By Josue Acevedo and Jessica Trinh, staff writer
With dreams of restarting his own clothing brand, new security guard Dejon Odom has continued to work hard, even through all the ups and downs life has brought him.
Dejon grew up in southern California and was very active throughout high school. He participated in many sports, including tennis & football. When he wasn’t participating in sports, he also practiced photography.
The biggest highlight though for Dejon in high school was launching his own clothing brand called “Serendipity” . Although he didn’t make a lot of money from it, he tried to save up as much money as he could because he knew he wasn’t the best at money management.
After finishing high school, he moved to Texas and attended Wiley College, majoring in communications. He only stayed for a year though before deciding that college just wasn’t right for him. Dejon said, “I realized I wasn’t the schooling type of person; I learned better on my own, and on my own time. I felt like I was being taught things I didn’t want to learn and that college wasn’t beneficial for me,” adding, “I had enough life skills, with or without a college degree. I only had his diploma and his certificate.”
Dejon decided to move to Northern California in 2014. He wanted to get out and live his own life in the Bay Area. A major reason he decided to move to the Bay Area was because of his cousin, Mr. Jomone, who works at Futurama at Galileo.
When he got to the Bay Area, Dejon didn’t have anything. He came with just 500 dollars on him and his car. But after two months he got his own place in Oakland. But he had to figure out how to make more money to keep him sustained.
Prior to getting the job at Galileo, Dejon worked in the food industry. He worked in postmarked delivering goods and at a club service in Oakland. He worked in a big restaurant where half the slide is a restaurant and the other side is a venue that holds a lot of drag shows, concerts and other social events.
Dejon tried to create another clothing brand while living in Oakland, and although it didn’t sell much, he still hopes to try again in the near future. As for his future plans at Galileo, Dejon wants to get involved In a summer program here in Galileo. He also hopes to be a tennis coach but not so much a football coach. He said, “Football players come with a different type of energy, with a different nonchalant swag. Tennis has less ego, they’re just kind of there to have fun.”
