From Body Shaming to Center Stage: How Jeremy Durana Mastered Storytelling, UFC Interviews, and a Life of Purpose

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Introduction: An Unlikely Hero’s Journey

What does it take to become a master of storytelling? How does one go from being a target of childhood bullying to interviewing elite UFC athletes on a global stage? The answer lies not in a simple formula, but in a powerful transformation forged through adversity, grit, and an unshakable connection to spirituality.

In a profound episode of Luxury Unplugged, host Neeti Keswani sits down with Jeremy Durana, a Canadian actor, musician, teacher, and storyteller whose life is a testament to the power of resilience. This blog delves deep into their conversation, unpacking the pivotal lessons from Jeremy’s journey. For any content creator feeling stuck, any artist battling self-doubt, or anyone seeking a profound personal transformation, Jeremy’s story is a masterclass in turning pain into purpose.

We will explore how his early struggles with body shaming became the foundation for an incredible transformation, how martial arts provided a metaphorical framework for life, how he built a unique bridge between education and elite UFC interviews, and why spirituality is the non-negotiable core of sustained success and mental peace. This is more than an interview recap; it’s a roadmap for personal growth.

The Canvas of Adversity: A Painful Beginning

Jeremy Durana’s journey is a powerful reminder that every great storytelling arc begins with a conflict. His was not a privileged start. He openly shares with Neeti Keswani that, on paper, he wasn’t set up for success.

Childhood Obesity and Body Shaming: Jeremy’s transformation began at a point of profound vulnerability. He battled childhood obesity, carrying 250 pounds on a young frame, which made him a target for body shaming.
Racism and Social Isolation: As the only "colored family on the block," he experienced isolation and racism, adding another layer to his early struggles.
The "Skins vs. Shirts" Incident: A pivotal, painful memory was his first day of high school Phys. Ed. class. The teacher instituted "Skins vs. Shirts," and Jeremy, due to his size, was placed on the team forced to remove his shirt—with the girls' gym class just yards away. This moment, as he told Neeti Keswani, felt like it "totally killed" his social life on day one.

This accumulation of adversity could have broken him. Instead, it became the fuel for an incredible personal transformation. It was the first act in a much larger story of resilience.

The Catalyst: Martial Arts and the Metaphor for Life

The turning point in Jeremy Durana’s transformation came when he channeled his pain into discipline. He took his Phys. Ed. teacher’s advice to start running, but he found his true calling when he stepped onto the mats of a martial arts dojo. This was not just about physical change; it was a mental and spiritual transformation.

1. The Dojo as a Sanctuary:
For Jeremy, the martial arts dojo was a sanctuary from the "isms" of the world. He told Neeti Keswani, "Everybody's the same there's no opulence... you take a bow when you get onto that mat, you shake your opponent's hand, and everyone builds a camaraderie." This was his first experience of a judgment-free zone, a place that built character and resilience.

2. Combat Sports as a Metaphor:
Jeremy explains that martial arts became a powerful metaphor for life. It taught him to respect his opponent—a lesson he transferred to job interviews, auditions, and professional competition.

"When it comes to the job interview, sure this person might be bringing variables X, Y, and Z to the table with their resume, but on mine, I've got X, Y, Z plus I've got A, B, C. In other words, you're bringing more elements to the game."
This mindset of adding "more bullets to his arsenal" is directly borrowed from mixed martial arts, where a wrestler must also learn striking to become a champion.

This phase of his transformation was foundational. It built the grit and strategic thinking that would later define his careers in acting, teaching, and UFC interviewing.

Storytelling in Action: The Turnbuckle Club and UFC Interviews

Jeremy Durana didn’t wait for opportunities; he created them using the power of storytelling. Understanding that his unique background was his strength, he built a platform from the ground up.

The Turnbuckle Club: A Vehicle for Education
As a teacher, Jeremy noticed a way to engage at-risk students. He created "The Turnbuckle Club," an extracurricular club that used professional wrestling and UFC as a vehicle for literacy and marketing education. This innovative approach to storytelling—using the stories of athletes to teach kids—caught the attention of major organizations like the WWE and the UFC.

Mastering the Art of the Interview
His work with the club gave him a unique "in." He could approach UFC organizations not just as a journalist, but as an educator with a virtuous mission. This led to memorable interviews with legends like Georges St-Pierre (GSP).

