Cool Cat: Tony Mintz
Story By: Lexi Phillips
Bio: Tony is a third-year student from Sumner, WA. With a dream of becoming a YouTuber, he majors in film production with a minor in communications.
Where you can find him: When Tony isn’t in class, you can often find him hanging out in the 1891 Bistro with friends.
Why you probably know him: “I talk to about everyone on campus,” Tony says. He’s the type of person to make friends easily, and says that he has a “very deep desire to communicate with people on an extremely genuine level.”
Why you should know him: Tony has been described as a “natural entertainer” and a “complete extrovert.” Not only that, but Tony is incredibly intelligent; he says he learns quickly and retains knowledge easily, “and then at the stupidest time ever, [I’ll] be like, ‘Hey! You wanna hear this random fact?’” Not only that, but Tony is fascinated by language, explaining that language is simply sounds with information “encoded into it.” Because of this, Tony has studied multiple languages.
Life Changing: Every four years—the week after Valentine’s Day—Tony is haunted by an unknown entity. His first experience at the age of six consisted of a “shadow-figure” dragging him through his home; similar experiences have occurred each time. However, at the age of 18, Tony was haunted by a very different force. In the same year, he says he experienced an identity crisis (loss of self), a life crisis (loss of purpose), an existential crisis, and a sexual-orientation crisis. When the week after Valentine’s Day came around, Tony said he’d reached a point of giving up, “which basically translates to: I became suicidal… I ran on autopilot for seven months of my life.” Little by little, however, things started to get better. “On my own, [I] fixed everything wrong with my past, made amends with the present, and started building for a future.” Since then, Tony says that he’s become content with himself, and has made it a goal to be completely transparent.
Tony’s key to success: For Tony, the key to being happy is “finding and pursuing your passion with all that you have.” In order to find this happiness and be successful, however, there are four steps:
1. Figure out your skills – “Things you’re actually good at.”
2. Find passions – “Not just [things] that you like doing; it’s ones where if you do it, you’re happy in like, the deepest level possible.”
3. Decide what has the most benefit – “The ones that the world needs.”
4. Find happiness – “What is the one that will make you happiest?”
In the meantime, Tony stresses that you must “take a step every single day for your future.”
Tony’s philosophy: Each day, Tony wears two rings: a black one on his left, and a silver one on his right. The black one, essentially, means “live today,” while the silver one means “thrive.” Together, they mean “live for today, because tomorrow is going to be better.”
Youtube: www.youtube.com/TonyMintz