We recently connected with Ziera Laenae and have shared our conversation below.

Ziera , appreciate you joining us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

So for most of my life, I was raised by my mom (with the help of family members). Even with everything on her plate she still found ways to feed into my hobbies and ideas. Taking me to dance classes, trying out for sports etc. I don’t remember ever outright saying “Hey I want to be a photographer” – a part of me felt like I had to keep it hidden cause it was “profitable” but at some point, I just started having my camera around them more and she just feeds into that when she could. She would buy me cameras, help out with concert tickets (how I started in the field), or even the simplest things like pick up and drop me off to shoots. My mom has been my number one supporter when it comes to my dreams and I can’t wait for her to see all the payoff.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Ziera Laenae learned the importance of narrative and its ties to her skin tone at an early age. She learned that if you want your story told right, you must be the writer, or in this case, the creator. This is where her love for the camera and photography as a medium came from. Tired of not seeing stories that captured her childhood, she began to create them herself. Her work ranges from recreating happy moments in her life to creating new ones that uplift Blackness in all its forms. Ziera Laenae’s work is heavily focused on Blackness because without it she wouldn’t be who she is.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn that it’s okay to not be perfect and it’s okay to not be liked right away. For the first 10 years of my life, I was an only child in a family full of siblings. So for a while, I kinda just felt out of the loop. I was always told to “just play by myself” which yes is a good lesson to learn but there was a point in time that just felt like “So no one wants to deal with me?” – that led to this string of trying to make things perfect or do my best to just stay out the way cause I got used to being alone. Now im getting better at asking for help and letting people in. I think that why I like create with my art – getting out all the stories and things once stored away.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I get to have a space to get my thoughts out. I always felt cluttered in my head cause I had 100 things going on or random thoughts and didn’t know what to do with them. Now that I have an outlet I like to use any medium I feel best fits that work. The latest good feeling about being an artist is reaching new people or that unknown support. I be shocked when people who dont normally like and support my work do like “wow this one got you huh” lol

Contact Info:

• Instagram: scumboinani
• Linkedin: Ziera Nelson

Image Credits
Taken by Scumboinani