We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Eddie Mena a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Eddie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
I believe to become successful there are several factors that need to be met but the most important thing to have is Heart. Yes as cheesy as it sounds heart to me is the self belief in yourself. No matter what industry you pursue, challenges will play out but to believe in yourself will give you the will power to learn, grow, evolve, and persevere through any obstacle. