Where It All Began 🌍
Hi, I’m Kevin Jeunang Metamo.
I’m the CEO and Founder of VQ, which stands for Vinyl Quantum. Before I tell you how my dream came to life, let me take you back to where it all began.
I was born on July 17, 1992, in Douala, Cameroon, the youngest child of Josephine Kenfack Jeunang and Maurice Jeunang. I grew up in a big house in the city, surrounded by family members who were all at least five years older than me. Education and family were everything to my parents. They worked hard, built businesses, and ensured they cared for not just us but also our extended family.
My parents weren’t born rich, but our roots trace back to the western region of Cameroon, a place defined by mountainous landscapes, including the Bamboutos Mountains ⛰️. Known for its rich agriculture—coffee, cocoa, and tea- our tribe has a legacy of resilience and hard work. Looking back, I’m grateful to be from Dschang because growing up in our culture taught me the values of perseverance, faith, family heritage, and determination—qualities that would shape the rest of my life.
A Creative Mind in a Unique World 🎨
From an early age, I was always creative. My dad and I would spend hours reading cartoon magazines 📖, and I learned to cook at a young age with my mother 🍲. I also loved drawing, often creating action scenes inspired by Dragon Ball and other cartoons I watched on Manga TV.
But in my neighborhood, I stood out—literally. My hazel eyes 👀 made me different. Some kids even called me an albino when we competed in soccer ⚽, which used to bother me. But no matter what, my sister and brother always had my back when it mattered (even though we fought like all siblings do, lol).
As time passed, things changed. My cousins, brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles started moving overseas or to other cities for better education and opportunities.
Life kept moving forward. I kept growing
A Leap of Faith – The Journey to the U.S. ✈️
Finally, my time had come. It was time to leave—to chase something more significant.
The United States 🇺🇸 promised education, opportunity, and a fresh start. But beyond that, I was also escaping my country's social deterioration—running toward a future that, at the time, I couldn’t fully understand.
Yet, deep down, God knew. 🙏 My 3-year-old self knew. It wasn’t until 2023 that I finally realized why.
A New Beginning in America
I arrived in the United States on July 4, 2006, in a new world, a new beginning. I had no immediate family here, no relatives bound by blood.
But family isn’t always just about blood.
One of my mother’s best friends, Auntie Georgette, made sure I had a safe place to stay. She had a large, welcoming family in the U.S., and thanks to her, I never felt completely alone. I moved from house to house, adjusting, learning, and finding my place—until I met Auntie Ferdinande, my second mother.
So yes, Front Royal, Virginia, became home for most of my teenage years. I lived with Ferdy, her husband Bendiong, and Destin. She also had a daughter, but she was older and was studying at VCU, the same university I would later attend.
During high school, I threw myself into sports, playing varsity football from junior to senior year under Coach Tony Talent and competing in Track & Field under Coach Chris (if I remember correctly).
Even here, I stood out. My French accent caught attention—the ladies loved it, and the guys? Well, let’s say some had their eyes on me, but most were cool.
I could go on, but let’s speed things up.
The Reality Check – College & Hard Work 🎓
I graduated high school, and man, I felt free.
You know that feeling you see in movies—when teenagers throw their caps in the air, ready to take on the world?
Yeah, that was me.
I thought life was about to be easy.
But that was a lie, lol.
I moved to Alexandria, Virginia, where I lived with Jacques Dassie. We were both grinding—working and going to school simultaneously. I attended NVCC in Annandale while working at KFC, just a few minutes from my apartment.
Three years later, I earned my associate degree in engineering and moved to Richmond to study Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Applied Mathematics.
And that’s when the real fun began.
I found myself at Castleblack—not the one from Game of Thrones, but something just as legendary.
The land of my people, my brothers, my friends from all over the world.
There’s so much I could say about those years, but some things, you just can’t put into words, lol.
The Breaking Point – When Everything Collapsed ⚡
By November 2015, I was grinding hard because 2016 was supposed to be my graduation year.
I was juggling 30-hour workweeks, 18 credits, a beautiful girlfriend, and, of course, partying all the time. 🍾
Life was moving fast, and I was handling it all—until my body gave out.
One night, my health collapsed. My brothers at Castleblack called an ambulance 🚑, and I was rushed to the hospital.
When the nurse checked my vitals, my blood pressure was over 210—dangerously high.
They hospitalized me for further tests but let me go the following day. I should have felt relieved, but something was off.
A Battle for My Life 💔
It was exam season, and I needed to study.
But every time I tried to focus, panic attacks hit me—one after another.
My mind was racing, my body wasn’t cooperating, and I knew something was seriously wrong.
I went back to the hospital. More tests.
Blood pressure? Still high.
This time, they ran an MRI, and that’s when they found it—my heart was enlarged.
I was diagnosed with asymmetric hypertrophy.
I forced myself to take some exams, but I couldn’t finish. I had no choice but to leave.