Jeremy’s storytelling approach in these interviews was nuanced. He didn’t just ask about fights; he asked GSP about financial literacy to teach his students. He observed the champion training on a holiday, a powerful anecdote about dedication that he now shares as a lesson in resilience. This ability to find the deeper, human story behind the athlete is what makes his storytelling so compelling for any content creator to study.

The Spiritual Core: Where Luxury and Spirituality Coexist

A central theme of the Luxury Unplugged podcast is how luxury and spirituality can coexist. For Jeremy Durana, the ultimate luxury is peace of mind and purpose, which he found through his spiritual connection.

The "Spiritually Broken" Phase:
Jeremy confessed to Neeti Keswani that he recently went through a period where he was "spiritually broken." He was so consumed with achieving goals and managing the grind of acting, teaching, and UFC interviewing that he neglected his spiritual core. This led to burnout.

The Return to Spirituality:
With the help of mentors, he rediscovered that spirituality is the bedrock of everything. He now starts his days with prayer and meditation, asking for clarity and wisdom.

"I'm always asking for just the wisdom to be able to say things the right way to lead people down the right path... We don't know what that tidbit of information might manifest to 20 years from now."

This spiritual practice is what allows him to sustain his demanding lifestyle. It’s the force that prevents burnout and infuses his work with meaning. For anyone on a path of personal growth, this is a critical lesson: success without spirituality is often unsustainable.

The Actor’s Grind: Pivoting with Purpose and Handling Rejection

Jeremy’s foray into acting is another chapter in his storytelling saga. Coming from a traditional household, a career in the arts was not encouraged. He pursued Computer Science to meet familial expectations but never let his creative fire die.

The Hustle and the Grind:
He and his brother funded their own equipment, creating guerrilla-style documentaries and student films. This hustle led to small opportunities, which compounded over years. His persistence is a masterclass for any content creator. He emphasizes the unseen grind, like the 24-hour cycles of travel and work on sets like Mayor of Kingstown, which nobody sees in the final product.

Advice for Beating Self-Doubt and Burnout:
When Neeti Keswani asked for his advice on handling rejection and self-doubt in creative fields, Jeremy offered two golden rules:

Never Take It Personally: Rejection is not a reflection of your worth.
Treat Everything as a Teachable Moment: Always ask for feedback. "Where exactly did I falter? What should I work on?"

During periods of burnout, he advises not to abandon your craft entirely but to hone a single, adjacent skill.

"Think of a skill that you obtain as an investment... everything that you can build upon those foundational skills is compound interest."

This philosophy of persistent, compound effort—inspired by seeing GSP practice a simple jab on his day off—is the key to long-term success in acting and any creative pursuit.

Conclusion: Your Story Awaits Its Transformation

The journey of Jeremy Durana, as shared with Neeti Keswani on Luxury Unplugged, is a powerful narrative of transformation. It proves that our deepest wounds can become our greatest strengths when we apply resilience, discipline, and spirituality.

His story is a guide for:

The content creator learning the art of storytelling.
The fan seeking the human story behind the UFC.
The individual feeling held back by self-doubt or past trauma.
The professional experiencing burnout and seeking a deeper purpose.
Anyone committed to their personal growth and transformation.

The lessons are clear: Embrace your struggles as the first act of your story. Find your "dojo" to build resilience. Use your unique angle to create opportunities. Never stop honing your craft. And, most importantly, anchor your entire being in a spiritual practice that provides peace and clarity. This is how you master the art of storytelling—not just on a stage or in an interview, but in the most important project of all: the story of your own life.

Luxury Unplugged Podcast - Episode Transcript

Host: Neeti Keswani
Guest: Jeremy Durana

(Introduction)

Neeti Keswani: "If you are a content creator and you wish to master the Art of Storytelling, you wish to be a host at an International Event, perhaps you wish to interview UFC athletes, you have come to the right episode. Because in this episode, we are interviewing Jeremy Durana. He is a Canadian actor, a musician, and a Storyteller whose journey is nothing short of inspiring. His path to success wasn't easy, and we will touch upon all those points, all those challenges like bullying and body shaming and things like that. But if you are here for this experience of how storytelling can become your vehicle for transformation and how luxury and spirituality can coexist in a meaningful way, then you are in the right episode. Welcome Jeremy, we are so honored to have you."

Jeremy Durana: "Neeti, I'm very happy to be here. You know, you gave me quite an extravagant introduction here. You hyped me up, now I've got to live up! Like one of those busts you see, those artistic busts or those cost poses where you have to stand in a very distinguished manner. I don't think I'm worthy of all that, but I greatly appreciate that introduction and I can't wait to delve into these topics and this conversation. I've been looking forward to this for a while. Thank you."

