Meet Anthony Porras | Digital Freelancer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Anthony Porras and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anthony, how do you think about risk?
Life is just too short! Taking risks throughout my life has been one of the biggest factors of where I am, what I’m doing, and how I’m doing it. Most of the time my thought process going into risk taking is just thinking “will I enjoy doing whatever I’m taking the risk for more than what I’m currently doing now”. That’s the main thought that crosses my mind for anything I ever do since enjoying what I do, who I meet with and how I do it, matters to me.

If I was playing it safe, staying inside, and not opening up the conversation to the person next to me at an event. I wouldn’t have had the experiences of traveling across the world, being finically stable and happy with life now. Taking risks in life is worth it.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Currently I’m in South Korea writing this and it’s crazy to me because my journey began with luck of a few inches which I took to calculated moves and ran MILES with right after, I never expected to be where I am today. 2021 has been the year where I’ve traveled every single month to either a new state or country solely on the idea of telling people’s stories. Right now my focus with business is within Esports. I am a videographer, photographer and an editor but personally love to focus on being a Storyteller. I travel out with different Esports team or influencers to share their story of a win, loss or any other moments they are brought forward to. But my personal main focus is solely on the Storytelling aspect since that’s what entertains but find interesting so much.

Reflecting on my journey, it wasn’t easy but it also wasn’t absolutely hard compared to maybe others. There was weeks to months where I couldn’t see my core family and friends. Times where I worked on projects I had no absolute interest in and moments in life where I wanted to give up. But I overcame those times because I talked with strangers I found in random coffee shops, Ubers or walking along the sidewalks. It’s these strangers that shared a stories of problems, love, happiness and so many other emotions and moments that I can’t fully understand since it’s their own personal life. And it’s that, that’s what I find so interesting to keep me moving forward.

What I’m most excited about is listening and learning about the things I don’t know about yet. I really like to focus on listening to anyone’s story because there’s lessons and journeys everywhere. I always look towards the person sitting next to me on the bus, looking into the sky and seeing a plane pass by or even looking out my window seeing cars pass by. Those are people living their day to day life, flying across the world and driving from point a to b, but for what? What brought them to that moment and get to whatever they needed to be. If I had the chance to just sit down with everyone I could and listen to their stories, lessons and ideologies, I would.

Personally, my art and creativity doesn’t come from myself. My creativity comes from others, understanding what brings them to that exact moment in life but at the same time not overexaggerating that life. I find that to be the difference with my art to others. My art is found on mainly YouTube across multiple YouTube Channels as I’ve worked with many Influencers. Throughout working with these multiple YouTubers, I find their content not as exciting to me because of the overexaggerated lifestyle, wildness or hype-beast living. I love the focus of people sharing their stories without any special flashing lights or numbers, just doing something they love and it’s THAT, that I find interesting. Because I personally don’t know why they find it interesting and I want to learn why, how, when, and everything.

Within my own content, you’ll see how I experience life, my travels, hardships and whatever else comes my way. But really it’s one of the hardest stories personally for me to understand. Telling my own story is one of the hardest stories for me to acknowledge because it’s still working itself out and could change at any given moment.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If my bestfriends were visiting me for an entire week, I would already know to expect nothing but everything at the same time. My core friend group; Spencer Whelan, Anthony Lopez, Steven Pong and Angel Trejo are people I find interesting but yet open-minded to any type of adventures. A previous trip with these people were to the Grand Canyon as a last minute road trip to go camping. None of us had complete proper camping gear but as men we believed we could just do it. But really, who knew it actually snowed in the Grand Canyon? Then weeks before that, have you’ve ever just basically lived your life at Disneyland and experience Disney in an entirely different point of view? Playing Chinese Fire Drills out on PCH roads and your friend forgets to put the car on park. Randomly Rock climbing to amazing views that were definitely off trail. How about sleeping in a car with your friends in San Francisco for a CIF Basketball game with only $20 in our pockets. Trailing the deserts of California and your friend says we messed up since he looked at the wrong sunset times. Saying “let’s go skydiving” completely last minute. Deep diving into completely dark mineshafts.

Anything can happen with my friends, I’ve never once thought what are we going to do but what COULDN’T we do but yet throughout all these adventures, all my friends are just so open to meeting random people who add to the adventures we go on. None of us are shy to stray away from adding a new aspect and perspective to the journey.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Throughout my amazing experiences. I always stop myself to think about how none of this could happen without the people behind me. Without the ones who’ve taught me, supported me, and pushed me through the roughest of times I would not be anywhere near where I am today.

I would love to dedicate time to the people I love who’ve helped me; My family, my Mother and Little Brother have been a core support for me throughout everything. My core friend group, Spencer Whelan, Anthony Lopez, Angel Trejo, and Steven Pong. These are the people who’ve helped me in countless of ways they don’t even know about and I personally hope and will make sure they’ll live the best life living out their personal dreams. Then my online mentors and friendships; Makaya loo, Brandon Moreno, and Mervin Fenelus, these people have helped me expand my career and push my personal boundaries. All these people have a special spot within my heart as they’ve helped me overall grow as a human, challenge life and cherish it at the same time.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directedbyap/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DirectedByAP

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUueMgEC3WiJNRmSOcOsVLg

Image Credits
People within the photos; Spencer Whelan Anthony Lopez Steven Pong Angel Trejo All photos taken by me or friends found above