About a month and a half ago, junior Krishten Davidson began building his social media platform as an inspirational speaker. By creating videos with a wide range of topics, he hopes to show people how to completely switch their mentalities, just like he did for himself.

Davidson begins every video by shouting, “Hey man, say man, today man.” He got this introduction from a close friend who would greet him, saying, “Hey man, say man, what’s the deal?” Davidson switched it up to fit his brand, and now he has a signature phrase.

With this newfound platform, Davidson speaks about bettering mental health, how to improve every day and not settling for less than greatness. He specializes in specific issues, like stereotypes and titles, explaining that they are all set by society. Though he wants to reach everyone, the youth are most important to Davidson.

“The youth are always going to be the future, so we have to care about them and help guide them,” Davidson said.

Davidson is majoring in communication studies with both mass media and conflict management minors. Knowing he wants to have a career in public speaking, specifically inspirational speaking, Davidson decided he would need a platform to put his material on – a strategy, set-up and layout.

“Now I am taking it way more seriously than just having a thought. You don’t want to try to do something, you want to do it,” Davidson said.

Much of the encouragement Davidson leans on comes from his personal hero Eric Thomas. Thomas is a world-renowned motivational speaker, preacher and author. Davidson’s dream is to be a part of Thomas’ legacy company one day.

To attempt to get in contact with Thomas, Davidson wrote a message asking what it would take to be able to shadow Thomas as his apprentice and that he would not settle for “no.” For about two weeks straight, he sent that same direct message to Thomas and others within his inner circle on Instagram, yearning for a response. After weeks of waiting, he finally got one.

The response was from Jemal King, a member of the development brand Eric Thomas and Associates. He told Davidson the way to get into the circle is by doing something everyone else is not doing. King went on to explain how he inserted himself and was noticed.

“I got the instructions and answers I wanted. It wasn’t ‘yes’ but it wasn’t ‘no,’” Davidson said.

Whatever he has to do to show he is a benefit to the team, he is going to strive for. He wants to do it through speaking, but he does not want to compete with Thomas and his brand. By learning new skills that Thomas’ company has not yet incorporated will prove Davidson is a unique asset that they need.

“I am more so competing with myself. Rather than telling them about myself, I need to show them what I have to offer,” Davidson said.

A piece of advice that Davidson heard from Thomas was to never settle for the one ‘no’ from somebody when trying to reach a goal. He said to keep working and asking until they give that one ‘yes.’

“You might ask 99 times and get ‘no’ all 99 times, but that next answer might be ‘yes,’ so that’s what I was striving for with the direct messages I was sending,” Davidson said.

Davidson will stop at nothing to follow that advice. Coming up with a detailed process has allowed him to lay a solid foundation. First, listening to at least one of Thomas’ podcasts or some type of inspirational message every day puts Davidson in the mindset to create. After listening, he summarizes the content in his own words, takes out key points and then writes down his own ideas. Many times he will insert quotes from Thomas and give him credit in the video.

He sets up examples from his experiences and explains how he incorporates ideas into his own life. By doing this, he shows his audience how they can do the same for themselves.

Instagram is the primary social media platform he shared videos on. When he first started, he uploaded videos every Monday through Friday. Recently, he has changed the schedule to post one video on Monday and one video on Friday so that he can spread his content out in a way that will keep viewers engaged.

Each video posted on Instagram is five minutes or less. Davidson understands people tend to shy away from longer videos, so he strategically makes them short. Though he posts most of his videos on Instagram, he also uses Facebook to share his positive messages. He plans to create a YouTube channel for more in-depth videos very soon. Eventually, he will switch the Instagram videos to be short previews of YouTube videos so that viewers are led on just enough to want to go watch the full videos.

Social media is incredibly effective in reaching a lot of people. Davidson is willing to let go of some of his personal accounts for the cause. He plans to use Instagram and Facebook solely for his career by changing from a personal setting to a professional setting.

Junior Raven Meadows has been friends with Davidson since they were freshmen. Meadows supports him because he has helped her out of some dark spots in life, and she truly believes people need to hear what he has to say.

“He gives me a reality check while still being super optimistic. He reminds me not to stress about the things I can’t control and instead put positive energy into everything,” Meadows said. “He shows me how positivity and determination can really change your whole life for the better.”

From a young age, Davidson was constantly trying to uplift people, and he wanted to see the people around him succeed. Now he is putting these qualities to use in innovative ways.

“I feel like I finally understood and grasped the gift that God gave me, so I definitely want to invest 150 percent into it,” Davidson said.

It took time for Davidson to come to a point that he felt confident enough in himself and his abilities. Davidson was born in Wichita, Kan. and lived there until he was 16 years old. When he was 17 and 18, he lived in Las Vegas, Nev. Those two final years before coming to Baker were years that Davidson says his mental development flourished. Growing up, Davidson struggled with depression. By completely switching his mentality and working on himself, he persevered.

“Within the last six months, my positive mentality has flourished,” Davidson said. “I am happier than I have ever been.”

That happiness is visibly shown through his online platform. Davidson might be technically categorized as a motivational speaker, but he strives for much more than motivation. He believes motivation can lead to becoming inspired, but motivation is overall temporary.

“You can be motivated to do something and it can carry you a little bit of ways and then you can lose that motivation out of nowhere, and you might give up,” Davidson said. “But self-discipline is installed and ingrained in you. You can’t lose it as easily.”

That is why for Davidson, being called an inspirational speaker is more accurate. He hopes to inspire others to consistently do better for themselves. Everyone must endure change of some kind in their lives. To Davidson, getting uncomfortable is the only way to make real change, and his own life is a testament to that.

“If you’re feeling comfortable that means you’re not improving and you’re not elevating yourself because change is supposed to be uncomfortable,” Davidson said. “I want to inspire people to want to change and improve, be happy, be joyful, have a content-filled life and to feel secure.”

Instagram: @kkile_98

Facebook page: Krishten’s Journey to Speaking