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Hey legend,
Content isn’t just about capturing things to publish online.
It’s also about capturing moments and memories that matter most to you that may never be posted.
On 19 August 2019 (or 4 years ago), my late father, Silvester Mica Odoi, passed away from a sudden heart attack.
At that exact moment, I was on the other side of the planet and 4 weeks into an 11-week travel content collaboration that was supposed to be the springboard of my career in content creation.
The last time I was with Dad was when he dropped me off at Melbourne Airport to start my trip. As he hugged me farewell, he said:
“I look forward to hearing all the stories you’ll have to share when you get back”.
– Dad
Sadly, I never got to share those stories with him.
While we might have the illusion that we’ll all live forever, unfortunately for everyone you know and love, our time will come.
And that’s why in today’s edition, I’m sharing my experience in the hope that you, too, will endeavour to capture many moments with those you love so their memories and spirit can always live on beyond their time.
The Storyteller
Dad was my hero.
He was a modern polymath in every sense:
“A polymath is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems.”
– Wikipedia
For my entire childhood, I was in awe of his determination and ability to solve any and every problem we ever had, even if it wasn’t directly related to his primary field of speciality (i.e. mechanical engineering).
- Plumbing or appliance faults? Got it
- Computer or technology woes? All over it
- Overwhelming high school assignments? He’s got your back
- Home renovations that we can’t afford to outsource? It’s all figureoutable, right?
It’s massively shaped my outlook on skill acquisition – that with enough focused energy and disciplined effort, you can honestly master anything you set your mind to.
It’s also why it breaks my heart to see most people convince themselves they need a degree or certification to give them permission to solve problems in their own life (self-development) or the lives of others (entrepreneurship).
Above all, Dad was also a remarkable storyteller.
He could turn any 5-minute family memory and turn it into a 1-hour emotional rollercoaster that had my sisters and me in stitches, tears, or both!
To me, that’s been his enduring legacy that led me to make a commitment to the path I’m currently on.
Here’s what lead up to that moment.
The Opportunity
In March 2019, when I was living in Sydney and working at Uber Australia, my housemate (shoutout to Grace!) tagged me in a post from Busabout (an international travel and tour operator), nudging me to enter their competition called ‘The Great Travel Experiment‘.
Targeted at aspiring content creators, 6 winners would be paired up to document their travels on all-expenses-paid trips across the world.
Applicants had to submit a 1-minute video showcasing their city while also flexing their savvy for content creation and storytelling.
I stalled on entering this competition for weeks.
But I couldn’t ignore the deep calling I had.
At this point in time, I was still an amateur content creator that hadn’t landed any paid work or collaborations from content creation.
But I knew I was itching to take the next step in my career, as I had felt I was at my expiry date with Uber. And this was the opportunity to help me take it.
So on the weekend before it was due, I committed to make it happen.
- Saturday: All-day filming and recording myself around Sydney
- Sunday: All-day editing (I barely ate or left my laptop #LockedIn)
- Monday: I shared it with close friends for feedback and made my final revisions
And so, on the night of the 8th of April, I uploaded my video to YouTube and submitted my entry to Busabout.
After a few agonising weeks of waiting for the Busabout marketing team to shortlist, select and announce their winners, we finally received confirmation that they’d contact the winners by the 23rd of April.
I couldn’t concentrate on a single thing at work that day.
And I couldn’t get to sleep that night. But I’m glad I didn’t. Because at 11:41pm AEST an email came through from Busabout’s Head of Marketing…
The Resignation
After screaming in elation & jumping around our apartment (while waking up my housemate in the process #SorryGrace), I realised I had a decision to make.
You can probably guess what I chose…
So the following day, I handed in my resignation, giving 4 weeks’ notice to Uber Australia.
Despite being in a creative, disruptive and innovative start-up environment, I was surprised that so many colleagues reacted to my news with:
- “Why would you walk away from your trajectory at such a good tech company?”
- “So what’s game plan for your tech career after this content thing?”
- “Surely you’ll come back to Uber at this, right?”
It was hard enough dealing with all of my own internal doubt, so you can imagine it was even harder when most of my colleagues were stacking on more doubt and really making me question my decision.
- What was I thinking?
- Can you actually make money, or build a career with content?
- Did you jump the gun by not having a safety net, or secure job waiting for you?
