We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Asha Chai-Chang a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Asha, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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.

When I moved to LA last year, I had saved up enough to live in a place for a few months, made one or two good friends that were local, and had a list of good ideas – but no completed scripts or a job to stabilize me once I got here. I was finally ready to invest in myself and see if I had the chops to make it in this make-it-or-sink town. It sounded like a good plan, right? I did all the “right” things, savings, and such. I heard that LA makes you face your deepest fears, and I wasn’t ready for the realization that my breakthrough would come from leaving the comforts of my beautiful home in Charlotte, North Carolina and becoming anew. I had to physically make myself uncomfortable and leap out of complacency. What makes this harder was — I wasn’t always in my swanky five-bedroom house in the Queen City- before then, I went through a lot of trials and tribulations, so to psyche myself into moving to LA was crazy in itself. Well, the stars and cards aligned, and after asking my good friends for a place to stay in LA, I landed a sublet in Los Feliz and had to move in less than two weeks. With no time to think, I did it! Before moving, I shared lofty goals with a mentor of mine about how I was going to move to LA land jobs on set, apply to fellowships for writing and directing to grow as an artist, and a major studio was going to fund a film I wrote – you know, the same lofty goals a lot of creatives move here with.

My move-in day to LA was a nightmare come true and everyone asked, “Are you going to stay?” I mean, I could’ve just said nope, loaded my unpacked suitcases back on a plane, and head back to my plush pillows to daydream again. But I said, welp, I survived today – let’s keep going. Some days weren’t so great, and I just kept writing my truths, adding these happenstances to my storytelling, and exploring LA solo – mostly. When I wasn’t writing or exploring, I took up courses, reconnected with acquaintances that became new friends, and went to networking events to find other creatives like me. Eventually, I took up a Production Accessibility Coordinating job as a trainee because of previous production experience and landed the role for Apple’s “The Greatest” commercial – not too shabby for my first job in LA which came a few weeks after moving to LA. Then I had forgotten that I scrapped together a script while in Charlotte and hadn’t gone back to write new drafts, so I did start working on rewrites which led to my application for the RespectAbility x Netflix Children’s Content Creator Lab. And the same day that I interviewed for the Children’s Content Creator Lab, I wrote “Marque Dos” to apply for the LALIFF x Netflix Inclusion Fellowship and the announcement of my acceptance into that program came out the same day that I was presenting a LIVE Table Read of “Wendy on Wheels” in the showcase portion of the Children’s Content Creator Lab. Simultaneously, I retained clients for Production consultations and Image Marketing services. My few months in LA quickly turned into a year with other wins I haven’t mentioned here – but please check out my socials for that. I’m just saying that believing in myself, getting out of my comfort zone, and creating genuine connections was the greatest risk I’ve taken to date. I do consider myself fortunate that it worked out the way that it has.

Asha, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hi! I’m Asha Chai-Chang, CEO of Love My Productions, LLC and Film/TV Writer & Director. I’m an LA import – yes, like a purple-headed fine wine, reigning in from the Queen City, Charlotte, North Carolina. I used to work in the Finance & Insurance industry as an Actuary and Financial Risk Manager to the approval of my immigrant parents. And now, I wear my colorful hair and style proudly as a creative. I have been in the industry for over 15 years; quite a few years before becoming an overnight success and I still don’t think I’m “there” yet. More is yet to come!

Within Love My Productions, LLC, I write and direct mainly comedy, sci-fi/fantasy, and family dramas, I consult for productions from ideation to accessibility, and I retain a few clients to assist with image consulting and branding yourself as a brand. Similar to my company name, I have a lot of love to give and now that we’re in LA where people don’t mind stepping on toes, I am mindful of the clients I do choose to work with. I am to help my clients do the same, tell a story while honoring their true selves. I am proud of clients that I have helped that are not within the entertainment industry and/or did not realize that we are selling our stories every time we interact with another person and helping them to tap into loving themselves and allowing their best versions of themselves be seen. For example, I helped one of my clients flourish from having a hard time landing a job in the education system regardless of their achievements/ credentials to now holding School board positions and earning six-figures and growing. Another one of my clients wanted to learn more about communicating their brand through their public speaking and lectures, so we crafted speech improvement courses along with other techniques and they are now traveling around the country speaking at universities and conferences. It’s a journey and experiences that journey with my clients is the fun part. I do produce films and help source resources as well – however, I am not open to pitches at this moment. Maybe, I’ll have to schedule a call soon.

Please feel free to support the company, check out our projects that we have out, if you need our services become a client, or even work with us – we could connect you with opportunities.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social media is a very broad living sphere with each platform having its own identity. To grow my audience, I had to learn what was the best outlet for each posting. For example, Instagram is ideal for lifestyle posts and sharing experiences through travel, filming, or festivals. Audiences want to feel a personal connection to your content. At least, I know I do when I comment on posts and watch reels. I also maintain a professional career focus in order to advance my brand and remind people what I do as well. Growth comes from learning the intersection of the platform and the person to produce the best, most relatable content on a regular basis to keep engagement high.

With that said, running a business AND staying active on social media isn’t easy – timewise or mentally. I have to consider day to day operations, putting together pitches for new work, working on set, and personal life. On social media, storytelling is important – just in bitesize pieces. So, if I’m working on a script, I will take my audience on the journey of working on the script and tell it with dark humor because that’s the kind of storyteller I am. It makes it relatable and shares what I do at the same time. On my company social media page, I try to make it less personal, more about team wins, and aspirational. Set goals and know that you can have visibility on social media, even if your brand is less influencer and person-based. Be authentic and unapologetical about sharing your gifts with people – the audience will come.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Business school trains you well in how to help established companies in the corporate world. Instead, I wish schools had more training on how to start and run businesses from scratch; I’m fortunate that I grew up around entrepreneurs. However, there are new school or “nouveau riche” tips to structuring your business and developing business credit. I didn’t know about it when I started as a DBA years ago but once we became an LLC over five years, I saw how banking relationships, proper use of loans, vendor credits and invoices can transform your access to capital which in turn can grow your business. From there, I was able to hire a team. My knowledge on money saving tips on a personal level did transfer over to being a business owner and learning to magnify savings came from learning with other executives. As a Filmmaker, there are more robust apps that have come on the market and I am glad that there are more YouTube videos and creatives that I can take time to learn from and hone my skills with these apps to better support my productions. I seek to provide consultations and resources to other emerging entrepreneurs, particularly filmmakers, as I continue to grow my company.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lovemyproductions.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ashachaichang
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ashachai
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/lovemyproductions
• Other: www.instagram.com/lovemyproductions ; www.shopmodernmaven.com (launching in September 2023)

Image Credits
Lauren Desberg