Quentin Jiles’ non-stop energy is matched only by the frenetic pace of his words. But make no mistake, Jiles isn’t talking loud and saying nothing. His words come with insight, vision, hope, faith and plenty of funny as he takes the weekly political happenings and breaks them down for his Generation Z peers to both hear and feel.
If you don’t know, Jiles is a social media sensation, with thousands regularly tuning into his Instagram posts and YouTube show “The Queue with Que” to get Jiles’ take on the latest out of DC, Houston and every point in between and beyond.
The Defender got Jiles, a ball of ever-active cosmic energy, to somehow sit still long enough to speak on what led to his current career path and much more.
DEFENDER: Who is Quentin Jiles?
QUENTIN: I hope this doesn’t sound cliche because a lot of people do it, but I’m going to, I have to stand on my foundation, who is Quentin Jiles at its core. He is a person who is submitted to Christ period point and the blank. Jesus is my savior and I am super thankful. And it sounds so cliche, but I’m not being cliche. The relationship that I have with God is beautiful and wonderful, even when he corrects me and chastises me. Built on that foundation, who I am is a person who cares about other people.
DEFENDER: How did your background shape your present career?
QUENTIN: I have an undergrad and a master’s in social work, because I always wanted to help people, but I honestly didn’t know what that was supposed to look like. What I really enjoyed about social work was it was really a holistic approach to the person. I was really drawn to that because it wasn’t a one size fits all. It really was looking at a person and meeting them where they are, and helping them. When I look back on my life, even as a child, that has always been my role in my friend groups. And it’s kind of transitioned into my career. Something that I find interesting and fun and important, which is politics. Because we interact in and are involved in it in various capacities. We pay taxes which pays politicians. So, we literally pay people to tell us what to do, when you think about the laws that they put on the books. I don’t know about y’all, but I need a say in what I’m supposed to do. I take that, and then break it down and then give it back out to people in a manner in which they can understand, that they can be entertained. Even with heavy, heavy subjects. When you talk about the George (Floyd) murder, watching the Deric Chauvin trial, not making light of the situation, but bringing a little bit of levity to it and just a different perspective, really helping people understand what’s going on.
DEFENDER: How did you transition from online opinion posts to making that your career via ‘The Queue with Que’?
My mom and I, we’ll talk politics all day. But I started to want to talk to other people outside of just my mom. Eventually, as the years went on, former president Donald Trump got an office and that invoked a highly emotional response for me from day one, and I began to talk about what was going on online. That is literally where it came from. I got a YouTube, Twitter and Instagram (account), and I just started talking, and just started sharing with what was going on and my opinion. At the time I was still working a full-time job. I decided after a year in, “Lord, I can’t do this job no more.” I had been talking politics for a year online and literally three weeks after I left my job, I got my first TV booking, which was crazy because at the time I had less than 3,000 followers. I got my first booking on “Great Day, Washington.” First time ever being on a television set talking politics. And they messed around and gave me the A-Block, the most important block. So, I knew I had to leave it all on the floor, and I left it on the floor!
