It was difficult trying to choose only two communities that I felt meant the most to me because I am a very passionate person. All of these communities make up who I am. However, I guess the two that stood out the most to me were being a black woman and a filmmaker.
I chose being a black woman as one of my communities because when people look at me, they don’t see who I am, but they see my light shade of brown skin. The things I value most about this community is that black women are strong, independent, and intelligent. They are bold, beautiful, ageless, matriarchs, and so many other great things. That is how I see myself and that is what I strive to be–an empowering, strong black woman. Yet, black women are stereotyped as angry, “ratchet”, aggressive, and uneducated–just to name a few. I am none of these things. This negative imagery of black women is something that is always been a part of society that is why I look up to empowering and successful black females such as Rosa Parks, Oprah Winfrey, First Lady Michelle Obama, and so many other great women of color. I’ve had the pleasure of growing up with such a person in my life–my mom. Being a single mother of four isn’t easy, but her strength, positive outlook, and ability to make a way out of no way is the reason I am the young woman I am today.
The second community that means the most to me is the filmmaking community. The thing I value most about being apart of this community is that it allows me to tell stories. I can tell any story I want as a filmmaker. Filmmaking is an art that allows creativity to be harvested into great narratives. Films allow people to not only be entertained but to learn and experience something they’ve never experienced before. Although I’ve never heard of any stereotypes about the filmmaking community, I’m sure they are out there. Ultimately, I’m just a girl that loves film. I never saw people like me making film the way that I thought I could and by “me” I mean a black woman. Recently, I’ve began to idolize women such as Ava Duvernay, Shonda Rhimes, and Debbie Allen. These black women have made huge impacts to the film and TV industries by telling stories that mean something to them. That is my goal. I feel as though I have so many stories to tell, but not just any stories–my stories. In the words of Peter Jackson, “The most honest form of filmmaking is to make a film for yourself.” This couldn’t be truer.
The organizations that I’m interested in are African American Cultures (AACC), Students For the Advancement of Diverse Represention in the Arts (SADRA), and any of the A Cappella groups. AACC promotes cultural diversity, leadership, and service. SADRA is an organization that produces new plays and films written by and/or for people of color in order to provide artistic opportunities for exceptional yet underrepresented undergraduate film and theatre students. I sing (another community I belong to) so an a Cappella group is a perfect way to meet people who love music and singing as much as you do.
I’m also interested in the film-making industry but unfortunately it is kind of frowned upon in my home so I chose to go with corporate studies instead, ha. But you go girl! Live your dream! I can also relate with being stereotyped, especially as a Mexican just because I’m Hispanic which is ridiculous and even rude when people just say, “So, you’re from Mexico.” It’s a never ending argument. I hate being labeled as something I’m not and I’m sure other people are too.