Step Off! Magazine

Over the past several years David Fernandez Jr. has made a name for himself in Hollywood as one of the industries go-to actors for his portrayal of tough-guy roles and characters. The San Diego born actor has been cast in a variety of different projects from doing voiceover work on the hit video game Grand Theft Auto V, appearing in various television series such as FX’s Sons of Anarchy and Justified, the Showtime series Weeds and AMC’s Fear The Walking Dead as well as acting in hit movies such as The Hollow Point, End Of Watch and the upcoming film Lowriders. Mr. Fernandez sat down with Step Off! Magazine to not only discuss his role in the film Lowriders, but diversity in Hollywood and the film industry, his involvement in the NODAPL protest movement as well as his upcoming future projects and venture in 2017.

Step Off! Magazine: Hi Mr. Fernandez, thank you for taking the time to sit down and talk with us. Please introduce yourself to our readers and tell them who you are and let them know what you do David.

Fernandez Jr.: My name is David Fernandez Jr., I’m happy to be a part of this, brother. I’m happy to support you and your site. I’m an actor and an activist; if we had to put titles. I’m all about love and just heart-centered work. Things that are fair, things that are right and are real.

Step Off! Magazine: You’ve been working in the entertainment industry for years, you’ve acted in various television series, and films and even produced and directed your own movie A Father’s Journey. How did you initially get started in the acting business? What was the catalyst that lead you taking up the profession?

David Fernandez Jr.: Great question brother! Yeah, it’s been about eight years now since I first started, I went into the industry in a very nontraditional way. For me, I had worked in the educational system for over fourteen plus years and I found myself overwhelmed. Not excited about going to work, I was just kind of drained, overwhelmed and my body was telling me I needed something new. So I started reflecting on my life and this was at an older age, I was thirty-three, I believe. And what came up for me was acting and creating because I’ve always been a creative kind of person but I never really pursued it. So it just kind of hit me and like “You know what, I made a decision, I made a choice, I’m going to pursue this”. I left my nine to five job, which in a lot of people’s eyes is a very risky move but I knew I had to do that to go one hundred percent when it came to the industry. So I literally did that, I didn’t have any connections or any leads so I literally googled “how to be an actor in Hollywood” and it led me to be an extra in the Jim Carrey movie Yes Man. Once I was on the set there, I caught the bug, brother! That’s really where I started, I didn’t really have acting classes. I feel we’re all actors in a certain degree you know because we all have our facades, our walls up or our own images that we put on. So I guess I was able to tap into that and tap into my own life experiences to bring the characters that I was given to live.

Step Off! Magazine: Last year, you released your first film as a director A Father’s Journey which you starred in as well. Detail your experience as a first time director on the set A Father’s Journey and what you learned from shooting that film.

David Fernandez Jr.: It was one of the most beautiful experiences, and also one of the most difficult ones. Why? Because I took about 35 people down to my Mom’s hometown in Ensenada so nobody really knew the ins and outs but me on the ranch that my Mom grew up on. So on top of that, I was directing and I was acting in the film and that’s a very difficult thing to do. But the thing is I’m the one that had the vision of this story because it was based on a true story in regards to my cousin. He passed away in a car accident eight years ago and he left behind three young sons and he was a great Dad. So I wanted to be able to role model that as a tribute to him and dedicate that film to him showing a positive role model and the positive relationship between a father and a son. So that was a big deal for me. As far as the actual technical side of it, I had a very strong team. I had a great director of photography that really had the patience for me and helped me along the way, along with the actors and the people behind the screen everyone just came together as a family. We still keep in touch; that doesn’t happen all the time with filmmaking. You do your job, you get out and that’s usually the case. But, with A Father’s Journey it became a family experience, everybody contributed and just made it work! We had so many obstacles come up! So many, we had one where the generator we had while taking it down fell off the truck and hit a car and we had to handle that so we didn’t have our generator the first three or four days of filming. So many obstacles but we kept going! And that’s kind of a metaphor for life, it’s like an obstacle came, the vision was clear and we kept going. If it didn’t work this way, we’d make it work that way or make it work another way and we kept moving forward. Ultimately we were successful and turned out a finished product. A Father’s Journey actually is airing currently on the Cinelatino Network and it was also screened at the San Diego Latino Film Festival last year.

Step Off! Magazine: Yea it was a really beautiful thing to see a positive Father/Son relationship at the center of the film. You don’t really see a lot of that in movies and television these days, most of the time there’s either some kind of toxic relationship or father’s not even in the picture, to begin with.

