Today we’d like to introduce you to Xavier Bennett
Hi Xavier, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My name is Xavier Bennett and I am a content creator from Ohio. Growing up in Lorain, Ohio, my mother loved drawing and creating art, and on Sundays I joined my mother and grandmother at church where live music was playing every week. All of this was inspiring me at a young age to be myself creatively. As I aged, I started hanging out with my older brothers more and I started to love the American culture in a new way. Growing up with my mother, grandmother and brothers, I was taking in all genres of music, fashion and art.
My mother and father’s family loved to travel, play movies and music, and show me art from many different decades which helped me to see how timeless different forms of art can be. My family would play Jazz, Soul, Funk, RnB, and Latin music when I was a kid. I was also inspired by film and video game soundtracks, where I grew to love symphonies and orchestras. From that, the first instrument I started playing was the violin when I was young, but only for a few years, and I even got into singing in choirs. When I started hanging out with my brothers as I got older, I started listening to hip-hop and I started to admire artists like JAY-Z, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, Charles Hamilton, and many more artists who had a message to say to the world along with the production I was looking for. When I realized I wanted to make content in different ways I was in elementary school, where I got into doing magic tricks, photography, drawing, filming and editing videos, and I would write poems and lyrics.
At age 12, I started trying to record, engineer and mix my own music. After a trip to Puerto Rico and Amsterdam, I was inspired to make art in new ways. In middle school I was making music, putting it on MySpace and filming fun content for YouTube. In high school, I started releasing my own music and mixtapes, performing at talent shows, and performing at live shows and venues in downtown Cleveland like Peabody’s. While in high school I would work on short films with local creators as well. When I finished high school I went to college at Kent State University, where I graduated in Business. While in college, I started getting involved with a media outlet called I’m From Cleveland working on marketing and content creation. I was involved with film projects like short films and tv shows, acting in Channing Tatum’s show titled “College” that he executively produced, and I started releasing EPs, singles, and albums, while modeling for different corporations like Nike and Adidas, and collaborating with companies in Cleveland helping them create content and advertising.
After college, I’ve been working on content for the media outlet I’m From Cleveland which keeps me involved in the Cleveland community, I’ve been releasing music, making content, filming projects and collaborating with different brands, companies and figures around Ohio and America.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
In everyone’s life, there will always be bumps in the road and struggles along the way, but it’s how your mentality is during those moments that matter the most. In life you have to learn how to deal with your emotions and mental health. For me, creativity is one of my top therapeutic outlets and coping mechanisms. Engaging in creative activities can have a powerful positive effect on your mood. Creativity stimulates the brain’s reward system, leading to the release of dopamine, which enhances feelings of pleasure and satisfaction.
Creative expression also serves as a form of emotional release, allowing you to process feelings and reduce stress. It encourages mindfulness by keeping you focused on the present moment, which can help ease anxiety and improve overall mental well-being. Completing a creative project often provides a sense of accomplishment, boosting self-esteem and confidence.
Besides creativity, hitting the gym and working out is another one of my coping mechanisms. Physical activity releases endorphins, which are natural chemicals in the brain that promote feelings of happiness and reduce stress. Exercise also helps regulate other mood-related hormones, like serotonin and dopamine, which can alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression. Working out can reduce cortisol levels, or the stress hormone, and improve sleep quality, both of which contribute to better mental health.
I’m also a big advocate for marijuana & psilocybin being used to treat your mental health as natural sacred plant medicines for when they are needed. Cannabis is great with reducing symptoms of anxiety, depression and PTSD. Psilocybin, the active compound in psychedelic magic mushrooms, has shown to treat mental health issues like depression, anxiety, PTSD, and it promotes neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to create and reorganize neural connections, which psilocybin can enhance. Psilocybin promotes increased connectivity between different regions of the brain, often leading to new insights, emotional processing, and changes in thought patterns. This effect is why it’s being studied as a treatment for conditions like depression, PTSD, and addiction, as it may help “reset” unhealthy mental habits and foster more adaptive thinking. In life, I figured out ways to get through tough times, and it’s how I have been dealing with those moments that have mattered the most.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a content creator that has been releasing music, creating content for various outlets, modeling, acting, filming projects, and collaborating with brands, companies, and influential figures across Ohio and America. I am a creative professional deeply involved in the Cleveland community through my work with the media outlet I’m From Cleveland, where I work on content, journalism, and interviews.
I make music, art, and collaborate with impactful individuals and brands to show to the people that you can do anything your heart is set on if you put the work in. I am also here to remind the people that we only have so much time on Earth with this human experience, and the time is now when it comes to taking action on the goals we have in mind. Living in America, we have so much freedom to chase after what we want out of life. I am here to wake the people up to who they truly are.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
My advice for those starting out is to just dive in. The “10,000-Hour Rule,” popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in his book “Outliers,” suggests that it takes roughly 10,000 hours of dedicated practice to achieve mastery in a specific skill, and that’s how I view anything when you’re starting out. The more time you put into learning a skill, the more you’ll be an expert at.
When starting out I had to dive into everything and learn by myself, whether it was teaching myself music production, how to write songs, video editing, photography, or marketing in general. I had to learn by diving in, making my own mistakes and figuring out what works best for me as a person. There is so much I wish I knew when I was younger, but the older I have gotten, the wiser I have become.
Life experience was a way for me to learn and grow. One thing I wish I thought about when I was younger is how every day is a beautiful new opportunity. There’s so much a person can accomplish in a year’s time and it’s how we apply ourself in each and every day that is most important.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xavierbennett/
