Special Guest: Edison Jakupi - Questionable Behavior

On this installment of The Tragedy Academy, Jay is joined by actor, model, and podcaster Edison Jakupi. Edison is the host of Questionable Behavior, a podcast committed to helping creators elevate their careers and sharing their journey. In this episode, Edison invites us into his world of warfare and diligence. As a Kosovo refugee, Edison details a life of struggle. Now being on the other side of it, he's learned gratitude and developed a desire to help others in his community and industry.  

Key Points:

🇽🇰 Refugee from Kosovo

🇦🇱 Son of an Albanian music legend

😖 Creating from struggle

☯️ Congruency in struggle and creation

🎗Giving back to the community

🧘🏿‍♀️ Creating mindful moments

🍄 Experimenting with psychedelics

Episode Highlights:

[00:03:04] In 1999, Edison, his family, and their entire community were kicked out of their home in Kosovo at gunpoint by the Serbian police. The Serbians gave them 15 minutes to gather possessions or risk death. Edison was lucky enough to have learned some English as a child to communicate when he arrived in America. His parents both had to go to college again, working minimum wage jobs in the process. Learning to restart was hellish, but they had no choice but to push forward.

[00:06:57] Edison shares that he is the son of a famous Albanian musician, which helped the family when they came to the States. His father was hired to sing across many cities, and although that meant the family had to move a lot, it was a least putting food on the table.

[00:09:33] Edison draws inspiration from an artist who shares his same background; Dua Lipa. Rita Ora and Action Bronson, all Albanian artists. He and Jay agree that struggle creates character and breeds creativity. Jay states that once you meet with obstacles, the next one is met with a changed perspective. 

[00:14:43] Jay points out that The Questionable Behavior podcast interviews people who have faced some form of adversity. Edison concurs with that and adds that his whole purpose is to interview people as a storyteller. He likes to dissect people to understand who they are and why they are and get them to describe their journey. Edison notes that people often come back to thank him for allowing them to tell his story.

[00:23:22] Edison and Jay agree that time helps all improve, especially in podcasting. Your conversation skills improve along with your editing skills. Edisons notes that his younger brother began editing for him at 12, and he hated it at first. But after a few months of practice and persistence, he became a pro and now entirely edits Questionable Behavior for audio and video. 

[00:29:08] Edison feels there's an onus to give back to his community, specifically his family. He is still having good ties with his family back home and the culture. Initially, Edison was hiring his cousins and uncles back home to edit work for him. His goal is to build his podcast large enough to bring consistent work to people in his country. He notes that his people cannot quickly get visas in that country, so outsourcing and bringing opportunities is the goal.   

[00:37:18] Creators write the future, so in 2-3 years, Edison has a goal of building a podcast that can change people's lives. His mission is to get to a point where the right people listen to his show, which can catapult people's careers from just being on the podcast. It's not about getting famous; it's about helping others.

[00:45:15] Edisons describes his ayahuasca experience as life-changing but filled with overwhelming sadness. But, he took that as a learning experience and became a more enlightened person on the other side.

[00:52:49] Edison shares a conversation he had with his siblings on self-esteem; he notes that no one can make you feel less than what you think about yourself. He explains how he had low self-esteem growing up, always trying to hide his body and allowing people's words to affect him. It took him 28 years to finally understand that people's opinions do not matter; they only reflect themselves.

[00:57:57] Connect with Edison

Connect with Edison:

Youtube

Website

Instagram | @the_qbpc

Podcast 

Mentioned in this episode:

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The Tragedy Academy is a show created to bridge societal divides in a judgment-free zone using candor and humor. 

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