David Fernandez Jr.: Exactly! Yea I think for me it was important because I want to see, especially for Latinos, I want to see positive Latino stories! I want to break away from the stereotypes. This is the thing, if you know some of my work a lot of it is perpetuating those stereotypes. A lot of the characters that I take on are those dark, layered characters with with a lot of stereotypical elements in it. But, at the same time I had a vision all along. I knew that if Hollywood see’s me like this ok cool, at least I’ll bring humanity to those characters.

Step Off! Magazine: Tell us about your experiences growing up here in San Diego. Were there any experiences growing up in your childhood that you believe pushed you or made you more inclined to go into acting?

David Fernandez Jr.: I feel like my whole life has been a journey to get me to where I am today. My parents came to this country undocumented, my Mom was nine months pregnant with me in her belly. So at nine months pregnant they move from Tijuana undocumented and they come here to give me a better life. They only had like a fourth and fifth-grade elementary education so they had to work under the table, under minimum wage, two or three jobs just to survive. That really shaped me and shaped how I saw life. That showed me the realest of real you know? Where you’re hitting and scratching the bottom of the barrel and everything else doesn’t seem to really have meaning to it. I’m talking about all the trivial bullshit stuff, it doesn’t have meaning to it because you’re just trying to survive, just trying to make it. I grew up in a very unhealthy household, but no matter what my Mom and my Dad had good hearts. They just never had the tools to heal from their past life, I learned that through time and the hard way. I had a tough childhood growing up, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world because that’s what shaped me and made me who I am today. One thing that I’ve always possessed is I question and I critically think. I know that I always wanted love, I always asked myself growing up, “damn why can’t my parents be happy?”. Like, I know that there’s families out there that are happy why can’t we be like them? So I always search for information like that, I’ve always been a seeker of information and I think that’s what kind of helped me. Throughout my life experiences, the one thing that I can look back on that really was a character trait that I would give to anybody is a belief in self and always leading by and following my heart. I think that has made an impact on my choices even as an actor just following my heart and believing that I have something to share. I have a strong message to give and if I can bring that into these characters that I portray then I will and if I can’t then at the very least I’ll definitely bring humanity to the character.

Step Off! Magazine: You’ve been very vocal and active in the North Dakota Access Pipeline (NODAPL) protests over the past several months getting the word out, organizing marches and protests. For some of our readers that may be unaware to the situation or just ignorant to what has been taking place for the past several months at Standing Rock explain to them why clean water and native sovereignty is so important in this country.

