Christopher "Afrika" Quarles shares what community means to them, and it's about to get acoustic
"Be patient and always move forward, because no one can hold you back but yourself." In You've Got This this week, actor and creative professional?Christopher "Afrika" Quarles shares some of their favorite projects including the recently-released film "Port Authority," their thoughts on Pride, and their advice for others in the creative space. Be sure to check out their answers below, along with announcing our next guest, founder and CEO Will Malnati of AT WILL MEDIA.
Victoria: "Can you tell us a bit about your professional journey?"
Christopher: "I started out working in a nonprofit working on HIV youth prevention. I started out at HMI, doing an internship called 'Start the Change,' for youth coming together, creating safer sex messages and campaigns, using our faces to be at the forefront of the entire thing. As I’m HIV-positive, that was the main reason why I moved here, I wanted to move here to disappear from North Carolina. Fast-forward, I got into prevention, because I felt like that was the place I needed to be. The team at HMI saw I stood out, and a man named Wade who was like a mentor and uncle to me told me that Apicha Community Health Center was hiring, so I was hired there in an HIV testing job, and worked my way up to being a senior care manager at Housing Works. I was scouted for the movie, and I had these campaigns in-between working in nonprofits, but being a part of the movie was a completely different experience for me, helping me ascend to another level of my life. So now I’m pursuing those things. I’ve worked in nonprofits—Harlem United, GMHC, AIDS Walk—they’ve all been really fabulous."?
Victoria: "What intrigued you about the role of Mother McQueen in the film Port Authority?"
Christopher: "Let’s talk about that. So I literally just moved back to NYC from Houston, Texas in 2017. I walked the ball. I had to walk the ball with a sister of mine, Gillette, she’s also legendary, from the House of Oricci. We walked together as teammates, so it was like 'Let’s walk together.' We had to split, and I ended up beating her in a competition after we got our tens. So we finished, I got my little prize, and I’m very social, and so I hadn’t seen everyone in so long, I’m catching up with everyone, and I was approached by these two people, Damian and Kate. They told me about this role, and I actually auditioned for TK’s role. So they asked me a few questions, like how I was involved, and I told them I was a parental figure in Ballroom—I’m considered a leader, someone people can come to, how to have conversations about safer sex and how to protect themselves, how to be great individuals. So I’m considered a mother in my community. I explained this to them, and they called me back, and they said 'We are gonna go with TK, but our director wants to meet with you.' And so the way I gave the advice when they taped it, I think it’s the way I delivered the advice, gentle but stern at the same time, I got written into the script.
"When I was told that she had to write me into the script, I said 'If you’re going to have a house, you have to have a parent. Even though we’re all considered youth, there’s going to be someone who says we have to think about this before we do this.' I ended up being that person. So that’s how Mother McQueen came about. We’re so excited that the movie is in America now."?
Victoria: "You’ve been a part of a wide variety of exciting projects. What have been some of your favorite moments in your career thus far?"
Christopher: "Wow, I can say my favorite one is actually being a part of the Black Pumas 'Colors'. I did a music video for them, and this music video was so significant to me because I played the role of a husband with a wife and a child. But the story behind it was a family going from living in a house to living in the streets, living in their car, surviving together. It was dope to see myself playing a role in a movie, playing it as a cis-man. So I found that to be really cool, and also another major accomplishment for me was the AIDS Walk campaign in 2015 when they used my face as one of the main faces for their Times Square billboard. That was a beautiful thing for me.
"When I moved here in 2010, I told myself that I would be on a billboard in Times Square. And I get there, and now I’m like 'What’s next?' So now that I’m in this movie, I want more. When Port Authority was in France, it got attention, but there’s so many things going on right now where our community is united, standing together, we’re all rising. Now that the film is here, people can see it, and can see us all embodying our characters. And these are real friendships."
All of us in the film know each other except for McCaul and Fionn. We met those people on-set, but Leyna, I’ve known here from the community, all of my kids in the movie, we’re all good friends outside of it. So it made it a very natural experience. It was easy to embody the character, and I would love to have more acting roles like that. It’s so easy to ooze that passion.
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I hope that people take away from Port Authority that we are more than just a community. We are a family. We are people who stand united together. We protect each other. Everyone is imperfect, families have their issues, but the things that most families tend to leave out or not really give to us as we’re growing up as LGBTQ+, we find it through our friendships. I myself found it through my family. And I hope people see that when they see this film, that they can see there’s comfort everywhere, you can come here and be accepted. There are no labels. We’re almost like castaways. But we find ourselves in other people, and then we stay together, and we uplift each other in the process. There’s always a bad apple somewhere, but in our community we make sure to continue to uplift, because someone out there needs us. It’s worth it. I hope that people see this film on June 1st on-demand and in theaters on May 28. And June 1st is the first day of Pride here in New York City. Let’s make this a moment to remember, because how many times do you see us in theaters on the big screen? Let’s get out there and support, support, support. Because the love is appreciated."?
Victoria: "What advice would you have for others getting started in their creative career?"
Christopher: "As a creative, be patient and always move forward, because no one can hold you back but yourself. That’s my motto to myself. Because I was an anchor to myself for a while. We live in a world where so many of us have so many talents, and it can be hard to focus on just one. It’s ok to dibble and dabble, but move forward, don’t ever stop, because that’s where it hurts."
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Next week's guest: Will Malnati
If you're a fan of podcasts, you'll be interested to learn more about Will Malnati, founder and CEO of independent podcast recording studio AT WILL MEDIA. Starting the studio in 2016, Will has grown AT WILL MEDIA to work alongside brands like Amazon, Spotify, and Apple. With that in mind, here's what I'll be asking Will:
Have your own questions for Will? Ask away in the comments below, and thank you for being a part of You've Got This!