We recently connected with Annette Silva and have shared our conversation below.

Annette, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

My husband and I formed our own production company a year after our son was born. At the time, he was a babbling little baby who loved to eat and had the chunkiest thighs… We called him Chunko. The name has stuck to this day and when we were brainstorming on what to name the company, CHUNKO was a clear frontrunner!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi! My name is Annette Silva. I’m a producer in unscripted television development and production. In the simplest terms, that means I find real-life people in the world who are big characters doing unique things, I develop a show around them, I pitch it to TV networks, and when it sells, I go out in the field and produce it. I’ve sold all sort of shows but my proudest include an all-female motorcycle club in Salt Lake City, an off the grid cabin builder in Upstate New York, and an interior designer who loves weed and wanted to renovate cannabis dispensaries across America. I absolutely love meeting interesting people and telling their story to a wider audience. My hope is that viewers see our content and leave feeling inspired, hopeful, and like they’ve escaped into a interesting world.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I absolutely loved reading Brian Grazer’s books “A Curious Mind” and “Face to Face”. The first is an autobiographical book about how he became the badass producer he is today, by being extremely tenacious and going after what he wanted. With no special education or experience, he would walk into major CEO’s offices and ask for 5 minutes of their time. More often than not, they agreed and led him to future opportunities. Face to Face is more of a philosophical book about how IMPORTANT face to face relationships are. Sitting across the table from someone and looking them in the eye when negotiating a deal, having a hard conversation, discovering their true intentions — it’s so much more powerful face to face.

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

Just because they’re the loudest and most opinionated person in the room doesn’t mean they’re right! At the beginning of my career, I was developing a project that I knew was a home run. Right before the network meeting, my agent told me not to pitch it; it just wasn’t right for them. And because they had more experience and therefore more influence than me, I folded. But as we sat with the executive, they were describing what they were looking for and it was EXACTLY what this show was. I decided to ignore my agent and pitch the project anyway. It was terrifying and exhilarating! The network responded, “How soon can you start?”

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annettemsilva/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annette-silva-a7354629/