Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Mendoza.
Matthew , we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My name is Matthew Mendoza. I was born and raised in Tampa, Florida, and graduated from Armwood High School in 2020. Around that time I fell in love with photography. It was my first passion, and it grew day after day. I hosted photography meetups in the Tampa community and helped a lot of Tampa-born creators with their content. It was a true passion of mine, but like all passions, it evolved.
I went to Florida Atlantic University for a semester to try what I thought was the college experience, and dropped out after that one semester. I was still doing photography, but it had taken a back seat to what college had to offer. When I realized college wasn’t for me, I entered a gray period where I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was afraid to run photography as a business, so I did the only thing that made sense to me at the time: I joined the Air Force.
The Air Force was a beautiful stepping stone. It gave me the confidence, the discipline, and the skills to do anything. I was stationed overseas in the United Kingdom for three years, and while I was there my passion moved toward videography, which felt like the right direction for me.
While I was in the Air Force, I found a community called Affinity Sales Training and started doing online sales. It was the first time I saw that I could make real money online, on my own terms, from anywhere. That changed everything.
For a long stretch, my days looked like this: I worked my military job from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., then did sales from 5 p.m. until midnight. Then I got up and did it again. It was one of the hardest seasons of my life, physically and mentally. Some days, the only thing keeping me going was that I believed in myself and what I could do.
Not everyone saw it that way. A lot of people told me I was crazy, that I should play it safe, that what I was chasing wasn’t realistic. Others supported me and pushed me to keep going, and I’m grateful for every one of them. In the end, though, nobody could make the decision for me. I had to trust my instincts, trust my gut, and go after something most people don’t have the courage to go after.
That was the moment I knew it was time to leave the military. Sales showed me what was possible when I bet on myself. I had proof that I could build something outside the traditional path, and I couldn’t unsee it. Leaving the security of the Air Force was terrifying, but staying would have meant choosing comfort over the life I knew I was meant to build.
Leaving wasn’t the end of what the military gave me. It was the point where I started using it. The discipline that got me through those 18-hour days became the foundation for everything after. I came back to Florida, settled in the Orlando and Lake Nona area, and brought my two worlds together: the creative eye I’d had since I first picked up a camera in Tampa, and the drive and business sense I’d built in sales. I shot, edited, and produced work for brands and companies, from short-form and UGC content to documentary editing. Things even came full circle when Affinity Sales Training, the community that helped me leave the military, brought me on to edit a documentary. I learned that I’m at my best as a maker: give me an idea and I’ll bring it to life.
I also learned the business side the hard way. Early on, my love for the craft made it easy to say yes before things were clear. Over time I learned to treat my work with the same standards I learned in uniform: clear scope, clear expectations, and respect on both sides. That shift changed how I work, and how I see my own value.
Outside of work, CrossFit has become a huge part of my life. It started as training, and turned into a place where I face fear, push past what I thought my limits were, and find community. Getting ready for the Tampa Bay Games, I was more nervous than I’d been in a long time. In one of the hardest workouts I’ve done, an old voice told me I was the kind of person who fails, and something deeper answered back: “You don’t lose.” That didn’t mean I’d win every event. It meant I wasn’t going to let fear decide how I show up.
At the center of all of it is my faith. My relationship with God is what everything else in my life revolves around: my work, my training, my relationships, and who I’m becoming. A lot of my growth has come from learning that real strength isn’t pretending to have it all together. It’s honesty, community, and taking the next faithful step even when the whole path isn’t clear.
If I had to sum up what I’m about, it’s this: I want to change the way people see reality. My life hasn’t followed the traditional script. I left college, found my footing in the military, walked away from that security, and built something of my own. I want people to see that there’s more than one path, that most of us are figuring it out as we go, and that you can create real value by betting on your gifts.
I’m still building. But looking back from that kid with a camera in Tampa to where I am now, I’m proud of the person I’m becoming, and I’m grateful for every step that got me here.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Absolutely not. I think back when I was in the military, I had to make a decision to leave something that, if I stood for 20 years, I would be pretty okay with. The issue is, I knew exactly what life would look like on the other side of that, whereas this opportunity that I had was to learn how to make money on my own, without the help of the Air Force, and make untapped amounts.
I knew from a long-term perspective that I may not know the end of the road, but I know that I can make it my own reality without being controlled by anyone else. I struggled with a lot of self-esteem at that time. I’ve struggled with a lot of nasty habits, but at the end of the day, one of the biggest things I’ve learned within it is that God put me in those positions for reasons that I will only understand later on in life. I can only be thankful for the positions he put me in.
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?
I’m a creative director for a software company called Sendblue. They are a telecommunications software company that allows business owners to reach out to their leads through iMessage instead of the traditional A2P.
Alongside that, I’m also a UGC creator for a few other online brands, and I currently run DadhatCo., which is a film production that creates documentaries, music videos, and short films.
I’m proud of the fact that at every single moment where I have a very hard decision, I’ve always leaned in on my gut, and it’s never failed me. I’ve always done the thing that most people wouldn’t do, every single time. I didn’t need to ask a million people for advice. I have this innate ability to truly listen to myself and believe in myself so strongly that I know, regardless of what happens, I will always be okay.
How do you define success?
Success for me is defined as always following that true intuition that’s inside you, because if there’s one thing I’ve learned about God, it is that He will always take care of you, there should never be a time where you feel failure because you know you’re always going to be ok.
I think if you truly listen to your heart, if you truly listen to that intuition and you just act on it every day, you will always be successful because your following the truth god has designed for you. I don’t see success from a monetary perspective or a materialistic perspective. I see it from a heart posture perspective.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_matthewmendoza/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/matthewmendoza2002/
- Twitter: https://x.com/_matthewmendoza
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@matthewmendozaaa
