? As humans we all have the ability to be creative and optimistic
Dutch: I definitely agree that we all have the ability to be creative and optimistic, but I don’t believe that we all use them equally or reach full potential. We all have the same 24 hours in a day but it all starts with your childhood and how you were raised. If you were bred with more or pushed to do more as a child, when you grow to be an adult you’ll be more likely to use those creative skills than someone who grew up in a less fortunate environment with adults who were fine with that. My son was accepted into private school and I’m blessed to be able to continue to send him there to experience that type of education and make those networking connections.
EvenRights: How hard is it to stay creative and what would you say to somebody experiencing this same issue?
Dutch: In my personal experience when I hit a writing block with my music, I’ve learned that it helps to take a step back and come back to it later because when you try to force it you’re not going to like the results. Like I usually come up with a hook and first verse pretty quickly, but there will be times when that second verse I just feel like the energy doesn’t match the first verse. I have a song that I’ve been working on for months just because I feel like they could be better than what I’ve been writing to it.
EvenRights: If there were three things you could have done different, earlier , or better while building your brand, what would they have been?
Dutch: Definitely staying more persistent. As long as you keep pushing towards your goals you’re going to accomplish them eventually. Secondly not being concerned with other people’s opinions. A lot of people are going to look down on you and what you’re doing, simply because they aren’t able to do it themselves. Lastly, being your own biggest supporter. A lot of us get caught up in being our own biggest critics and like I said earlier, you get what you put into the world. So if you’re constantly telling yourself you need to do/be better instead of praising yourself at times you’ll burn yourself out or remain stuck where you’re at.
EvenRights: Taking the time to cater to a primarily adult audience, what can we teach our adult audience to do in order to be examples of equality for our youth?
Dutch: Adults for sure need to listen more and be more open minded. The youth need to be able to feel comfortable communicating what they’re going through with us as opposed to bottling it in because they think we’re going to judge them or be upset with them. Adults also need to seek knowledge, wisdom, and understanding because without that we can’t guide the youth in the proper direction because we don’t know which direction we’re going ourselves.
EvenRights: Do believe in the right to bear arms and if so how important do you think it is to be able to do so in this day and age?
Dutch: Hell yeah I believe in the right to bear arms. Everybody needs to be able to protect themselves. I advise everybody who is over the age of 18 to get a firearm for their safety and the safety of their family because the world is crazy.
EvenRights Do you think educational tutorials for police officers of equality, creativity and optimism may be able to help officers in making better decisions in difficult situations in the field?
Dutch: Yes, of course they should have implicated that into the academy and training they have before becoming a police officer, maybe a lot of the issues we’re seeing today wouldn’t be recurring tragedies. It’s a little backwards how long lawyers have to be in school in order to just know and practice the law versus the length of the police academy which is generally less than a year and they’re given the ability to ENFORCE the law. It’s crazy.
EvenRights: The tobacco industry is constantly frowned upon in commercials. Do you think people have a choice whether to smoke tobacco? Or is there something that influences them beyond measure to even become addicted.
Dutch: I honestly think tobacco addiction just starts from someone, usually kids, who see somebody that they look up to doing it and they want to be cool like them. It’s so addictive with the nicotine that they just get caught up in it. They take so many puffs of the cigarette or whatever product they choose to use and the next thing they know they can’t stop.
EvenRights: How can we strengthen the curriculum of schools with more life awareness skills and strategies?
Dutch: I think they need to take out a lot of the classes that are unnecessary and never actually get applied to real life situations. I think they need to teach more life skills. I get why they don’t though, school is set up to program you to get up and work an 8-5. They don’t want to teach you how to be your own boss. That’s something that we need to teach our youth, to be able to break through that cycle and make their own dreams come true.
Audio engineer Pete Rodriguez is beyond experienced. With so much experience comes the quality of his craft . EvenRights began managing Pete, helping create versatile content in order to expand the marketing of his services and continue the building of his brand. Opening up, Pete tells EvenRights how he feels about creativity, equality, and optimism which are the bases of our mission.
EvenRights: How do you feel creativity and optimism is important to our generation?
