Today we’d like to introduce you to Malcolm Stewart.
Hi Malcolm, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Well, I grew up In the Bronx of south NY, and then in middle school, I moved to North Atlanta due to my dad’s job changing companies and stayed there until I graduated High school. Coming from the Bronx which was predominantly black and Latino cultures, to a relatively conservative part of the south was definitely a culture shock, but also helped mold who I am today.
As you know, I grew up playing soccer from as early as the age of 4, and it has been my first love for all of my life even to this day. From as early as I can remember, I wanted to play on the tv and become a professional. I would say around 9th grade, or early 10th grade is when I started to get recognized for my ability on the field. During that time, Atlanta United was called “Georgia United”, there wasn’t an MLS team nor had the Mercedes Benz Stadium hadn’t been built. For those who don’t know much about soccer, MLS teams have academies which are essentially professional environments, set up to give young players the training and opportunities to progress to the Major League at a younger age. Georgia United, along with many other “club” teams in states without MLS teams, operated in the same fashion, just without the first team opportunities.
When I was 16, I got scouted to play for Jamaica’s youth national team at the Under-17 level. My parents are Jamaican, so I was eligible to get my citizenship and represent Jamaica at the national level. This was huge to me because I wasn’t selected for the US residency program where the US youth national team all lived and trained together. I got to play in the CONCACAF youth world cup qualifiers, where we, unfortunately, didn’t qualify but gave me the experience of my life at just 17. I lived in Jamaica for 3/4 months on my own, training and doing what I love while still in high school; it didn’t feel real at the time.
After that, I started getting recruited like crazy from universities. Our academy team was ranked among the top50 in the country. In the end, I received offer/ recruitment visit requests from 73 of the 106 Division 1 programs at the time. My top 5 choices were: the University of Kentucky, the University of Washington (Washington the State), Oregan State, and UNC Charlotte which were all offering full-ride scholarships. I ultimately chose UNC because they had just recently been to the Division 1 college cup final.
I believe I made the wrong decision due to me and the coaches not seeing eye to eye. I barely played in my first year, and I wasn’t used to that. In my first season, we got knocked out of the NCAA tournament in the second round where I didn’t play. Then my second year, I got called up to play with Jamaica’s under-20 national team and played really well. I was getting contacted by a few different agents, and after that, I started to play more at school. I played almost every minute until we got to the NCAA tournament again. A senior who was injured came back and took my spot for the second-round game, and we ended up losing. I wasn’t happy and hadn’t been faced with adversity or a situation like that. I ended up deciding to leave school and pursue a professional career. I saw too many kids getting injured and the politics of seniority over talent; I didn’t see it helping my aspirations of playing professionally.
I got an agent, and went on a few trials over a few months (closed tryouts), and got signed to LA Galaxy. This was one of my childhood dreams, and to accomplish it before my 20th birthday felt even better. Being in California also helped me get signed to a major modeling agency in Wilhelmina, as well as sparked my passion for photography. Despite what people may think, Professional soccer players, aren’t making millions of dollars here in the US, not like in Europe and Asia. So, as a young rookie, my contract was not the greatest. I got scouted by a smaller agency called Otto Models, and they booked me for Adidas, Carhart, and NYFW shows, which helped me make money on top of soccer. This helped because as a professional, you finish practice around 12 or 1 pm, and then if you don’t have a game or travel, you have the whole day free. So, modeling helped fill that free time and helped me to make friends all over the world. I was in LA for about 3 years on and off due to being loaned out to different teams, before the covid19 pandemic hit.
This was the last season on my contract, and I didn’t know when the season or sports were going to resume, which was scary and stressful! After lots of research and talks with my parents, I decided to start classes online and then move to Florida when on-campus classes resumed in order to finish the last of my university schooling. I decided to transfer as many credits as I could to Full Sail University in pursuit of a Cyber security degree. This was scary because the shift from being a professional athlete/ model to being a student again felt impossible.
Since being here in Orlando, apart from modeling, I have started to make a name for myself with photography and videography. I first got into it when I needed my headshots taken and couldn’t afford them; my mom sent me her camera. Since then, just like with soccer, I was practicing and getting better. Then when I moved here and realized that I needed another way to support myself without soccer, I turned to my camera. I walked around to different businesses, bars, etc., and then started reaching out to creators online in order to build my portfolio. And within 4 months, I built my website and portfolio to the point that it was profitable and manageable. I have done work for clients like Room22, Eden the Lounge, Celine, Staples, Neewer, SuperduperKyle, 6LACK & Pastor J.
I graduate on September 2nd!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not at all; one of my biggest struggles was leaving school and not getting selected for the draft. At the time, I believed entering the draft was my best/ only option for entering the professional league. My parents were on my back about what I was going to do, so there was a lot of pressure on 19-year-old me. Luckily, I found my agent who secured trial opportunities for me that got me to the professional teams.
The other Obstacle I think we all faced was covid. For me, it made me unemployed due to sports across the world canceling games and then seasons. This happened during the last year of my contract, leaving me without very many options. After a ton of research and talking with my family, I chose to go back to school and finish what I. had left so that I’m not left in this situation again. This time, I went for Cyber Security because I felt that it was pandemic proof in case of something like covid19 happened again.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Modeling really helped me with my photography. When I started modeling and couldn’t afford $300 headshots, I would ask my friends to take them on my old DSLR camera with me in front of a white cover sheet. It was frustrating because none of them knew how to get the angles, lighting, or focus the camera for what I needed. I then decided to try doing them myself with a self-timer, and they came out perfect. I kept practicing until one day, one of my friends KM (Kandiman Productions), who is a music producer, asked me if I wanted to go to Coachella within 2 hours. I was like, how much are the tickets? And he responded saying they were free on one condition. I said what was up, and he said that Wale (“No Hands” artist) needed a videographer to document his performance and weekend there. I immediately left the place I was getting a haircut at, and in 30 minutes, I was at his apartment. After that weekend, every chance I got, I was practicing and getting better. But, at the time, photography and videography were taking a backseat to soccer and modeling. It became a bit difficult to be doing all of them professionally, so I focused more on the other 2 until I came down to Florida to finish schooling. I think the one thing that helped my development, was not being complacent. Living in Los Angeles, the competition is apparent with almost everything, so for me, there wasn’t time to waste or be complacent. That has definitely helped me down here in Orlando, as I see my work ethic stand out from many others in the sense of always wanting to work and progress.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up I was always outside, no matter what you could find me playing basketball, and soccer, running around the block with my friends, and to my uncle’s little shops. Growing up my personality was relatively happy until I moved to Atlanta, then I became a little more aggressive and rebellious. I have 2 sisters and 1 brother who are all way older, so I kind of grew up on my own. I think a lot of the independence that I have now comes from that period and having to start over and figure out a new environment on my own.
Pricing:
- Headshots: $90.00
- Photo/ Hr/ Person: $65
- video: $125
- video/ edit: $250
- Daily rate: $400 – $500
Contact Info:
- Website: Malcolmscollective.com
- Instagram: themalcolmstewart