David Fernandez Jr.: Yea, that’s a very complex question and a beautiful question at that. So it gets really deep, I’ll share a little bit of information for people that don’t know about Standing Rock and the fight there. Basically, the North Dakota Access Pipeline is trying very hard to run an oil pipeline underneath the Missouri River. The Missouri River is one of our biggest bodies of water in the United States and they’re planning on drilling right underneath the water that affects over 213 streams and rivers. It goes all the way from North Dakota to Missouri and it’s not a matter of ‘if’ but when the oil pipeline breaks it’s going to affect and destroy the drinking water of over 18 million people. Likewise, this pipeline was originally supposed to run through Bismark, an all white community and they fought against it. They said “No, we don’t want it here” so then they ultimately dumped it onto the Sioux Nation tribal lands. That’s completely unfair! The United States government has been committing genocide and theft when it comes to our Native American people and enough is enough. I believe there’s a big awakening happening surrounding this injustice and the bigger picture as a whole. To transition into my own personal experience with Standing Rock, I was watching this video at two in the morning and it was a video with the DAPL mercenaries attacking the Natives with dogs. In the video I saw a little girl got bit by one of the dogs and that broke my heart man! I had this soul cry and there at two in the morning I had this epiphany saying that I had to go. No questions asked I went with my heart and said: “I have to go over there now”. I didn’t have any relationships there in Cannonball River at Standing Rock I just literally packed my bags, got ready and map quested Cannonball River. Twenty-four hours later after driving, I arrive and I’m so glad that I was meant to go because it changed my life. The best way I can describe going there was that it was transcending, it’s so full of emotions when I tell you that because I felt love like I’ve never felt before there. Love to mother earth, a true connection to mother earth, truly being connected period along with the ultimate sense of community like never before. I took two trips, the first trip was for me I traveled alone and went by myself. On the second trip I took my production team and we filmed a documentary over there. I wanted to highlight the heart and the spirit of the people there, as well as the truth of the people. I know that opposition will always try to vilify and demonize the movement, so I wanted to show the truth of what was actually taking place there at Standing Rock. We’re currently working on that documentary and as of right now I believe we’re going to call it Water Is Life. More importantly is the people, every connection that I made over there everybody had the same story. They caught wind of these videos and something told them that they had to go and before you know it four or five days later they’re there. Everybody else that I spoke with had the same story, there has to be some kind of spiritual connection or something that’s connecting all of us when it comes to that. What’s so beautiful about this whole journey standing up with the water protectors is that it’s almost symbolic of where we’ve been headed in life. When we have entities that aren’t connected and their whole focus is money, control or power and they keep taking, taking, taking from mother earth. It doesn’t even make sense to me, that oil isn’t even going to be used for the United States it’s going to Canada so it’s like that action shows that it’s basically just for money. I know we’re living backwards! I know something’s not right! I know something’s not in alignment! I want to at least do my part and earn my life for humanity because that’s the level it has gotten to or has always been and we’re finally just now pushing back. We have to start truly being connected and caring for humanity. The environment is getting impacted like never before, so I’m glad that this happened. I’m glad that Standing Rock happened because it woke people up, it got people together. Standing Rock is the biggest Native American assembly in the history of this country! That’s telling me that people are starting to wake up and come together. That’s what needs to happen for true change to come. There’s a collective awakening and that gives me hope to see that. Even to see your brother, you’re younger and I see your passion in your heart. I see your pictures on Instagram and what you’re standing up for and I commend you, brother! I’m proud of you because that’s what we need, we need to be in here in our hearts. We all know that what’s happening is not right, it’s not serving our world, it’s not serving our planet, or our people and that needs to shift and I believe that it’s changing, that’s my hope because I see it in you and people like!

Step Off! Magazine: So last fall as you said you and film crew went out to Standing Rock to shoot a documentary.Tell us about your experiences and what you witnessed there at the camps while you were out there. Paint a picture of the people, places and things you saw at the camps.

David Fernandez Jr.: There was peace, there was harmony, a true understanding for mother earth and a true connection for humanity. Love like never before, everyone felt like family there and we didn’t even formally know each other. We were all there for the same vision to protect the water, not just for the Sioux Nation but for ALL of us. Because it really does affect all of us, the waters, the streams, and the rivers are like the veins of the United States. So we can’t poison our veins, we can’t poison our water, our blood. That’s really like how we all saw it there and I saw very courageous brothers and sisters standing up for what’s right. The sense and feeling that I got from the opposition, I felt confusion, I felt anger, I felt a disconnect, they felt robotic at times. What I didn’t understand was how they were willing to shoot water hoses, throw grenades and do all of these things to people who were in prayer. They were just in prayer, they were never violent, they never had any weapons, they were just praying. Sometimes I saw the police not even knowing what to do and react to that prayer, I think that they needed that agitation to connect to that energy that they were feeling. So for me, the ceremonies, the dances, the singing, the drumming felt like I was at home, brother! I actually cried coming back the first time, I was on the phone with my best friend crying because I didn’t want to leave. I had never felt like that before, it was something on a spiritual level that I can’t explain. The only thing that made me happy was that I was going to come back and film the documentary. So knowing that I was leaving but I was going to come back within a week made me happy. When I came back that was a full circle for me to get everything that I needed, not just on film but even spiritually and in my heart regarding the experience at Standing Rock. It was very symbolic for what I hope is the direction that we’re going toward. It’s definitely not going to be easy, but it’s happening.

Step Off! Magazine: When can we expect the documentary?

David Fernandez Jr.: Hopefully within two months, my editors are working on it right now we’re just waiting on some footage from Drone to be Wild. All the aerial footage that you’ve seen from Myron Dewey and Drone to be Wild I’m waiting to get footage from them. That’s the one thing that we’ve been waiting on to able to get those nice aerial shots of Standing Rock and the surrounding area. We’re going to put it on to our network EYLtv so people we will be able to see it there and maybe some select film festivals just to get a little bit more buzz for the film. We’re going to call it Water Is Life.

Step Off! Magazine: What do believe is the next step in the NODAPL protests now that Donald Trump has signed an executive order to resume construction on the pipeline? As construction begins to resume and the state have forcibly removed protesters from the campsites at Standing Rock what do you see as the next logical step in this fight?