Fortunately, I had an incredible level of unwavering support and belief from one of my closest colleagues and friends, Diveakssh Schae.
This legend not only backed me 1000% to double down on this opportunity but coordinated, executed and edited an insane 6-minute farewell video from dozens of colleagues at Uber titled “Mamba Goes Public”.
Divi envisioned this opportunity as the official launchpad for my “public” debut into a career in content creation.
💡 Pro-Tip: Surround yourself with people (like Divi) that see a vision for you that’s greater than what you see for yourself
During my final day at Uber, Divi played the video in front of our entire office. While I was feeling pretty emotional and tender all day, I didn’t break into tears until the final minute of the video…
The Video
Amongst the dozens of video contributions that Divi had captured, coordinated and collected, the final minute of the video included a cameo from Mum, Dad and my little sister.
That video became the last ever recording we have of Dad talking on camera.
And in his congratulatory remarks, he shared a sentence of words that I’d never heard him string together but that’s left an imprint with me forever and with everything I do.
“You’re a champion, maverick & legend”
Not sure if it’s just me, but my Dad wasn’t one to share verbal validation, compliments or words of affirmation very often (at all?).
So you can imagine I was an emotional mess once those words landed on me 😭
Like Divi, Dad was one of the few people in my life that gave me unconditional support in carving out my own journey, even into an unknown field.
Sidenote: Now you know why I have a habit of referring to you and others that I cherish in my life as legends. Dad had a warm and welcoming regard for anyone he met, so to perpetuate that beautiful trait of his, you’ll catch me using it in the same way 😀
The Trip
After I left Uber and Sydney, I moved back in with my family in Melbourne for a couple of weeks before jetting off to Europe to kick off an 11-week adventure with Daniel (a.k.a @throughyourlens.creative), one of the other winning content creators.
Oh and remember my housemate Grace, who nudged me to enter the competition in the first place?
Well, our travel plans managed to cross over in Sziget Festival (see below), and it was a surreal moment, realising that your life really can change with just one decision (or Facebook post tag!)
The Call
Then just 4 weeks into the trip on the 19th of August 2019 (4 days before my 26th birthday) while we were travelling from Montenegro to Albania, I received a life-changing phone call from my family about Dad.
No warning signs at all.
A sudden heart attack.
At the age of 61.
Just like that.
Gone.
As you can imagine, this pulled the plug on my content collaboration, as well as any future ambitions for a career in content creation, as my entire life was focused on working through the challenging months ahead for my family and myself.
The Tapes
In the weeks following Dad’s passing, while our family was sorting through his old boxes, I discovered dozens of long-forgotten VHS and cassette tapes that contained hundreds of hours of family memories, that he documented using his Sony Handycam ‘Video 8’ Camcorder.
All of a sudden…it clicked.
The reason he was one of my biggest supporters was because he saw himself in what I was doing.
Documenting and sharing stories.
That’s why whenever I showed him a video I had created that included our family, I saw a part of him light up that I rarely saw.
Sadly the technology of the 90’s and 2000’s didn’t make video editing and content creation, as accessible as it is today, so for Dad, most of those memories of our family would always remain unedited and sitting across dozens of tapes.
But today, within a few seconds you can tap a button on your smartphone camera and record crystal clear video footage of your loved ones, that you can easily edit, store, access and share in the future.
My friend, do not take that for granted.
And if you’re unsure what to capture of your parents or grandparents on camera, big credits to Scott ‘The Barefoot Investor’ Pape for this guide that’s a fantastic selection of 5 questions to ask next time you’re with them.
Capture them for your future self.
Capture them for your family.
Capture them for your legacy.
So in summary
- Your time will come. The same goes for everyone you love
- So make sure you capture content that’s more than just a snapshot photo
- Especially if you’re planning to raise a family, capture and create videos of your parents/grandparents because the technology we have today is something their generation would’ve loved to have had.
To honour Dad and his legacy, I made a commitment to make content creation and storytelling work.
Even if it’d take years of struggling with plenty of ups and downs, I’m doing it for him.
And if you’d like to hear more about my journey since then and how I’ve embraced Dad’s legacy of being the maverick of your own life, check out this awesome conversation I had with the legends from Bottled Up.
See you in the next one legend,
🕺🏽Mamba