(The Starting Point: Overcoming Adversity)

Neeti Keswani: "Lovely, lovely. So, Jeremy Durana, tell us that in the industry that is of acting and, you know, theater and UFC, it's a very diverse canvas, don't you think so? So how was your... how did you set the standards for each industry and how did you thrive in that kind of competition which is very diverse?"

Jeremy Durana: "Yes. Neeti, in order to delve into this topic, the first thing we need to do is a little humility here. I didn't set the standards for anything. But what I will say though is I'm definitely trying my best to break boundaries. Because in order to get into this conversation on a deep level, we have to hit the rewind button on the Jeremy Durana VHS tape and take you way back, a way back playback here.

Look, it didn't start off this way. Absolutely not. In fact, on paper, I shouldn't even be here having this conversation with you right now, Neeti. On paper, I wasn't really set up for Success. I had to overcome a lot of obstacles in order to get to the point that I'm at. And let's make another thing clear, I'm just scratching the surface. We're looking at the tip of the iceberg. I still have a lot more to do and I've got a lot more mileage to go.

But if we want to talk about how it all started out, you're talking about someone who had to first of all obtain and gain confidence. So when you listed all of those great things at the beginning of the podcast and a lot of the accomplishments and achievements, people need to understand that it started out with me being body shamed as a young man.

I battled childhood obesity when I was growing up. I'm talking, you know, as a child you're like 4'8" to 5'3" right, but on that frame I carried a 250-pound frame. So that was a size 45 waist, 250 pounds. Genetically speaking, when we're looking at my family, we're predisposed to things like obesity and diabetes. So that's the starting point of this race.

And to make matters worse, I lived in an area as well where I was the token guy. And by saying that, I don't want to delve too much into race and whatnot, but I was definitely an outcast. I was the only colored family on the Block, so that was another Target. Bad skin. When you hear people talk about bad skin and acne, that was me as well. And then in terms of opulence, it wasn't like we came from a very rich background. Very modest, very modest working class. So another Target was, you know, we went to school not wearing the fanciest clothing.

So we're talking about in any way that someone can emasculate you in a classroom, especially growing up in the era that I grew up in—need I remind you, I'm almost 50. I'm talking about far back. When I was growing up in school, teachers chided you, your classmates chided you, and it was just a way of life.

To take things even further, I remember my first day in high school. We're talking about Phys. Ed. I love this teacher, he definitely instilled value and character into me, but my first Phys. Ed. class, back in those days when they wanted to make two teams, we had something called 'Skins versus Shirts.' Which basically meant in a basketball game, you had a group of boys with t-shirts versus a bunch of guys who had to remove their shirts.

Now, I'm a teacher nowadays. We couldn't pull that sort of stunt today. You can't write that into a lesson plan otherwise you're fired. But in my day, my teacher, seeing my frame as well as another classmate—we were both the heavy guys—he put us on the team where we had to remove our clothes. It was like, 'Take off your shirts and you're going to be on the Skins team.' And what made things even worse is that just a few yards away you had the girls gym class as well. So clearly when the guys are taking off their shirts for a basketball game, girls will take a gander.

On day one, Neeti, on day one in high school, I think my social life was totally killed, destroyed. It didn't leave detrimental psychological effects, but what it did was it definitely set me on a different course, a different track."

Neeti Keswani: "But here I'd like to interrupt you. I mean, from that episode and from that particular incident and incidents like that, you have come a long way. Like if I look at you right now, you talked about skin issues, acne, and you talked about body shaming, but I think you're in the best frame right now. So, how did that transformation happen for you?"

(The Transformation: Grit and Martial Arts)

Jeremy Durana: "You know, Neeti, I'm really happy that you prompted me there because that transitions into grit. Like I said, I'm in school these days and that's one of the things that I try to instill into the children. That's what the parents really appreciate about having me at the front of the classroom, is that I try to instill grit, tenacity, perseverance, everything that really builds character.

And what did I do? That same Phys. Ed. teacher said, 'Hey, if you want to trim down, the first thing you need to do is just start running laps.' So yes, that hardened me to hitting the gym. I started to run laps, I started to run the miles—in Canada we call kilometers over here—I started to do a lot of that. Then I entered into the world of Combat Sports. I try not to get too emotional about this because this is what saved my life. It was getting into amateur wrestling and Brazilian jiujitsu."