David Fernandez Jr.: It’s not close to being over, they’re now going to be having the fight in the courts now. There’s been a lot of lawsuits, it’s only the beginning and I’m happy for that. I’m happy for that because a lot of people are coming together to work towards fighting these entities that are once again are just focused on money. We have to be willing to stop resisting our shadows. In other words we have to welcome our shadows, meaning our fears and all the ugliness that we don’t like to look at in the mirror. Standing Rock and what’s happening in the world today is like the biggest mirror in our faces and it’s going to be up to us to be willing to face what’s in the mirror. Until we face that mirror and everything that it entails only until then will we see true change happen. I truly believe that what we resist persists so we need to start accepting and taking responsibility for us creating this reality. All of us have a part in it and if we were to take responsibility then we will feel empowered to do something about it. But we have to be willing to clean up our own mess, take responsibility for our actions, our own lives and in doing so we will find that empowerment to continue to move toward things that will serve humanity not destroy humanity.

Step Off! Magazine: A lot of artists, actors and performers get a lot of flack from certain circles in society when they speak out on certain issues. Do you believe that artists, actors, performers and those in the public eye (especially those with a influential platform) have a duty to speak out against injustices and bring public awareness to these societal issues?

David Fernandez Jr.: I feel that if your heart is in it and you’re passionate about it then go for it. It’s sad to even have to have a question like that or even have to answer a question like that because if you think about it going back to responsibilities, it’s our duty to rise up, stand up and speak out especially if we have a bigger platform. I know Rosario Dawson, Shailene Woodley, and Mark Ruffulo have all used to platform to speak out and bring awareness and I respect them that much more for that. If we’re in a society where if we speak up about the truth and we loose some of our opportunity or we get judged by just following our heart then something’s wrong in how we’re existing as a society. Speaking out against injustice should be the norm. Martin Luther King, for example, we hold him up not quite like on a pedestal but we honor him. All he spoke about was love and peace and unity and equality, that should be the norm! You know we’re in a sick society if that’s not the norm! If people judge or point the finger at someone that’s standing up for humanity and against injustice especially if they have a big platform then we should look at those people. We’re living backward in this society my, brother, big time. It’s even in our history, if you look at our history whatever we’re told in our history we should really go the opposite way because usually, that’s not the truth. The powers that be, the people you would call the oppressors, of course, they’re not going to want to rat on themselves and show their true colors because their illusion of control and oppressing is hiding all the atrocities that have happened in our history. I just saw Birth Of A Nation and 13th regarding the prison system and modern day slavery and it’s so sad because we haven’t even healed from sixty years ago, that’s not even one lifetime ago. That boggles my mind like really? This is where we’re at? We can be so disconnected that we can see somebody hanging from a tree and think that that’s a good thing because of the color of their skin? That breaks my heart! That’s not even sixty, seventy years ago! That’s how backward we’re living, so we still got a long way to go. But, once again my hope is me and you and all the other brothers and sisters that have been standing with us.

Step Off! Magazine: Most definitely, switching gears into film tell us what you can about the film Lowriders and your involvement in the picture. The film features some big names in Hollywood such as Eva Longoria, Theo Rossi of Sons of Anarchy and Marvel’s Luke Cage as well as Gabriel Chavarria of East Los High and Melissa Benoist of Supergirl. With such a talented and eclectic cast what can moviegoers expect from this movie?

David Fernandez Jr.: I already saw the finished film, we screened it at the Los Angeles Film Festival and it was awesome! I love the movie man because a lot of people are going to think that it’s focused on the low riders and the low riders are really the backdrop of the film. The storyline is the relationship between a father and his sons, and also deals with a lot of family issues such as abuse and alcoholism. It’s real, it touches on that human level where you can relate. I like where you can see a film that touches you, that makes an impact on you, that moves you and this film does exactly that. It’s awesome because we’re going to do a special screening here at the San Diego Latino Film Festival on March 25th. I also appear in another film called Ruta Madre and that’s with Paul Rodriguez and Carmen Salinas, a legendary Mexican Actress along with Angélica María and we the brother from Nacho Libre Héctor Jiménez. That film is going to open up the film festival and then Lowriders is closing out the film festival so it’s kind of cool to have a role in both films. So it’s going to a great year for this film festival and I’m really excited about it. But yea, Lowriders assemble cast! Beautiful cast with humble beautiful people man. I got a chance to be with all of them and connect with all of them, there’s a reason why they’re all successful. They’re very grounded, very humble brothers and sisters that are blessed to have a platform to showcase their talents. It’s going to be great! So any San Diegans or even L.A. folks come on down and check out the San Diego Latino Film Festival!

