We recently connected with Valeria Sweet and have shared our conversation below.

Valeria, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Yes! All of my work comes from acting, film/TV/commercials, content creation, and my books and courses. In film, there are so many people needed for different projects, your day job could just be doing gigs. I do everything from acting/directing to precision driving and doubling celebrity actresses on their films (Megan Fox, Sandra Bullock, Anya Taylor-Joy, etc.). It’s fun and amazing that we can receive money for our creative work as artists!

When I moved to LA, I started auditioning and met people on sets. Acting and being on film sets became my paid film internship where I learned everything about making films. Then I started writing and filming my own films, then projects based on my books. I wanted to teach my friends to manifest the same opportunities for themselves, so I started hosting Visionboarding workshops, and now we have a Money Superflow course for creatives.

I wish I knew when I was a teen that you could make a living in the entertainment industry. Growing up in NC, I received some money from my art and modeling, but it was almost unheard of. I could’ve definitely sped up the process by moving to LA earlier and going straight into making my own content.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I first started modeling back in NC. As I became more known for being a model, acting gigs came along, like a lead in a Yearling music video “Without a Doubt,” as a superhero. Something about acting in that clicked, and I started pursuing film.

I’m always learning and building on each creative skill, like screenwriting, producing, and directing. That made me a better actor on set, because I could help the director get the shots they needed, and became a producer on some of those projects as well.

Having other interests, like writing self-help books, YA books, and running Money Superflow course, helps not put pressure on my art to generate all income all the time. That means I can take on passion projects as an actress and director whenever something meaningful comes along (send me your script!) and whenever I want to make my own films. It also fulfills my need of helping my community succeed, because a rising tide lifts all boats. Whenever someone has a question about a topic I know something about, I love hosting workshops (let me know if you want me to host on any of the topics discussed in this story!).

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Being an artist, you’re manifesting your idea of life into the world. What you think, say, and do manifests through your writing, drawing, filmmaking, etc. Some art can be retrospective – this thing happened and this was created to reflect it. However, as an artist, you have an opportunity to create something greater, beyond yourself, to better this world. I want to make this world an inspiring place.

I’ve manifested things and partners by drawing or writing about them because our art is visualization. Our mind is so powerful, it can manifest things good and bad. For that reason, when I write mysteries or thrillers, I don’t write in any of the characters’ deaths. A Russian poet Alexander Pushkin wrote in his novel Eugene Onegin that one of the characters died during a duel, and that’s how Pushkin later died himself.

As artists, everything can have an impressionable impact on us, so I recommend not listening to anything that’s not uplifting (like news, songs) because it subconsciously creates your reality. We can choose to create our own reality and manifest it consciously through our art for others as well. That’s the most rewarding aspect of being an artist for me, that we can make a better future for us all.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Even though not all creatives have a 9-5, it doesn’t mean our brain isn’t working 24/7, connecting puzzle pieces from what we’re learning everyday to how we can apply it in our art.

There’s never really a time to clock out. You can set ‘clock in’ and ‘clock out’ times, but when an audition comes in at 11pm, you’re self-taping till 2am when everyone is asleep. That’s discipline. Your schedule has to be pretty free in advance to be able to do an acting job that works when everyone else is going to see a popular concert. You’ll book something filming exactly on the dates you booked your vacation. What do you choose?

So we have to create an every day schedule that’s easy on us, prioritizing self-care, like sleeping 8 hours, drinking green juice, working out. It’s not from laziness. When it gets busy for us and we work 14 hour days, we won’t have the luxury of self-care, because when it rains, it pours.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://imdb.me/valeriasweet
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/valeriasweetofficial
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/valeriasweetofficial
• Other: http://valeriasweet.com/moneysuperflow

Image Credits
Elizaveta Dirat, Ray Robinson, Lizza @mdlm_photo