Neeti Keswani: "I would like to talk to you about the jiujitsu aspect because a lot of younger kids, especially teenagers, are and should be encouraged to pursue some sort of combat exercises or some sort of sports like that. So how do you recommend that helped you in transforming your body and getting that specific thing that was needed to come out strong in a society which was you know, very racist at that time?"

Jeremy Durana: "Yes. First of all, in this interview I want everyone to understand that I will not be leaning on any of these things as my escape card. But what I will say is this: when I entered the dojo with my brother, Jason Durana, one of my first dojo trainers was from Brazil, a very famous camp called Nova União, and his name was Wagney Fabiano. He's one of the top Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners.

The reason why I'm getting emotional is we walked right into that dojo, and Neeti, I've been in schools as a teacher, I've been in churches, I've been in spiritual places, I've been in professional work environments—soccer, hockey—all of the -isms do not exist in a dojo. When you walk into a dojo, everybody's the same. There's no opulence, it's not about rich, not about black or white or any color. You take a bow when you get onto that mat, you shake your opponent's hand, and everyone builds a camaraderie. They accept you in.

I remember that was my first opportunity to build camaraderie with people who didn't judge you. And it's ironic because when you think of the realm of fights, there could be a stigma attached to Combat Sports. I didn't witness any of those stigmas or any of the negative connotations in that environment. That's the shocking part. In fact, that's what built me into the person that I am today. That's what built grit. That's what made me a person that could look at a problem and approach it from various angles. Because fight and Combat Sports is a metaphor for life. It really is symbolic, it's emblematic of life.

One of the first things that it did was it made me appreciate an opponent. I was taught on the mat to respect your opponent. That's transferable. When you start looking at it from a job interview, when you're looking at other candidates who might be running up against you for a job, you come out and you say, 'Hey, on the mat this person might be really strong, but guess what? I'm going to outplay this person with my mental acumen, my mental aptitude.'

That's what helps me outdo and outperform a lot of my competition in any field that I entered. I had to add more bullets to my arsenal. I had to add more elements and more dimensions to my game. And that's what martial arts—wrestling, jiujitsu, kickboxing, Muay Thai—that's what all that instilled into my brother and myself.

When teachers bring other elements into the classroom that maybe the conventional person wouldn't do, students observe that. That happened not just in the classroom, but it happened in the world of the corporate world that I worked in. It also worked in my favor as far as acting and television broadcasting goes."

(Storytelling and Memorable UFC Interviews)

Neeti Keswani: "Some of your memorable interviews with UFC athletes or perhaps you know, some of your work in creating that web series—how did storytelling play a role in that and how did your Martial Arts skills really help you in getting a connection with the people that you were interviewing?"

Jeremy Durana: "Yes. The first thing we need to understand is, people might be wondering how these opportunities even came to me. Well, I'm coming from a background where we didn't have the conveniences and luxuries bestowed upon us. We had to go out there and break down barriers for ourselves. So the first thing you do, you create your own platform.

One of the first things I did was I created my own show called 'The Turnbuckle Club.' It was called the Turnbuckle Club because the turnbuckle is a part of the wrestling ring anatomy. But the interesting twist is, Neeti, I created that as a club, an extracurricular Club at my school to get kids engaged—not with wrestling—we used wrestling, mixed martial arts, and boxing as a vehicle to have children get more engaged in reading. So we introduced them to literacy, biographies about these performers, teaching them how to read AC Nielsen ratings to understand how market share works.

By doing that, that's when I approached all of the big name organizations, whether it's the UFC, the WWE, boxing WBC. I would approach them through the front door, telling them about my angle: 'I'm a teacher, we're working with children and would like to deliver some messages to the children, may I have this interview?'

It was through there that I then had a chance to build a rapport with these fighters. So, one of my most memorable interviews, I'll go straight to a guy named Georges St-Pierre (GSP) from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I met him on two occasions.

The first occasion, I asked him to touch on something like financial literacy so I could convey that to my students. I remember him in his French accent, he said, 'Jeremy, you know the question you're asking is a very important question. You must make invest the money to make a money.' That was enough for me to then teach children about what that really meant.

The second time I saw him, I went to his gym, Tristar, the day after a major holiday. Out of five people at that gym, was Georges St-Pierre working on simple things like jabbing. The point of the story that I'm trying to make here is that's what differentiates your pretenders from the contenders, and then your Champions. That's what a world class Champion, debatably one that would go up on the Mount Rushmore of mixed martial arts, that's what he's doing the day after a major holiday. That's a story that I share with my students all the time."

