Can’t complain. Time never stops and I can’t believe we’re already half way through almost, but hey, I’ve been staying busy and creative. It’s never easy to balance both the creative side and the business side of life, but I think this year I’ve done my best to make sure I can do both on a daily basis.

This is the 3rd annual year of Artist Emerged International, a film festival in Los Angeles under the Ethos Film Awards umbrella. We highlight filmmakers from 6 continents and provide talent the opportunity to connect with industry names in entertainment after winning our categories. I love content that is message-driven but also entertaining. I think sometimes you’ll have these dry indie dramas that have a good message but forget the entertainment aspect of storytelling. For this festival I push for content that moves you but also draws emotion from you, whether it’s fear, laughter, or whatever extreme emotion there is.

If I had a magic wand, it’d be like an Austin Film Festival. I’d love for it to be a go-to type of fest within a decade where you see high quality films people can’t wait to see. I’d also be happy with seeing artists get discovered through it!

For this particular book, I actually polled several people on five different titles, and this one unanimously won. I enjoy writing about opposites, because that’s life, a range of experiences and emotions: happy moments and sad moments. Each year I put something out just to say I write them, and if people catch on then great. One day I’ll make it big, and folks can go back and see what I’ve done and get those copies. I’m not writing for the now, but I’m leaving breadcrumbs for people to check them out later. It’s therapeutic in a way, to put these compilations out even if only a few people ever see them. I jokingly say that my poems are written for a girl who’ll never read them and the fear of growing up. It’s mostly true. My latest work Sad Songs for Happy People is out now on Barnes & Noble and Amazon, and if you live in LA you can get copies of my work at the Barnes & Noble in Studio City. I hope to transition into songwriting with my poetry.

It’s really the brainchild behind colleagues Andrew and Derek. They both have backgrounds in PR, and are at the top of their game in terms of vision and purpose. We’ve launched the Success Quarterly Awards, for which I am the spokesperson. The awards is the interdisciplinary celebration of global leaders shaping the future. From groundbreaking tech to chart-topping music, cinematic storytelling to grassroots movements, these awards honor brilliance that unites and inspires. I consider myself a student of life so while some of these industries I know nothing about, I’m intrigued by industry leaders and seeing them bring their visions to the world.

They reached out to me actually! This year, we’ve begun implementing wellness with our industry gatherings thanks to SweatPals. Now we’re more than bar and coffee meets and focusing on physical and mental health. Once a month, our industry social will include a form of exercise, be it yoga, breath work, or school yard games we grew up with like kickball and dodgeball. It’s one thing to host a party. Great, that’s fun. However, it’s important we cater to our minds when we can. I want to be around for as long as humanly possible so I can create as much as humanly possible. That’s sort of the mentality here. A lot of filmmakers don’t have time with their schedules to do much besides sit behind a computer editing all day and snacking on candy. Hopefully, through this series, we give them the opportunity to be physical all the while networking.

For the last year, I’ve begun casting for vertical series. You know when you’re scrolling down Instagram or Facebook and those soapy dramas come across your feed about a girl falling in love with a secret billionaire. You want to keep scrolling but you’re sucked in for the next ten minutes. These micro-dramas are designed to be viewed vertically on your phone and are condensed into really short episodes. The last one I did on the app ReelShort hit 1.5 million views in under 24 hours. It’s called Boss Me Around If You Dare.

I sort of considered where I am in life in my mid-30’s. I know a lot of people, but how many people do I hang out with on a weekly basis? It’s a small circle. Recently, we’ve expanded our socials to dinner with strangers meetups in over 100 cities across the globe. Our goal is to fight loneliness and bring locals together in search of new friends, all the while supporting local businesses. We’ve also embraced everything “micro.” We coordinate gatherings in six continents with human beings because the goal isn’t to break 200 people at events. I love connecting people at engagements that are set up for like five or six people. I enjoy getting people’s reactions about meeting their best friends or their latest collaborators through us.

The ultimate goal is to make movies and TV shows, of course, and I’m always writing, but for the last ten years I’ve been elevating other talents. Some people call it selfish, which I agree that it is, but it’s also strategic. We’ve seen people get signed and others appear on TV thanks to connections made through my platform. My mentality is when they make it, I’ll make it. It’s about lifting each other up. When I first started off, I sent my resume everywhere and no one hired me. So, I decided to hire myself. What I’m proud of most is we’re the grassroots alternative to these bigger companies. We’re able to get really great industry lineups at our events with a shoe-string budget. I’ve got no one to answer to except myself, which is pretty freeing. I’ve maintained quality while not selling out to bigger companies. How has it stayed the same? The missions stays the same. The execution has differed because we’re less about parties for 200 people and focus more on meetups with 30 people or less.

Friday, May 23rd is our 10 year anniversary event in Los Angeles, which marks 10 years to the day in which I ever hosted an LA industry event. We’re hosting at Jungle Hollywood, a venue that has supported us for a long time. The night is sponsored by Vitaminwater. We’re joined by special guests from Sony Pictures Television, Dreamworks, MDDN music management, Castro Casting, CESD talent agency…many special guests who’ve supported us for so long.

We’re also hosting gatherings in a variety of cities and venues this summer to commemorate ten years:

Atlanta – Strangers in Paradise – May 23rd

Bangkok – Tempo Bar (May 23rd); The Standard (May 30th)

Barcelona – The LOT – May 23rd

Boston – The W (June 6th)

Cape Town – The Gin Bar (May 30th)

Chicago – Hubbard Inn – May 23rd

Dublin – Aloha – May 23rd

Hong Kong – Thirsty Shaker – May 23rd

Manhattan, NYC – Bonnie Vee – May 23rd

Miami – Dua Hotel (June 13th)

Nashville – Four Walls – (May 23rd)

New Orleans – Tell Me Bar – May 23rd

Paris – Andy Wahloo – May 23rd

Queens, NYC – The Newsroom Queens – May 23rd

Rome – Drink Kong – May 23rd

Sydney – Lady Banks – May 23rd

Toronto – Petty Cash – May 23rd

Vancouver – private event space – May 23rd

A film I worked on a few years back called “Demise” has hit the UK! You can watch it right now on many streaming services. It’s now nominated for Best Independent Film at the UK’s National Film Awards.

I don’t want to speak too soon, but I’m also working on film projects and other endeavors with my colleague, Brandon Waites. We’re working on Legendary Fest and Fan-kind. I’ll let you linger on those names for a moment instead of telling you right now what they’re about!

I’m getting back into the podcast game. We previously launched My Paranormal Podcast just for fun and took a year off, but this year we’ll add more spooky goodness for your listening pleasure. 

Lastly, I’ll be traveling more as a way of utilizing the environment to direct my writing.