Conversations with Terrence Gover

Today we’d like to introduce you to Terrence Gover.

Hi Terrence, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Detroit, Michigan in May of 1992. I can not remember a time when drugs weren’t around. Heroin was like a bird chirping in the morning, loud and somehow blending in as background noise. My father was a dealer and an addict. By the time I was five years old, I’d seen firsthand what the drug did to people. I watched people come in beautiful and successful and months later become like zombies. Some of my father’s customers were regulars and stopped by almost daily and late into the night. One morning after a rain storm, my brother and I went outside barefoot to splash in muddy puddles. As we jumped from the porch, we raced to the side of the house where we found one of the regular customers dead with bees and flies covering his nose and mouth. That wouldn’t be the last overdose I saw. It didn’t scare me because I heard the adults always talking about people they knew who took “bad drugs” and passed away.

By the time I was six my father introduced me and my older brother to guns. They were heavy. My father taught that protection was needed. I saw it first hand one night as a man decided to break into our house. The gunshot woke me. I could barely see the man but I saw his image in the darkness as he begged my father not to kill him. My father argued that the man was breaking in to harm our family. My father had me return to bed shortly after and when I woke the next morning there was no man. Just a perfectly mopped pool of drying blood at the front door. That day brought attention to my father’s lifestyle. We began getting raided by the police. They’d kick the door in without knocking and point assault rifles at all of us. As they swarm the house, they’d repeatedly ask my father the whereabouts to drugs and he’d smile refusing to give a straight answer. They wouldn’t leave without pouring bleach into our video games and on our clothes. Even at school protective services were instructed to visit my school to talk to me once a week. They were trying to get information that would allow the state to take custody from my parents. This continued til the first few months of 3rd grade. After which my father took me out of school. Soon after, he became ill and needed to be hospitalized. Before he left, he showed my brother and I how to serve customers. How to take the money and give the right amount of drugs to them. Every week my brother and I earned $50 each. That didn’t last long.

My father returned home and it made his condition worse. He was hospitalized again and died a day or two later. My mother went into rehab and our older brother took custody of us up until the funeral. When I turned ten, we moved into the first shelter. We lived in a shelter, rehab center or with a family member short term the next few years. I moved out at 14. I started Highschool with a plan to graduate and attend college. After school I’d hang out with friends and at night I’d spend the night at the school. I’d be there to get breakfast. The lunch lady began to notice I was there too early and that I may be in some trouble. She made a call that got me back on protective services radar. I was placed in a foster home at 15 years old. At 16 I was moved into a boy’s home for four days and then into a juvenile facility until I was almost 18. I spent a lot of time after that learning how to take care of myself and not surrendering to being a product of my environment. In those times, I slept in cars or anywhere safe.

I began creating brands, modeling and writing music during that time. At 27, I moved to Colorado in hopes of providing a better life for myself and my five year old daughter Heiriane. With help from resources and friends at Cherry Hills Church, Manna Connect, Activate & Blessings Bag Brigade, I was able to make huge changes. I created the Terrence Gover® brand to inspire people like me who’ve been in traumatic situations and/or are still going through them. My creative direction is first from God. He gives me vision and messages to tell stories in cinematography, photography, collaborations and arts. My goal is to display how God wastes nothing. He uses all of what we’ve been through and creates something beautiful.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No journey is defined as “journey” without a starting point, obstacles, and destination. Like hiking a mountain, there are many people at the base but as you summit, you see one or two people at the top. It’s extremely beautiful at the top of any mountain. The pictures are breathtaking. The journey up causes people to quit and turn back, get altitude sickness or in some cases people are satisfied with making some progress up and don’t have the desire to summit. Easy is rarely used when hiking a mountain. The journey is worth it.

My journey was no different from hiking a mountain. I got tired at times. I wanted to quit. It was lonely at times but God was with me. The roads in my life made other journeys less challenging and nearly effortless.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
During the week, I’m an electrician at a commercial company that specializes in building and powering hospitals all over Colorado, Utah, Texas, Montana, New Mexico & Wyoming. I’m very proud of my advancing career and what it’s brought to my gift.

My passion is creative directing film and photography. Modeling helped me with knowing how to be shot on camera so that I’m able to frame something or someone else. I’m most proud of exclusively shooting content that glorifies the Lord and His light throughout my journey. With that, I’m able to display my flaws comfortably in comparison to the love of God. I’m changing the perception that you have to push yourself to your moral limits to get good content. That you can use cinematic elements over showing more skin to gain the attention of others to your art.

How do you think about happiness?
Three things bring me happiness and peace: God, my daughter Heiriane and any camera lense.

God gave me purpose and assured me of peace. With Him, I am given direction and never lost. Heiriane is my gift from God to the world. She is my greatest masterpiece. She is like a painting I created with the colors of the Lord: Love, Kindness, Forgiveness and Peace. I’m like a tree full of apples and a river that feeds a forest. Like a painter after his last brush stroke standing back from the canvas marveling at what he’s produced. When I’m creating any content, I care about it for my audience. I care about the way your eyes travel across a picture. I tell a story that has a start and finish point. It brings me joy to watch someone look at my work and summarize what they see.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.terrencegover.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/TerrenceGover
• Facebook: Terrence Gover
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/TerrenceGover
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCF_0jlKFxYmqD0xiREtooqA 

Image Credits
Terrence Gover Gover Studio John Weygandt Sharell Chillik Sarah Johnson