We recently connected with Anisa Genesis and have shared our conversation below.
Anisa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with 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.
During preproduction for my first short film, “I Used to Know Her,” I got fired from my job. Fortunately, I had already bought the props, but I knew I would have to figure out everything else that wasn’t taken care of. As I continued working on other projects, I realized that it never got easier. In one way or another, my projects—or the projects I was supposed to be part of—weren’t guaranteed to happen. I constantly had to figure out how to pay for things, how to get to locations, or even how to execute an idea that was more complex and different from anything I’d done before.
With every project, I push myself to try new things and step out of my comfort zone, which makes me slightly anxious. But there’s also this strange juxtaposition of feeling overly confident and knowing I can handle anything.
Committing my life to becoming a full-time creative is the biggest risk I’ll ever take. Everyone knows it’s the most uncertain field you can work in, where you do loads of free work (if you’re not a nepo baby) just for a slight chance of getting discovered—only to realize you need to be discovered multiple times to actually get somewhere. It’s not for the faint of heart, the impatient, or the insecure. You have to be crazy enough to bet on yourself and keep betting on yourself every day, even when the whole world, including those closest to you, tells you that you’re wasting your time. That, in itself, is the biggest risk you could ever take.
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?
My name is Anisa Genesis, and I’m a multi-hyphenate creative with a focus on directing and modeling, specifically within the film, fashion, and music industries. I offer a variety of services, including creative and art direction, styling, modeling, pose assisting, and photo/video work.
Throughout my 20 years of life, I’ve had a series of unique, colorful, and distinct experiences that have shaped me into who I am today. From growing up Christian and attending Catholic school, to later going to public school with mostly kids who looked like me, to sneaking onto the internet in second grade behind my mother’s back—I’ve always been quiet and observant, like a chameleon adapting to my environment. People often tell me that I have a movie-like or novel-worthy lifestyle because of all the interesting events that have happened to me. My life is filled with character-developing moments that have given me a rich, well-rounded perspective. This is why I’m so passionate about storytelling—I want to share my experiences as a young Black girl. My traumas, my pain, my joy, my love—I pour everything I feel into my art. Little me had no clue that by this age, I’d be making art and inspiring thousands of people. I make sure to go hard for the little awkward, nerdy, insecure girl who was always cool but never felt like she was enough—my younger self. when I look at younger black kids, I see younger myself. I do it for them too. It’s all connected. I want to inspire everybody though, no matter the race or identification.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Last year, I got caught up in autopilot. Life was moving fast, and I wasn’t being intentional with my creativity. I brought some of my ideas to life, but I wasn’t fully in tune with my desires or my ideal self. There’s always been a block between who I was and who I wanted to be, and while I tried to break past it, I didn’t have the tools to succeed. For a few months, I focused on helping others bring their visions to life through modeling and co-directing instead of focusing on my own.
I love modeling and will always continue to do it, but I’ve always been a director at heart. I grew up making TV shows, music videos, and other projects with my Barbie dolls. When I went to church, I worked as a photographer and graphic designer for the page, and I did the same in high school. While modeling was one of my first dreams as a kid, directing has always been my true passion.
It never sat right with me when people reduced me to just being a model, as if they were overlooking the depth of my creativity. I can’t fully blame them since they were going by what they saw the most, but I knew I was so much more. It can feel stifling as a creative when people try to box you in. That’s why I became more intentional about taking the ideas out of my head and showing people that I’m more than just a model. It’s important to understand that I’m a multifaceted individual with many gifts and talents to share with the world. No one has seen all of what I can truly do yet.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I think that if a creative is interested in having a social media presence and being active, they should definitely take advantage of that opportunity. My biggest advice is to completely stay away from growth strategy videos that don’t teach you about the algorithm or technology-based advice. Those videos that promise you will go viral and get a certain number of followers within a week or a month are full of BS. The ones that persuade you to only talk about what they think is trending, how to talk, how to show up, and tell you that nobody cares about your personality in the beginning so you should only be providing value, are only going to set you up on a path of failure. You’ll end up constantly showing up as this watered-down version of yourself that’s totally curated to what these gurus think is best for you, because they themselves don’t care about building intentional community and don’t care about your growth in the long run. Only make videos based on content ideas that come from you.
What’s popular and trending is going to die out fast—that’s why they are trends. They’re not meant to last. And all of this is energy. You can’t attract what you want while you’re being a fake, watered-down version of yourself. You will never see the success that you truly desire. I know it’s cliché, but being yourself is the only thing that works in the long run. You need to be more concerned with your ideas, without the self-criticism and judgment, and stop worrying about what you think is going to do bad. If you’re in it for a quick fix, then go ahead and take the guru advice, but if you’re in it for the long run, show up as the most raw, real, authentic version of you, and do that consistently. And not every platform is for you. I have 16K on TikTok, and I can tell they don’t like the switch, but my Instagram engagement grew drastically.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://substack.com/@anisagenesis
- Instagram: anisagenesis_
- Youtube: anisagenesis_
- Other: tiktok: anisagenesis_
Image Credits
Photo with a group of young Black people, boys and girls – creative directed by me, shot by lexi brown
Photo of me and a blue head wrap on the train with videographer (in frame is ki smith) thats us directing. taken by lexi brown
sistas night – creative directed by me and Lexi Brown photographed by Lexi Brown
20, will they won’t they will never know – creative directed by me photographed by Dominic Forniti edited by liya brown
photo of me with sunglasses on in a city background- joshua Dailey
photo of me in denim skirt and plaid pants – vivica satterwhite