I returned to Front Royal, where I was received with open arms. But I still had no idea what was happening to me.
Auntie Ferdy took me to Warren County Hospital, where they confirmed that my blood pressure was still dangerously high. They prescribed more medication, but that wasn’t the real problem. My mind was racing at a thousand miles per hour.
At night, I would run from my bed to sleep with my adopted parents because I couldn’t calm myself down. They knew something was seriously wrong.
That’s when they made the call—my mother and sister Aurelie flew in, one after the other, from Cameroon and France. It was time for them to take care of me. I wasn’t okay.
Hopeless & Support
felt hopeless. I hadn’t slept for weeks and had lost nearly 15 pounds.
Through it all, my amazing sister stood by me. She never showed a single sign of negativity, never made me feel like a burden. She was solid—both as my sister and as an emergency doctor. She did everything she could to take care of me before my mother even arrived in the States.
Still searching for answers, my mother and I went to a psychiatric hospital in Northern Virginia, desperate for help.
That’s when we met the craziest psychiatrist I’ve ever seen. She looked unstable herself, and after barely evaluating me, she diagnosed me with schizophrenia.
Hahaha. My mother took one look at me and said, “Kevin, let’s go.” I remembered my mother's look like it was yesterday hahaha.
She and Auntie Ferdy had already talked. They knew something wasn’t right.
So, we went back to Warren County Hospital. This time, they prescribed me Xanax. I took one, and I felt a little better the next day.
But something inside me said, “Don’t retake it.”
That night, I prayed.
“God, if it’s my time, let me go.”
But the following day, my mother encouraged me to push myself. She told me to run.
So, I did.
And little by little, I started getting better. The panic attacks lessened, and I kept pushing myself forward.
I returned to school in Spring 2016, but at my own pace—taking just five credits at a time. I also continued checkups at Bon Secours for my heart condition.
Eventually, the only medication I needed was for high blood pressure. I also started seeing a psychologist at VCU for about a year, and thanks to her, I helped me healed.
Fast Forward to 2019
Another tragedy.
The woman who raised me in the United States, who helped me overcome obstacles, took her final breath. On a day meant to be special, she passed away from breast cancer 🎗️—after fighting fearlessly until the very end.
She wasn’t just a mother figure to me—she helped many people within and beyond her family. She gave without hesitation, and her presence made a difference in countless lives.
To this day, I still carry the feeling that I never showed her enough love and appreciation. People tell me I did, but it never felt like enough deep down.
If you knew the story between her and me, you would know that God exists. You would understand that He places certain people on earth to guide us, to help us, to show us love when we need it most—and she was one of them.
She is also one of the biggest reasons I fight—to become the best version of myself, the human being I am meant to be.
I love you, Auntie Ferdinande.
When I am ready to share my testimony, the world will know our story one day.
March 15, 2020 – The Spark
I had always wanted to start a business since 2017, but I never really understood why. It was just a natural instinct—something inside me pushing me toward it.
One day, I even tried to bring two close friends together to create a clothing brand. But the idea never worked—doubts killed it before it could even begin. People tend to struggle to believe in something before it becomes real.
Then came COVID-19 in 2020—and that instinct resurfaced. Maybe it was boredom, maybe it was the fact that everything was locked down and I had so much time to think. But something inside me told me to start.
I began searching online for what I could sell. It was pure intuition—I had no clear direction, just a deep curiosity. I found out that the Nintendo Switch was trending, so, out of breath, I ran to Target, bought a few, and listed them on eBay.
It didn’t work. A couple of weeks later, I returned them.
Then, out of the blue, my brother Ivan and I started talking about spirituality over the phone. He was in France, and as I listened, something inside me shifted.
He spoke about meditation, gurus, and self-awareness, but in my head, I was reawakening my connection to God. After my nervous breakdown in college, I had distanced myself spiritually, but that call with Ivan reminded me where I had once been.
That conversation gave me a boost.
I kept searching. I tried sneaker bots with Dashe—failed.
I tried buying Supreme drops and reselling them—failed.
I attempted dropshipping e-commerce—failed.
Then, I started selling vinyl records.
The Birth of Vinyl Quantum
How did I get into vinyl records? Simple—market research.
I spent time on eBay, looking at what was selling easily. That’s when I stumbled upon vinyl records, and something about it felt right.
I named my store Vinyl Quantum—because we were selling the sounds people wanted.
At first, I was making $300/month in profit. Nothing major, but the customer feedback kept me going.
One day, a customer left a review:
"Works great, exactly as advertised and top quality. Thank you, Vinyl Quantum!"
That one message sparked something inside me. A few months later, in 2022, I decided to trademark Vinyl Quantum—this time, not for vinyl records, but for vinyl record accessories.
I had no idea where this path would lead me, but I knew one thing:
Our history is already written by God—according to the path we choose to take.
Read the next blog: The Year that broke me.
All Love. ❤️