We were lucky to catch up with Stacey Yvonne recently and have shared our conversation below.

Stacey, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I didn’t originally move to Los Angeles looking to be in Entertainment, at least not in a capacity that ever resembled a career. No, I came to California for the sunshine, because I was grieving and depressed and suffering a seemingly never-ending Nebraska winter filled with cloudy, gray skies. I’d had two great losses that I couldn’t deal with in – 24 degree windchill. Add in a curious and destructive election result in 2016 where I saw the most reasonable of my coworkers become “anti-woke” and essentially anti-me.

I lived previously in Washington, DC and loved it, but DC decided to also be in its Winter era so I knew that was a pass on my next move, but LA felt so unattainable. The cost-of-living was high, there were so many people, and the earth just deciding to move did not appeal to me! But then I thought of the sun, the palm trees and the beach.

Was I doing this? Was I actually going to move from sub-zero temps to a land unknown for an opportunity for free vitamin D infusions? I weighed out the options, made a list of pros and cons and then crumpled and threw away that list, already determined to make it work.

The first week I arrived there were two earthquakes. I took it as a sign of LA rolling out the red carpet as I pondered getting under the air mattress which was the only furniture I had at the time. My first in-person interview was with Eric Roberts and I fell in love knowing immediately what I wanted to do and finally seeing a way to do it.

Stacey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am an Entertainment Journalist, Reporter, Moderator, Host and Critic. I’m a member of many critics organizations including AAFCA, Critics Choice, Hollywood Creative Alliance and GALECA. I have bylines in print in The Advocate, Out, and online at Out.com, Pride.com, BlackGirlNerds.com, TheCherryPicks.com, TheGeekiary and more! I’ve also recorded junkets, and panel shows that can be found on YouTube. My goal for this year is to create a podcast for reviews, interviews and reactions. One thing I love as much as entertainment is people. I research enough to keep things human. When conducting interviews, I love the technical details, and I can make them palatable, but I don’t want to get so technical that the personalities get lost. My brand is about positivity or constructive critique. It’s about rewarding passion, elevating humor, and expecting the best.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

My best friend told me “closed mouths don’t get fed” and it’s a motto that has served me well as I build my career. If you ask correctly, the worst you can be told “no” and I find that people genuinely want to say yes, you just have to let them know you’re worth it.

Asking has never really been an issue, but the confidence of knowing you’re worth is something I’ve always struggled to obtain. I’ve dealt with a frankly ridiculous amount of loss in my life. My niece, my sister, my dad, my brother, several more family and friends and finally the kicker – my nephew and mother within a year. When your life is dabbled with loss you can rest in the fact that life can be unfair, but death doesn’t discriminate. When you lose over half of your family, life becomes a curse. I felt cursed and began to withdraw into myself. I considered myself a danger and here’s where the resiliance kicks in: I found my bottom.

Rock bottom. The spot where I couldn’t get any lower, where the only thing I could do is go up and remember what caused me to plunge into the abyss in the first place. Each inch I managed to claw up was effortful and to this day I climb, waiting for the next thing to knock me down. But I still climb.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Learning how to effectively advocate for myself is an ongoing journey, and I’m learning that in order to do so effectively, I had to unlearn all of the lies I’d been told about my place in the world and the “fact” that there were limits. Not only as a Black American, but as a woman, as a Black woman, and whatever other intersectional challenges could be culled from my appearance. When I realized that so many of the longheld “rules” about how I was regarded in the workplace were little more than perverted wishes from a class of people who simply don’t want lose. What’s wild is if this class would accept diversity, they would gain. Imagine letting prejudice hold you back. It’s the embodiment of “It’s not me, it’s you” and letting go of those notions – there can only be one Black person, women don’t work well together, it’s rude to ask your co-workers what they make and it’s perfectly acceptable to earn less than men doing the same job – allowed me the courage to address those discriminations.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://syvonnecreative.com
• Instagram: @stickykeys
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacey-yvonne/
• Twitter: @stickyeys
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@StickyKeys
• Other: Muckrack: https://muckrack.com/syvonnecreative

Image Credits

All mine!