The North American Sport Karate Association (NASKA) powerhouse is taking his brand to the next level with skills he’s gaining as a Quinnipiac film, television, and media arts major at the School of Communications.

Dominating the NASKA World Top Ten in 2024 and 2025 in several of his age categories, 18-year-old Gendreau is a second-degree black belt who excels in karate techniques and bo staff skills. A 12-time Grand Champion on the Karate Ratings and National Events (KRANE) circuit, Gendreau was recently named to the AmeriKick National Karate Team.

Gendreau’s ability to share his skills on social media has built a following of over 211,000 at @the.evan.gendreau on Instagram. He also shares his content with nearly 200,000 followers on Facebook and a rapidly growing TikTok audience. His first video to go viral currently has over 8 million views, while his latest viral video is now closing in on nearly 15 million views.

Gendreau’s posts and videos are packed with powerful images, dazzling competition clips, and incredible demonstrations of the work he puts into building his blazing speed and gravity-defying abilities. Creating his exciting posts and videos for social media helped Gendreau decide on pursuing a career in the film industry and to study at Quinnipiac.

“Once I started making my own videos and posting stuff, I realized you can do a lot in not just social media, but in the film industry as well, so that’s what I wanted to study in college,” said Gendreau. “Quinnipiac was one of the nicest campuses I visited, and I think it has some of the best film programs.”

Gendreau said his interest in storytelling plays into the viral video that’s now touching on15 million views, and many others.

“It was mostly clips from my recent national competitions, but what made it different was I put the clips to a trailer-type of music that made it kind of dramatic. I matched up the clips to how the music was going and I think that made it really cool to watch. Ever since I started posting things like that, those videos do really well,” Gendreau said.

Despite his growing social media presence, Gendreau said he rarely discusses his skills with other members of the Quinnipiac community.“I told my advisor, and sometimes I’ll use it as an icebreaker, but I don’t think there are a lot of people here who know about it,” said Gendreau.

School of Communications Assistant Dean for Academic Advising Danielle Reinhart is Gendreau’s advisor. Reinhart said she enjoyed getting to know Gendreau in the fall as an advisee and a student in her COM 101 (Communications First Year Seminar) class. 
Reinhart said Gendreau’s drive to excel is propelling his success as an athlete, student, and storyteller.

“Evan has an incredible work ethic and discipline in the pursuit of the things that are meaningful to him. He's been interested in storytelling and film since a young age and has a clear vision of the path ahead and how his work in and passion for film and martial arts can intersect,” Reinhart said.

During his first semester at Quinnipiac, Reinhart said Gendreau consistently took advantage of opportunities to network, learn, collaborate, and reflect.

“He listens genuinely to others and applies himself fully to successfully balance his studies, creativity, and martial arts,” said Reinhart.

Gendreau said what he’s learning at the School of Communications is assisting his creative approach.

“When I’m creating my own videos and editing, I’m not doing super-complicated things, but I’ve learned some techniques and information from some of my single camera production classes that can help to make my videos better,” Gendreau said. “The cool thing about it is it doesn’t have to be too edited, because the more authentic it is the better. So any editing might be the framing, liking zooming in on something, or to cut something to music.”

Gendreau said his Quinnipiac journey is also reinforcing the importance of creating and building connections.

“I’m learning it’s really important to know people and stay connected with other people that are in that industry. That’s something I’ve definitely learned both in my classes and from posting and competing in karate,” said Gendreau.

Building a connection on social media helped lead to Gendreau’s selection as a member of the AmeriKick National Karate Team. He joined the national team in late 2025.

“That actually happened while I was at Quinnipiac last semester,” Gendreau said. “One of the coaches from the team had judged one of my divisions at a competition last year, and that’s when they started to watch me. They reached out to me on Instagram, and I joined their team a month or two ago and started competing with them.”

Gendreau started building his brand and social media presence by posting on Instagram about four years ago as a new sport karate competitor on the circuit.

“I felt like it would be kind of a good idea to introduce myself to people around the circuit who compete as well, and I’ve always had an interest in film and that kind of creative aspect,” Gendreau said. “I think social media is super helpful to connect with people, so people can see who you are not just in person but online. It spreads out to a lot of different people, and you can make a lot of important different connections.”

Gendreau said the online community he’s cultivating across several digital channels has found him through a number of different interests and interactions.

“Some of it is just people who are also trying to grow their own brands on social media, and some are people who enjoy watching what I do,” Gendreau said. “There’s a lot of people who are asking me how they can learn, so I’ve made connections and I’ve been teaching some private lessons. Now I’m figuring out how I can do that in a way with more mass reach. I just started posting on YouTube because I’m always looking for more ways to grow community.”

Due to the growth of his Meta (Facebook and Instagram) accounts, Gendreau was invited to monetize his posts by applying to earn from Meta’s Creator Fund program. He applied and was accepted. Gendreau said he often blends his training with his interest in storytelling to generate fresh content and grow his audiences.

“Pretty much every time I train, I’ll train for a couple of hours; and then maybe for 10 or 20 minutes I’ll get some clips and videos,” said Gendreau. “If I make a video where I’m editing every single clip to music, that might take me an hour to a couple of hours to make, and then some of my shorter videos don’t take quite as long. It’s not too much time to put into it, but I definitely put in enough time to be able to spend a good amount of time growing it."

At Quinnipiac, Gendreau keeps up with his training at the Recreation and Wellness Center on the Mount Carmel Campus.

“When I’m at school, I train in the rec center. I was able to get some puzzle mats next to the track, so I have a little space there where I train about five days a week,” Gendreau said.
When he’s home in Seekonk, Massachusetts, Gendreau trains at the studio where he grew up. Gendreau started karate at age 7 and first became involved in sport karate competitions as a 14-year-old.

“What I love the most about competing is the idea of constantly pushing myself to be the best I can,” Gendreau said. “I’m trying to be the best out there. I know it’s really hard to do, and there are so many people that are really good competition, but I think that’s awesome because there’s always a reason to continue to train and to push harder and better myself.”
Sharing what he does with others through social media and storytelling is another powerful motivator.

“One of the things I love doing, especially in the last few years, is sharing my passion with other people, whether it’s teaching the younger generation or just by posting videos,” Gendreau said. “I love sharing what I know and continuing to learn and being able to share what I’m learning.”