(Spirituality and the Teacher's Role)

Neeti Keswani: "I am actually in awe with what you're doing because I did not know about this aspect of your profession, that you are actively teaching as well. What I feel is amazing about your dojo, perhaps, is that you are bringing in of course the celebrity guests that you are interviewing, but you're also inculcating in them other aspects which perhaps other Dojos are not doing, for example like you talked about financial literacy and you talked about spirituality playing a big role. So from your background of Combat Sports to spirituality, that is a huge variation. Bringing that all in your school is something which is very inspiring. Tell us more about that aspect—how does spirituality play the role in you setting up that kind of school?"

Jeremy Durana: "Yes, Neeti. This is the part where really you can't rely on a textbook. When you're talking about spirituality... we are put on this planet for a reason and our coordinates they intersect for specific reasons. Things manifest and you never know why things play out, and it takes about 10, 20 years for things to finally play out for you to realize why you were put on this planet.

I'll tell you a quick story. When I became a teacher, I realized one day that I was actually put on this planet to work with children and to teach. Mark Twain once had a quote which was, 'The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you realize why.'

I started teaching at a school and I took on a contract. After the conclusion of my contract, I went to another school closer to my home. The individual who took that role that I vacated... I started teaching in my new school and a teacher overheard me talking about wrestling with a caretaker. He approached me and said, 'Hey, I didn't know you were into that sort of thing. Do you mind, you think we should start a club for kids around here?' So we created this club called the Turnbuckle Club.

When we ran this club, that's when I reached out to the WWE. They provided us with tickets for children. For these at-risk kids, their safe space was the club that I ran. This one child wrote a very heavy note saying that things are very hard at his house, and the two people that he loved the most in his life, his grandparents, had died recently. They were killed in their hotel room at a Mexican resort. One thing that kept him going was that wrestling club.

That was one of those nuggets, those droplets from the Divine. That was just reaffirmation that there's something bigger than us. There's reasons why we're on this planet. That was just one instance where I knew that I was where I was supposed to be at that moment. The world is a lot more close-knit than we think. We're all interconnected in very unique ways. And that's coming from someone who, up until recently, was spiritually broken."

Neeti Keswani: "The thing is that we are trying to explore the concept of spirituality and what luxury really means to people in terms of their profession, in terms of their businesses, and how is it playing a peaceful role, an abundant role in bringing that sort of peace of mind so that they are able to sustain what they're doing and help them go forward with it for a longer time. Is that something which is true for you?"

Jeremy Durana: "Absolutely, absolutely. I completely believe in that. When you wake up in the morning, in my case I've been more recently just getting on my hands and knees and praying. I thank the higher up every day for the opportunity that's been given to me. I also ask for the clarity, the mental clarity so that I could act in a certain way throughout that day to lead people down the right path.

There's just that one little sound bite that a child needs to hear that can be a catalyst in their direction. I'm always asking for just the wisdom to be able to say things the right way to lead people down the right path. We don't know what that tidbit of information might manifest to 20 years from now.

I've always said to my students, especially after calamities in the news, 'If there's anything you want to talk about, you can stay in five minutes at recess, we'll have a conversation.' I don't want something to happen 20 years from now when I'm at the grocery store and I realize that you've got something unsettled. That's how we can use our spirituality to influence us to do the right things at the right time for a vulnerable sector like children."

(The Pivot to Acting and Advice for Creatives)

Neeti Keswani: "In terms of your life, you have talked about your background in Computer Sciences and then pivoting to other areas. So how did acting happen for you? How did you step into the world and what advice do you have for people who wish to pursue theater or people who wish to pursue Hollywood acting, perhaps? What are the two or three nuggets that you'd like to talk about in terms of acting?"

Jeremy Durana: "Yes. When you're coming from a brown household like mine, you don't tell your parents you're going to become an actor. So we had to work with a lot of parameters. You always have to keep your creative side alive. You cannot let that fire extinguish. I never let that extinguish regardless of what anyone around me said.

Sure, I continued to pursue computer science to make the parents proud. But on the other end of things, I tapped into my creative side. That meant you buy your own camera, you buy your own computers. My brother and I, we funded everything on our own. We bought the computers for post-production purposes.

My brother and I took a trip out to Kingston, Ontario, and we just started to walk around and film a gorilla-style documentary about the historical penitentiary. We were escorted out. From there, we used those skills for student films at school. From student films, you then start to associate with other people who have similar interests, who then tell you about a theater club or casting agents. Before you know it, your hobby starts to turn into an interest with financial benefits.

