What is 'CDE'? My Story So Far.

"Be the Change." It's the first thing you see when you log onto this site, bordered by a thin gold line. But what exactly do I mean by, "Be the Change?" And what the hell is this site? You might be wondering both of these things, so I wanted to treat my first blog post as an introduction to me and why I made this site, Caylen David Entertainment (CDE). I touch upon this briefly in my "About me" page, but this blog will allow me to talk in more detail about what led me to making this site.

If you know me personally, you probably know that I kinda come from the middle of nowhere; Middle-of-nowhere-Pennsylvania, to be a little more specific; Greencastle, Pennsylvania, to be precise. A place where no one is really supposed to go to prestigious schools such as UPenn. I'm the second ever graduate of Greencastle-Antrim High School to attend the University of Pennsylania, and I carry the pride of my hometown with me, even if I never truly fit in (I was the only Jewish kid at my high school, and coming to Penn was overwhelming in this respect. This can be a separate post, though). When I arrived at Penn, I already was taking in how many new things I was being exposed to. I had finally arrived in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, as well as the fifth-most populated city in the US. When you were raised in a town of about 3000, it's a whole new lifestyle transitioning to the city life. I loved it though, and I always knew that I wanted to go to college in a big city. While I was fortunate enough to do occasional traveling with my family across the US, I never got to experience life outside of that rural bubble. That rural bubble that I lived in for so long left me very uncultured and uneducated compared to my peers, but I was still excited to learn.

Choosing a school was a difficult decision, but what ultimately drew me to Penn was its curriculum, specifically the curriculum offered in The College of Arts & Sciences (AKA "The College"), one of Penn's four undergraduate schools. I loved the College's encouragement for students to explore new disciplines and take unique courses that sound interesting to them, and I don't know if I'd be where I am now without that push. Coming into college, I had a very set plan in mind: I wanted to major in Criminology, go to law school, and become a criminal defense attorney. Seems simple, until I got halfway through CRIM-100 and decided, "This is interesting, but not interesting enough to make it my life." At that point, I laid my faith completely into the hands of the College, letting my exploration run free as I considered other majors.

I bounced a lot of potential majors around freshman year, but the most important thing I did was join the Social Planning & Events Committee (SPEC). I knew that I wanted to be involved in student government, and SPEC just so happened to be the only branch that didn't require an application; I was rejected from two other branches until I came to the realization that club applications take a lot of time away from your first few weeks of college, a time that's truly essential and about adjusting to new surroundings (I can also write a separate post about this). Specifically, I joined a branch of SPEC called SPEC Connaissance (or 'Conn' for short), the branch primarily responsible for bringing keynote speakers to campus for discussions or other related events. The first event, "SNL @ Penn," had already been planned throughout the summer, and was exactly one week after our first meeting. Here I was, not even done my first week of classes at Penn, trying to learn how to properly be an usher for the Annenberg Theater. However, it wasn't too hard and the event was a blast, and featured five cast members of Saturday Night Live, each performing their own segment of stand-up. After the event, I had a newfound spark of interest in the entertainment industry, something I had never even considered before coming to Penn. I was from farmland, how was I even supposed to begin exploring such a vast industry? Especially after my first bit of relevant "experience" consisted of simply instructing patrons on where to sit?

In the remainder of the fall semester, I remained active in SPEC, continued to focus on my academics, but decided to put entertainment on the back-burner. In the months that followed, I continued to explore different majors and potential career paths. Entertainment finally resurfaced in the weeks following Penn's decision to kick everyone out of campus and switch to remote learning. I received an email advertising a virtual webinar called, "Success is Just One Failure Away." The event featured Penn Alum Rich Ross, an entertainment executive who served as Chairman of Disney Studios, as well as President of Discovery.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that this webinar changed my life. Hearing Rich's journey through the world of entertainment was so inspiring, especially when he talked about the roles he played in creating household names such as Hannah Montana and High School Musical. Coming from a small town, I could have never thought I'd learn about this side of the entertainment business; about all the "behind-the-scenes" jobs that drive the creative vision forward; the jobs that allow us to tell stories that bring families together. After hearing Rich speak, I was so moved and inspired. What started out as a webinar that I registered for because it looked cool, quickly became a webinar that would reshape the dreams I had for myself. I thought to myself, "I want to be like that guy. This is what I want to do with my life."

