As of now, my business. I created CreativiTEA as a platform for myself to showcase my work as well as the work I’ve collaborated with other creatives. Last year during the pandemic and thanks to my therapist, I registered it as an official LLC. I wanted to legitimize what I was doing with film and… Read More @creativittea: What is your biggest concern with the future?

Earlier this year, in a span of 9 days, I was working, auditioning, booking, and rehearsing for a plethora of short films, commercials, scouting locations, and opening and closing a short play. In that week, it was the busiest I was ever since the start of the pandemic after the god-forsaken year of 2020. When I look… Read More @creativittea: What’s a defining moment in your life?

When I was growing up, I used to act alongside the tv shows and films that were playing in my room. Unconsciously, that fueled my love for performing. When I started college, I was a dance major at Valdosta State University, but soon after (and quite frankly prior) I wasn’t satisfied just only dancing. I wanted to… Read More @creativittea: Why did you decide to get into this industry?

You can follow me on twitter, instagram, and facebook at @ShaylaRacquel. My website is http://www.shaylaracquel.com  What’s next? Directing a coming of age feature film that I wrote that’s dear to my heart. It takes place in the South in the year of 2003 🙂

What a great question! I’d like to say that I collect one tangible item from memories made. I also collect greeting cards for all occasions (I never throw cards away) and handwritten notes no matter what they say.  

Network with other women in the industry, create a tribe, lean on each other, be accountable to each other and work your way upward together. That has been helpful for my film community and I.

My film Riverment, a story about a Grandmother and granddaugher’s cross-generational approach to activism, was accepted in over 40 film festivals and won over 20 awards including a Student Emmy (NATAS-NCC). The film also was acquired by Magic Johnson’s AspireTV, Sean “P.Diddy” Comb’s RevoltTV, KweliTV, and FOX new streaming platform Tubi. I was also interviewed… Read More @ShaylaRacquel: What is a successful moment in your career so far?

My biggest concern with the future is that we as Americans have been showcasing our lack of empathy and our separation from community and its importance. The pandemic and how people responded and reacted to it really drove home this point for me. Storytelling helps with this if we all take time out of our… Read More @ShaylaRacquel: What is your biggest concern with the future?

I was born with Sickle Cell Disease and at 12 years old, due to complications with the disease, I had a stroke. To cope, I used writing and the art of storytelling as a way of escapism. I fell in love with the art form which eventually brought me to my love of filmmaking.

I had many moments in my life from grade school through adulthood that drew me to considering filmmaking as a career, but I believe it was after graduating from college that solidified it as no longer a choice, but a will. I was about 22 years old working IT helpdesk support in Washington, DC, and… Read More @ShaylaRacquel: Why did you decide to get into this industry?