This is a classic case where if you follow your heart and you follow your true passions—this was a passion of mine and my heart was in the right place, I didn't do it for money—Money Follows. After we made that Kingston Penitentiary documentary, years later, my brother ended up winning an award for the best Canadian documentary for independent films. The same year, I was at that exact same prison, Kingston Penitentiary, working on a show called 'Mayor of Kingstown' starring Jeremy Renner.

The interesting relationship that I made that day on set led to this book right here, 'Mighty Joe Muy.' I built a very strong rapport with someone named Andy Curtis, which led to a book. Now, did I go to Kingston Penitentiary with that in mind? No, I did not.

Going back to the dojo taught me grit. Nobody sees the grind of me waking up around midnight to get onto a shuttle at 1:00 a.m. to travel to arrive to Kingston Penitentiary at 5:00 a.m. You work 12 to 14 hours, you hop on a shuttle you come back, and that's when my day begins at the gym around 1:00 in the morning. Nobody sees that grind."

(Mindset Over Muscle: The Role of Inner Peace)

Neeti Keswani: "Fear actually worked in favor of you because you sort of worked on it in such a way that you are motivated, inspired to work out."

Jeremy Durana: "Yes, yes. Fear is a motivating factor. For a lot of people, a rigid regimen and discipline needs to be instilled. The results just don't manifest by themselves. You really have to put the work in."

Neeti Keswani: "There are stories about people who have lost weight and cannot keep it up after a couple of months. Do you think that only the physical workout really plays a role or is it the mindset tuning also that really works?"

Jeremy Durana: "That's an amazing question. When your mind is not set right and that peaceful tranquility is not there, it's almost like useless showing up to a gym or a dojo. So absolutely, you have to find a way to achieve that mental calm, that peacefulness, whether that's through meditation or yoga.

I had one of the most challenging instances occur about four months ago in my life. For most people, they had to take a year off to rebound. It took me a few months. I had to make a phone call to the important people in my life. They got me back in touch with spirituality. A pastor and a pundit looked me in the eye and said, 'Brother, you're spiritually broken.' And he was right. I was so consumed with just trying to achieve goals that from a spiritual end of things, I neglected that. I needed to get back in touch with the Divine, and I'm very happy that's the path I'm taking right now."

Neeti Keswani: "So even in the midst of the entire burnout feeling, you were still put in touch with your spiritual side and that is the way to progress."

Jeremy Durana: "Absolutely. It is definitely an important component towards one's success. Based on my starting point, yes, I can lend credence to this topic and say that's very, very important. The best part about it is it doesn't cost money. It's just about your time and your dedication and your belief in something."

(Final Advice on Handling Rejection and Burnout)

Neeti Keswani: "I would like to close this one with one important aspect, which is what advice would you give to someone struggling with self-doubt or burnout in Creative fields? What advice would you think is the right one if they really want to make it big? In the field of creativity, rejection comes hard-hitting. How to handle that kind of rejection and keep going at your craft is what I'd like to understand from you."

Jeremy Durana: "The key component here, Neeti, really is two things. One is never take things personally. Okay? That's the first thing. Never take things personally. And secondly, everything is just a teachable moment. So in this case, when we're talking about the realm of acting and rejection, you learn from those mistakes. I've always asked casting directors, 'Okay, where exactly did I falter here? What should I work on?' Always hone the skill and hone the craft.

Even when you're experiencing burnout, you could take one element and continue to just hone it and work on it. Think of a skill that you obtain as an investment. Everything that you can build upon those foundational skills is compound interest.

Don't walk away from it completely. There's an old saying, I think Denzel said something like, 'If you wait long enough at the barber shop, you'll eventually get a cut.' Same thing in any of the fields. Same thing with Einstein, he wasn't the smartest but he was the most persistent. Continue to work at it and your opportunities will come if your heart's in the right place. They will. They will absolutely."

(Closing)

Neeti Keswani: "So thank you so much, Jeremy Durana. It's been wonderful chatting with you and talking, touching so many topics, and especially the inspiring moments in your career. This is for the viewers of Luxury Unplugged. You might have seen today that Jeremy Durana's story has proven that you can be a star in your own Niche. You can really Inspire and you can teach through your own style of Storytelling. The lessons over here that we learn today are in persistence, in adaptability and resilience, and the courage to share your truth no matter what, no matter where you are in your journey.

So if you like this episode, like, subscribe, and comment below and share your thoughts with us. Keep coming back for more. Ciao-ciao!"

Jeremy Durana: "Thank you."