Step Off! Magazine: It seems that since the huge success of Straight Outta Compton’ there’s been an opening for films like this to be made that tell a wider variety of stories that probably would had a harder time being made or not made at all in the past. Do you see this as a continuing trend in Hollywood?

David Fernandez Jr.: Yea, well Hollywood, like I said, is a business so whatever makes money they’re going to continue to do it and they’ll beat it over the head until they’re not making any money anymore. It’s just business, that’s just the way they see it. I think that what’s more important is for us to become the producers and to become the content providers to test the market and to test our own markets so that way we can tap into them. We don’t have to depend on anybody, the cameras are accessible, the platform is accessible, now the actors are accessible. The game’s changing, so everything is accessible to us now we just have to be empowered enough to say you know what I’m going to do this and I’m going to make it happen. So I feel that it’s a trend right now kind of like The Fast And The Furious films and it’s working so why not tell more of those stories. We can get creative, we can tell any story we want Hollywood needs more stories. I would urge anybody that’s reading this that if you’re an aspiring writer to go write, they need you. If you’re an actor go act, they need you. If you’re a director go direct. If you’re a filmmaker go make films they need you. We need more original content and more stories that haven’t been told it’s all there for the taking!

Step Off! Magazine: In recent years there have been various calls for diversification in Hollywood all the way from acting, to casting, to writing, to even directors and producers. What are your thoughts Latino/a representation, or lack thereof in Hollywood right now? Do you think that Hollywood needs to make a better effort not only regards to Latino/a representation in Hollywood but broader casting opportunities as a whole as well in the industry? What is your take on that?

David Fernandez Jr.: Most definitely! I think that it’s shifting little by little and you have to understand that Hollywood is a business first and foremost. Their number one priority is money, at least when it come to the corporations, you know the big studios. It get’s really, really deep when it comes to this question but I think that the best way I can put it is; yes we’re underrepresented, yes we’re still following those stereotypes, but at the same time I’m starting to see programming that is changing and that the tide is shifting. Like the TV show One Day At A Time, it just got renewed for season two. I love that show, it’s a family show based on an old show from the 80’s that was very successful and it’s an all Latino family. Look at Gina Rodriguez and her show Jane The Virgin, also a majority Latino/a cast with shows like this I’m seeing the paradigm shift. It’s up to us to tell the stories that we want to tell, we don’t have to depend on anyone especially with the platform that we have available to us now. There’s no excuses for us not to produce our own content. Change it will always be difficult at first and messy in the middle but it will be beautiful at the end and I think that is the direction that we are moving towards.

Step Off! Magazine: Tapping into to your passion for speaking and mentoring the youth and young people, you’ve spoken at the San Diego Latino Film Festival on several occasions and also Latino Film showcases at local colleges to speak with students and young aspiring filmmakers. What advice do you have for young aspiring Latino/a filmmakers, actors, performers and writers and other people in general who want to get into the entertainment business?

David Fernandez Jr.: To be limitless! To pick up a camera and shoot, to pick up a camera and film. If you want to act get a camera and get a team together and shoot a little short film. Continue to produce content, content, content because as you do that through dealing with it hands on it will help you gain experience. The more you do that the more you’ll hone your craft and progressively get better and better and it will provide opportunities. See that’s the thing, as people we all have dreams, impossible visions or something we want to attain but most people don’t put that action into it. Why? Because they don’t truly believe that they can, they limit themselves or other people may limit them and everything is going against you when it comes to the teachings of society. So you have to truly believe in yourself and put the action into it because by putting the action into it that’s where opportunities come that you can’t even foresee. There are so many different mechanisms to get to the same goal. If the intention is clear the mechanism will appear. Most people focus on the mechanism, which by focusing on the mechanism you’re limiting yourself. If you focus on your intention and the idea all of those mechanisms will come. You made an action, you contacted me and look at us here now. If you wouldn’t have done that this wouldn’t have happened, that’s how simple it is. But once again we limit ourselves, we create our own reality, we look through the lenses of fear or we look through the lenses of love and unfortunately for most people, it’s fear. Because we’re being programmed with fear every day. There’s a reason why stereotypes exist, there’s a reason why the news is there and perpetuates the same shit. It’s always the same fear, fear, fear, fear, fear. If people are living in fear it’s easier to control them, plain and simple. Don’t let fear limit you.

