Meet Alumnus Malik Walker

 

By Mardeen Ahmad 

 

Malik Walker attended Cuyamaca College from 2018-2020 where he earned associate degrees in communications and humanities; both with honors. In the spring 2021 semester, Walker transferred to Cal Lutheran University where he majors in Film Production and minors in Business with an emphasis in entrepreneurship. 

 

Pathway to Success

During his time at Cuyamaca, Walker worked as a mentor with Pathway Academy. He says that besides the experience looking great on his resume, he gained much more than that from the program. At Pathways, Walker was able to connect with and relate to the students he was mentoring.

 

“Seeing these students flourish and seeing what they were going through, they had a huge connection with what I was going through. I’m not alone; they’re not alone. That actually helped me build my personality and my work ethic,” said Walker. The tutoring center was another recourse he says “kept him strong” throughout his time at Cuyamaca.

 

He also credits the counseling center for their contributions to his Cuyamaca career. Walker was crushed when he failed his first class but the counselors at Cuyamaca were able to guide him through it. In addition to academic support, the counseling center also provided him with emotional support. “When my grandmother passed away, they helped me get out of a dark place,” said Walker. 

 

Creative Aspirations

One of Walker’s goals is to become a film producer, director, and writer. He says growing up in San Diego, most of his peers had STEM aspirations like medicine and engineering. While he wasn’t yet sure what he wanted to do, he knew it wasn’t anything remotely close to that.

 

In middle school, Walker had a friend whose parents were actors, so in the summer that friend would do background acting. This sparked an interest in Walker who decided to ask how he could go about trying out background acting. With some advice from his friend, Walker traveled to Los Angeles multiple times to take headshots, do interviews, and attend auditions.

 

The first gig he landed was on a Disney XD show called “Gamer’s Guide to Pretty Much Everything,” where he played a villain. It was the moment he stepped on set that he knew film making was his calling. “I fell in love with the actual studio, I fell in love with the set, I fell in love with me acting. I just fell in love with it,” said Walker.

 

His ultimate goal is to open up a film and production studio/school here in San Diego as he wants to expand the creative scene here. Going back and forth to LA as a kid wasn’t easy by any means and he wants more children to be able to spread their creative wings locally.