Today we’d like to introduce you to Abdoulie Ceesay.
Hi Abdoulie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born in the Bronx on January 22, 1997. I and my mom and dad lived in a cramped studio apartment above an Italian restaurant on city island, where both my parents worked at.
My dad was a chef and my mom was a waitress. With unfortunate circumstances and financial struggles, before I was 2 years old, my parents sent me to live in Banjul Gambia (West Africa) with my grandparents for about 5/6 years.
Upon moving back, I lived with my parents in the south Bronx for some time before they separated and my mother and I moved down to Raleigh North Carolina, which is where I spent the remainder of my childhood & most of my adolescence.
After high school, I moved to Charlotte to attend UNC Charlotte and I have been here ever since.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There are always challenges on the pathway to success, mine hasn’t been any different. Basically started from nothing but the idea, not really any connections or mentors that could have helped me go in the right direction.
On top of having to build & market my personal brand from the ground up, I had to deal with the struggles of being a broke college student, and upon graduation just being broke in the real world without a “real job”, finding different ways to make ends meet really elevated my hustle and made me even more determined to follow my dreams.
Of course, my family wasn’t the happiest with my decisions at first because it seemed like I just wasted five years in college by not using my degree at all, but my hard work and consistency turn them into believers over time. The real work was turning myself into a believer in myself in my abilities to achieve my goals through discipline and persistence in developing good habits.
I’m still a work in progress of course and have much room to grow both professionally and personally so it’s consistently an uphill battle.
We’ve been impressed with Who Shot Dully LLC. , but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I would say I started modeling about seven years ago my first photoshoot was in the fall of 2015 Eye believe. In my first semester of college one of my classmates (Cydney T.), had a family friend who is an editor or works with a local magazine in some capacity who needed a model, and standing in front of a camera just came really easy to me for some reason.
Throughout college, I spent time modeling and organizing fashion shows for organizations that I was a part of but I wouldn’t say I took it too seriously, it wasn’t until after graduation in 2020 that I began to give modeling more of a primary focus in my life. As I continue to prepare myself and put myself in a position more and more opportunities started to come to me and I made a small name for myself in the city of Charlotte.
By the end of 2020 going to 2021, I decided I’d start my own talent agency to represent myself with an LLC for tax purposes. I’ve been growing a lot and making strides but I also feel as though I may have plateaued at a certain level and want to push my Career forward by finding management/representation through one of the larger agencies in the US or even internationally.
I mainly offer modeling services but my dream is to be an actor so I offer those as well. As a model I am pretty universal, I can walk, give more stoic looks, or even be more drama behind the camera. I’m also pretty athletic so I’ve done shoots that required me to use my physical abilities in action shots as well.
Currently, I’d say my brand is the outward projection of myself and my goal is to give a pure, genuine, hardworking/focused vibe to anyone I work with while helping them bring their mental images/designs to life.
The thing that I would say I am most proud of from myself with my brand has got to be the level of consistency.
Regardless of the situation, how things may have looked, what’s going on in the world, or even personal difficulties I’ve managed to pretty consistently put out high-quality work that’s only getting better.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
To be honest, I wish I could find my own mentor. this whole time I’ve just been trying to figure it out, playing things by ear, and learning through my mistakes.
Growing up was always difficult for me to ask for help, so now I tend to do a lot of things on my own, which stresses me out and makes my job harder, but I know my life could be made so much easier with the proper team and mentors around. So as far as finding a good mentor goes, your guess is as good as mine lol.
As for networking you just can’t be afraid to reach out to people, reach out to as many people in the same field as you, and try to collaborate. Especially with social media being a model there are tons of photographers, local brands, & other models out there looking for people to work with.
Also, ask friends to connect you with friends. For a long time, I did have to be humble and do a lot of things for free trading my time and energy for an opportunity to learn grow and move towards my goal, while establishing credibility for myself, but there is no cheating the process it’s all a part of it.
Pricing:
- Photo/video shoot 75/hr.
- Travel Fee $0.50/mile.
Contact Info:
- Email: whoshotdully@gmail.com
- Instagram: @King.Ceesay
- Twitter: @King_Ceesay
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQpQHk2D8jthsrGeGWjHIxQ
Image Credits
Mike Segars, Sean Manuel, Taniesha Evon, Colin Cassidy, Chris “Sancho” Smalls, Taniesha Evon, and Colin Cassidy