Step Off! Magazine: Speaking of original content tell us about your your production company. You said many times that you have this aspiration to make diverse content and for families particularly.

David Fernandez Jr.: Yes! So about a year and a half ago, I had this epiphany and it was to start a company that was like Netflix but with heart centered programming and creative programming that focuses on love, not fear, that doesn’t perpetuate stereotypes, that focuses on family and that raises consciousness. That’s what we’re doing, we built an app called EYLtv it stands for ‘Earn Your Life’ that’s the quote that I live by. We’re going to be launching this year, right now we’re still acquiring films and we’re still producing our own original TV shows. One example, we have a show called Uncaged Voices. Our host is Jacob Vargas, he’s one of the top Latino actors in Hollywood he’s been in all the classics like Blood In Blood Out, Mi Familia, Selena and he’s currently in Marvel’s Luke Cage right now too. So what the show features is spoken word artists, the best of the best! I literally went all around California to San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles and took video auditions from all across the United States and got the best talent we could find. We flew people in to film the show and we also incorporated dancers and singers as well. It’s kind of like Def Poetry Jam with Russell Simmons but with dancers and singers as well. We have many other shows lined up as well if we had all the content completely ready we could launch tomorrow because the app is already built that was a big piece but we’re hoping to launch that within the year.

Step Off! Magazine: Tell us, what project did you have the most fun working on. Who’s your favorite actor that you’ve had the opportunity to work alongside with?

David Fernandez Jr.: I loved working on Sons of Anarchy. I love Sons of Anarchy because it felt like a family, hence their eight-year success on the show. My scenes were real heavy, my character’s sister gets shot in front of me and I get held at gunpoint and kinds of craziness. But, when we weren’t working we were having fun playing around and goofing around it just felt like we were all family man it was great. We had fun on the set of Weeds as well, Weeds was fun because it was like the one hundredth episode so it was like a big party that whole day of filming we just had a great time!

Step Off! Magazine: Tell us what you can about any future projects and endeavors you have linked up for the future.

David Fernandez Jr.: Well Lowriders is going to be hitting theaters May 12th that’s pretty cool. I’m really excited about that one like I said it’s a great film. I was in The Hollow Point that came out in theaters like a month and a half ago and I actually think it’s on Netflix now. The turnaround on these movies nowadays is incredible. It use to be at least six to eight months now it’s like within a month and a half it’s already there. As far as projects that I have right now I can’t really talk about it I wish I could but it’s a big TV show so I’m excited about that. I was just on Fear The Walking Dead as well that was cool. Right now we’re really focusing on launching EYLtv, that’s taking a lot of my time but starting in April I’ll be focused on this big TV show, you’re going to love it brother, I can’t wait to tell you.

Where can people find you and follow online and get all the latest updates for your upcoming films and projects?

David Fernandez Jr.: Yea I have a website www.DavidFernandezJr.com if they just google me they’ll find all of my social media stuff, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram all of that. I post a lot of fun pictures, a lot of behind the scenes pictures on Instagram for people that are interested or that love movies to show them all of that. I think it’s pretty cool, I know I would like it as somebody who’s actually in the business. So yea just follow me on DavidFernadezJr.com and I’ll be down at the San Diego Latino Film Festival as well. Get your tickets now because they’re going fast and they probably will sell out especially for Lowriders because there’s only one screening.

Step Off! Magazine: Any closing thoughts and words for our readers?

David Fernandez Jr.: Yea I like to share this quote I live by which is “Earn your life”. What that means is just believe in yourself, find your purpose whatever that purpose is and move towards that happiness I mentioned earlier. Do whatever makes you happy because the truth is life is fragile, I could walk away right now and you or I could get in a car accident and then we’re gone. We don’t realize that so why not earn it everyday and make it worth it to truly live a life. Travel, be in relationships, don’t be afraid of any of that because even all that pain that we might go through if you look at through the lenses of them being teaching moments then everything is great! Don’t be afraid to live your life and pursue your dreams.

Step Off! Magazine: Thank you for taking the time to sit down and talk with us Mr. Fernandez.

David Fernandez Jr.: Yes sir brother, thank you for having me man!