Pete: Optimism is crucial to the creative process. When you are on an up, it’s a blessing to share that with the world. Even when things are down, it’s that spirit that will not let you lose.
EvenRights: How have you overcome any trials and/or tribulations as a company using creativity and optimism?
Pete: Just understanding that music is always evolving gives me the mindset to make sure I look at the process from all relevant angles. I’m still learning as I transition from studio owner to freelance engineering. But again, keeping that optimistic spirit allows me to move through challenges as smoothly as possible.
EvenRights: What are your beliefs of how we can all be characterized as equal beings? As humans we all have the ability to be creative and optimistic.
Pete: It’s definitely a must. It carries over into music. You may have some of your most prolific moments working with an artist who has little or no experience. We all breathe the same air and all can benefit from the dedication to the craft. I was taught as a kid to treat the janitor with the same respect you’d treat the CEO and back then I didn’t really understand it. But as an adult it’s stuck with me. While someone may be more talented or have more money than somebody else, that doesn’t make them worth more as a person.
EvenRights: How hard is it to stay creative and what would you say to somebody experiencing this same issue?
Pete: I’ll be honest, I am mostly creative when working directly with someone or a team. I find it hard for me to create alone. It’s not that I can’t, it’s I just prefer the energy of real-time human interaction.
EvenRights: If there were three things you could have done different, earlier, or better while building your brand. What would it have been?
Pete: I would have to say that I wish I would have taken more risk and truly grasped my strengths. Sometimes the best advice can come from your instincts, and often we find ways to overthink them. You can’t be afraid to fail. Taking those risks are the only way to get out of your comfort zone and really progress as a person and as a brand.
EvenRights: Taking the time to cater to a primarily adult audience, what can we teach our adult audience to do in order to be examples of equality for our youth?
Pete: Making sure we all know that we are the ones feeding the culture to the youth. If we keep giving them depraved material, then we put them at a disadvantage. The change starts with us and continues to build with them.
EvenRights: Do believe in the right to bear arms & how important do you think it is to be able to do so in this day and age.
Pete: I definitely believe in the 2nd amendment. Protection of family and our rights as human beings is a necessity of life.
EvenRights: Do you think educational tutorials for police officers of equality, creativity and optimism may be able to better decision making officers are forced to make in the field.
Pete: It’s something that has to be ongoing as this is a daily task.
EvenRights: The tobacco industry is constantly frowned upon in commercials. Do you think people have a choice whether to smoke tobacco? Or do you think there's something that influences them beyond measure to even become addicted?
Pete: Honestly it comes down to strong parenting and mentoring. There is always depraved imagery in the media, and we must do what we can to let the youngsters know the truth. They’re going to follow in the footsteps of whoever they look up to. As I stated earlier, the culture we feed to them is the culture that’s going to ultimately mold them into adults.
EvenRights: How can we strengthen the curriculum of schools with more life awareness skills and strategies.
Pete: There needs to be outreach from the local music creators/engineers/publishers/ etc to the school districts in order to allow them to learn from our experiences in that school setting.
Creativity in physical fitness, optimism during quarantines. Staying active is a way of life for Greg Stewart. Sometimes it’s safe to say nothing is impossible. With a tenacious and motivated attitude as exemplified by Greg continues to be shown. 30 years of age Greg continues to go further in his mogul mindset, characterizing himself as an upstanding, determined man from Oakland CA.
As we went through the process of gathering content we had Greg answer some questions.
EvenRights: How do you feel creativity and optimism is important to our generation?
Greg: I’m deeply passionate about creativity, especially when it comes to our youth. This generation needs more outlets to express themselves. I’m grateful for the opportunity to reach out to the youth and give them one of those outlets.
Over time Greg has had to mold himself into who he wanted to be . It’s interesting to see how comfortable he is with wearing so many hats .
EvenRights: How have you overcome any trials and tribulations using creativity and optimism?
Greg: As a student at the Academy of Arts, I quickly learned how to tap into my creativity and expand my imagination due to the hands-on nature of the school. I majored in communication and learned to shoot, edit, and share my own videos. As optimistic as I was, it was challenging to adapt to not only shooting the videos, but actually being on camera myself. I truly believe taking these classes taught me to develop my creative thinking process.
