There are cultures and stories from all over the world that are unfortunately underrepresented within our modern society. Such is the case within the landscape of worldwide media. Representation is still very far off for vastly different cultures, especially cultures that are not thought of as commercially viable for the masses. Mission Road Entertainment understands this huge gap that needs to be filled in modern media, and aims to make great strides towards improving the diversity of the content the world gets to see.
Mission Road’s founder Daniel Yearwood was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, and obtained a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Morgan State University. He then spent the last thirteen years working as a professional investor, obtaining an MBA in Finance from Wharton and a master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard. Combining his insights from these various experiences, Daniel founded Mission Road Entertainment to capitalize on the shifts happening in today’s media industry.
Daniel also doubles as Mission Road’s first artist on the music side, performing under the stage name Yearwood. With his recently released fourth single, “Nutten Wit We,” he tells the story of a chance encounter with his future wife that turned into a love of a lifetime. Just 24 hours into his first trip to Singapore, Daniel met his future wife on the dance floor, a mere 4 hours into her 17 hour layover in the country. When the DJ played Tupac’s California Love, it sparked the conversation unveiling the fact that they lived just 5 minutes away from each other in Costa Mesa, California.
The soulful song features the talented Jac Grady and both artists serenade listeners through a heartfelt story of love and compassion among people from all walks of life. Parading the flag of inclusivity and diversity, the video prominently features five different couples as they share intimate moments together. The couples can be seen cuddled up with each other, laughing and having a good time, slow dancing in the room with nothing but the space between them. The video ends with Daniel proposing to his wife, Aprilene, in one of the most heartfelt moments caught on video in recent memory.
Mission Road believes in increasing the visibility of LGBTQ expressions of love in media and the video for Nutten Wit We prominently aims to do so. Beyond the video, Mission Road is an official Bronze Partner of The Trevor Project, the world’s largest crisis and suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ youth, donating $25,000 proceeds from the sales of their LGBT themed t-shirt featuring the lyrics “where my heart wants to be” from the song.
With the release of Daniel’s new single, the launch of an even bigger campaign called #PrideAllYear is being initiated by Mission Road Entertainment. The start to this year’s Pride month celebrations were both delayed and muted as a result of the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests. Mission Road’s #PrideAllYear campaign aims to focus on LGBTQ representation all year long and maintain the spotlight on the community in July and onwards over the next eleven months. Mission Road is in talks with a few celebrities and influencers who are interested in maintaining visibility for the LGBTQ community as part of its campaign.The music video for Nutten Wit We is currently available on YouTube. To learn more about Mission Road Entertainment, check out their website or reach out at [email protected]
