What is my life goal?
To present in radio and television
Who am I?
Born in Cardiff, Wales. I’m Daf (Short for Dafydd). Growing up, I’ve had an interest for three things: Music, sport and travel. From that, you may have clocked that I probably wasn’t the most academic child or ‘School smart’. That would be correct. In school, I found that I was pretty much friends with everyone and that I was like a friendly social butterfly. I wasn’t a really popular cool kid, I wasn’t a nerd, however, I was someone that everyone seemed to like and get on with. Outside of school, I played football, rugby, cricket and went to lifesaving (Swimming). My parents used to get very frustrated that when I was doing my homework, I would yawn and complain that I was too tired and didn’t understand it. I now know why.
Reading and writing has always been my Achilles heel and probably still is now. Because of this, I would always enjoy listening, watching and getting stuck into things. At the age of 15, I travelled up to Teeside where I stayed in a house with around 20 other people, coaching football and working with youth in the local areas (Some older than I). The interesting thing about this house was that everyone else was American. This struck a chord in me. I was in a house full of enthusiastic Americans randomly in Teesside for their first trip to the UK… And I was the unusual one there!
Because of this, I have had a fascination for immersing myself with different people and communities in order to tell their real-life stories. But I’m not sure if I had realised that yet
How have I tried to get there?
At 16, after school I would present on Radio Cardiff and I would sound engineer for a youth band. When applying to university, I knew that I loved presenting on the radio and I listened to BBC Radio 1 every day, so it made sense that I studied Radio Production and Broadcasting. I didn’t make any of the required grades as I really struggle with exams but the University of Gloucestershire gambled on me with an unconditional offer for which I’m extremely grateful. In-between school and university, I travelled to Brazil and coached football in the favelas (to this day, the greatest experience of my life!). University was the most difficult but most rewarding part of my life to date. Having found school hard, I utilised university to do what I wanted to do. I presented and interviewed as much as I could, I ended up captaining the American football team and commentated for Varsity. I underachieved (as expected) in my essays and exams but overachieved in my practical work. So much so that most people couldn’t have taken much notice of my exams and essays as I was awarded both, ‘Student of the Year’ for my effort and achievement and ‘Sports Personality of the Year’ which I think was for putting five touchdowns on our rivals, Worcester. In my final year I decided to step out of my radio comfort zone and give television a go. Over the course of nine months, I created a 50-minute documentary about
an illness called cystic fibrosis where we looked into my uncle’s death, my genes and the African townships that my uncle worked in despite having a terminal respiratory illness. Although all of this work equated to just 5% of my degree, it is my greatest achievement in life. This project sparked a love for television as well as radio.
Life as an adult?
At the age of 22 I felt stuck. I knew I had the ability, I had the potential and I had the support from friends and family who genuinely thought I could make it, but I was really stuck. My inspirations are Louis Theroux, Jon Ronson and Simon Reeve. I was lucky enough to meet Jon and Simon at tours (I look forward to making it a hat trick!). I asked Simon if he had any advice. He said ‘You look deflated. Keep going. Know what you want and attack it aggressively.’ He also advised that I look for jobs at production companies. I took Simon’s advice and a few months later, landed my first job in the television industry as a runner and junior technician.
Since my first job I have been doing just as Simon advised and have been aggressively pursuing my dream. I have taken every opportunity that has come my way and have worked as the following: runner, junior technician, second camera, sound recordist, podcast recorder and editor, radio researcher and television researcher. My skillset is now very broad and I’m not done learning. As well as working in radio and television, I love to collaborate with companies and friends filming for events and special occasions.
My Goals:
Create and establish more relationships with people who can help me build my career.
Work on more sports projects.
Present my first radio show/podcast.
Work on a project abroad.
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