Meet Justin Leal | Digital Creator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Justin Leal and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Justin, what do you want people to remember about you?
I believe a legacy is the closest anyone can come to immortality, I’ve branded anything and everything I do and create as ‘Leal Legacy’ for this very reason. I’m not so interested in being remembered personally, my goal is to build something that my kids, my grandkids, my great grandkids, and so on, can build upon and it will be our name that’s remembered. I do what I do for my family, past, present and future.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
It all started because I wanted to make my mom proud and I also wanted a skeleton ribcage shirt and couldn’t find one that I liked. Preserving my mother’s memory has always been a real focal point in my life. I feel like I live my life to honor hers, in a lot of ways. She passed away at too far young of an age, when I was a child, due to circumstances beyond her control. Being one of the few things she left behind proving she ever existed, I feel a responsibility to ensure she is never forgotten.

I don’t know what I do really.., I’ll catch an idea and hyper focus on that for a while until I get bored and move on to the next interesting idea. What I can say is I like to talk and I like to create using various digital media tools. I use what I know about graphic design to continue building my clothing brand Skeleton Crue. I went to film school and use what I learned there to shoot everything from music videos to documentaries and whatever else might sound like fun. The most fun I have is talking so, at least for now, that’s what I do most. I run my mouth on my podcast Radnarok, I add my personal commentary to vintage cartoons, and provide a narration to interesting and fun moments in life that are documented in my Vloggentary series.

I honestly don’t put a lot of thought into why I do what I do anymore. I actually started out with that same mindset and was seemingly well received by others for a while. It wasn’t until I started over focusing on what I thought people might want or like that sent me back to square one a couple times. Once I essentially stopped doing what I believed others wanted and got back to doing what made me feel happy and fulfilled, I started to experience professional growth and success again.

Success is a weird concept for me though.. I understand the word in theory and definition, but the drive for success is what slows the creative process in my opinion. Those times when I was knocked down and sent back to the starting line were difficult in a mental and emotional sense. Financially, I’ve always held a day job, you have to when you have kids, so I never allowed myself to be broke due to creative endeavors crashing. The biggest obstacle I had to over come was, after my first 2 company crashes, I became obsessed trying to make things that I hoped other people would like. I was so driven by regaining attention that I began to resent everything I made or worked on because I wasn’t emotionally connected to any of the content any more. It was when I finally hit a wall and accepted the fact that no one cared anymore so I stopped too, which turned out the be the biggest blessing in disguise. Once I stopped caring about getting others to care, I started having fun again. My personality type doesn’t allow me to not be creating something or having some sort of media bases hobby, so naturally I started designing again, and shooting video again, my podcast rantings became more natural and true to who I am, everything just fell back into place when I got back to the bones of why I started doing anything in the first place.

Now I’m just here, I know what I’m good at, I know what I’m bad at, and I just focus on the things that feel fun and fulfilling to me. Leal Legacy won’t be this way forever though, and I love that. This is my version of the brand, but one day my kids will take the wheel and build a legacy of their own on top of what already exists. Then my grandchildren, and their children, and hopefully the Leal Legacy will continue on for eons to come.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
First and foremost, I’m a beach kid, but not just any beach, I grew up roaming the streets of Ocean Beach. OB is a must, everyone in SoCal residing or visiting needs to treat themselves to the wonder that is OB. Start by grabbing some food at Nico’s on Newport Ave. Doesn’t matter what you get, I usually mix it up every visit, just remember that breakfast burritos don’t only have to be for breakfast. The best way to burn off a burrito in OB is to walk up and down Newport Ave. scoping out all the shops and antique stores. Then if you’re still in the area and hungry again, there is almost nothing in the world better than a burger from Hodad’s… specifically in OB. I’m sure their downtown location is good too, but why leave OB?

A good reason to leave OB would be to head over the hill into Point Loma for more good food, especially if you life seafood, and to take a stroll around Shelter Island. Walking along the bay is once of the most peaceful things to do, no matter what time of day. I’d recommend doing that earlier in the day though so you can get back over to Sunset Cliffs to… well…. watch the sunset.

I’m a spooky kid at heart and San Diego has no shortage of really cool creepy and allegedly haunted locals, Old Town being my personal favorite. A visit to the Whaley House is a bucket list must see for any respectable ghost hunter.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My mother. I lost my mom when I was 9 years old, and until my children were born, she was my driving force through life. To say she was a saint doesn’t even come close to describing how truly good she was. I genuinely believe that she was a one in infinity kind of person. The difficulties she faced, the hardships she was able to over come, her loyalty and dedication to her family and to those who did not deserve her kindness will alway be my driving force to be better.

Her life was short lived, but I will make sure her memory lasts forever.

Website: https://leallegacy.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leallegacy/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/revjleal/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LealLegacy

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LealLegacy

Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/LealLegacy