In the weeks that followed, I started exploring the entertainment industry more, researching what type of jobs exist in the certain sectors of entertainment (Music, Film, Television). I was quickly overwhelmed, and didn't know how to really build up any experience that would make me a competitive candidate for an internship or other opportunity deep in the entertainment world. I figured that I was leaps and bounds behind the kids who are from citites like New York City or Los Angeles. The worst part was that I wasn't in Philly anymore, now I was back in small-town Greencastle, worried that I wouldn't have anything to do for my summer. I reached out to Rich Ross, who gave me a much needed pep-talk for how I should start building my exposure in entertainment. I knew that waiting around for an opportunity to come up or change wasn't a good way to be using my time: I knew I had to be the change that I was waiting for in my life.

I was inspired by the way my fellow peers within the Penn community continued to push forward despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic affected everyone in different ways, with some students being forced to return to homes with strained family relations, limited internet access, or any other conditions that created an inefficient learning environment. As a FGLI (First-Gen, Low Income) student, I experienced some issues, but I had other peers whose transitions back home were much worse than mine. But yet despite all of this, there were students working to still make a positive change in the pandemic. I wanted to find a way to highlight the work that these students were doing amidst the many crises happening all around us. This is why I started my first talk show, “Early Evenings with Caylen David.” I’m grateful for my peers at WQHS Radio, Penn’s student-run radio station, for providing me the opportunity to DJ for them. I’ve learned so much from the guests I’ve interviewed on the show, with many of them showing the same appreciation for the show. Even on episodes where I only had three live guests, students were just as enthusiastic to share the work they had been doing.

I would say that Early Evenings marked the beginning of my journey into the entertainment and multimedia world, and was my first production. Since its debut, I’ve also taken the helm at producing three different podcasts for i117, a community social equity group that was founded by my Human Rights Literature teacher from high school. Additionally, I’ve started writing for the WQHS Music Blog, as well as the Penn Moviegoer. Both of these publications have allowed me to immerse myself into different sectors of the entertainment industry, while also providing me an opportunity to work on my writing, something that has been a sort of weakness for me up until this point. I’ve also started to reintroduce myself to video editing, since production is what I’m aiming for as of right now in the long-term. I‘m hoping that once I get back to Philly, I can take on some visual videography projects, so stay tuned for those.

To anyone out there afraid to start chasing their dreams, know that walking your own path won’t be easy. There will be those who laugh when you enthusiastically tell them about your new idea, or sarcastically say ”Okay, call me when you’re famous.” For all those people casting their doubt, fuck that. Too many people are afraid to take that uncomfortable first step that is forging their own path, but those who persevere and continue to follow their passions will discover loads of new experiences, new interests, and new routes of self-discovery. Maybe Caylen David Entertainment will be a flop, maybe it’ll blow up and I become a star. For now, I’m envisioning that the latter comes true :). Rich gave me a piece of advice that has stuck with me since we first spoke on the phone, and I encourage everyone to heed the same advice:

“Be Ambitiously Patient” - Rich Ross

The path of making a name for yourself in any industry, let alone entertainment, can be a long process and it won’t happen overnight. I’m just hoping that through the content that I’m making within CDE, I both entertain and educate my peers in a way that unites our community. I started this whole thing in the heat of COVID-19, and as the cloud of uncertainty surrounding the upcoming year grows, I only hope that the work I've been doing is somewhat of a silver lining for my peers as we figure out how to traverse the upcoming academic year and any other obstacles that we may face along the way. Until then, I hope everyone enjoyed learning a little more about why I started this site. Everyone be safe, and have a great night.

-Cayl