EvenRights: How hard is it to stay creative and what would you say to somebody experiencing this same issue.
Greg: It’s really easy to fall out of a creative space when you don’t surround yourself around people who think outside of the box similarly to how you think. It’s something I’ve struggled with and continue to struggle with at times. I’ve found that creativity comes from thinking about goals you want to achieve and visions you have. It’s important to stay up to date with the world and develop different ideas to enhance one’s creativeness.
EvenRights: Will equality be something your brand will promote after this blog/interview ?
Greg: Yes, of course equality is something I strongly believe in. Coming from a poverty stricken area in the poor parts of Oakland being able to help someone else to have the same opportunities I was lucky to have been given is something I strive to accomplish.
Sometimes we learn things later in life that could have put us in better positions to be ahead of the curve.
EvenRights: If there were three things you could have done differently, earlier , or better while building your brand . What would they have been.
Greg: I’m still in the process of building my brand and am constantly learning. So far I’ve learned you have to always have the business mindset and remain disciplined. When building a business it’s important to make clients and potential clients feel as though they’re your main concern. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is things aren’t always going to go your way. There are going to be a lot of bumps in the road, such as not achieving the clientele numbers you’d like in whatever time frame you found feasible, but you have to continue pushing forward. As long as you never give up and keep working to achieve your goals, you’ll get there.
EvenRights: Taking the time to cater to a primarily adult audience, what can we teach our adult audience to do in order to be examples of equality for our youth?
Greg: I think it’s really important to place an emphasis on how we as adults interact with the youth. Helping adults, especially parents, learn how to process their own emotions when they’re upset with their kids before addressing the situation at hand can completely change what the child takes from the conversation. Being able to provide constructive criticism as opposed to constantly tearing the youth down not only builds their self esteem, but it also allows them to feel comfortable to learn through their own mistakes without the fear of how their parents will react.
EvenRights: Do believe in the right to bear arms & how important do you think it is to be able to do so in this day and age.
Greg: I do in fact believe in the right to bear arms. I think it’s important to be able to protect yourself and your family in any climate, but especially in today’s age. There are too many people in the world whose morals are deeply lacking and I couldn’t imagine not being able to protect my child.
The recent tragedy of Ahmaud Arbery, in which this 25 year old young man was murdered by a retired police officer sheds light on areas we as a whole are lacking.
There are multiple ways police officers can deal with situations that are thought of after tragedies.
EvenRights: Do you think educational tutorials for police officers of how equality, creativity and optimism may be able to better decision making officers are forced to make in the field.
Greg: I absolutely think videos will help. The more we educate them on the importance of equality, creativity, and optimism the more they will retain it. A lot of it may seem like common sense to most, but there are really a lot of people who weren’t raised that way and are truly ignorant to their way of thinking.
EvenRights has a strong belief of having a choice . Everyone no matter financial state, sex, race or disability. We strongly believe that everyone has a choice.
EvenRights: The tobacco industry is constantly frowned upon in commercials. Do you think people have a choice whether to smoke tobacco. Or is there something that influences them beyond measure to become addicted?
Greg: I believe that there is an outside influence on just about everything people do. So of course tobacco habits have some type of influence whether it’s peer pressure, a coping mechanism, or replacement of a worse habit. A wise man once told me it’s cool to be a copycat as long as you’re copying the right cat. I also believe smoking tobacco is ultimately a personal choice. I think it’s very unlikely that someone is forced to start smoking cigarettes. I personally don’t smoke, but I have family members who have been smoking for years and have seen how addictive they are.
It starts at home , that’s where a child will learn most. However, teachers have a huge influence on our children’s minds.
EvenRights: How can we strengthen the curriculum of schools with more life awareness skills and strategies .
Greg: I think schools need to incorporate more classes that are based on real life situations such as social skills, financing and credit, real estate, taxes, etc. We make kids take so many classes over the years, yet they graduate high school and even college completely unprepared for the real world. It’s hard to allow your creativity to prosper when you have no clue how to maneuver through life.
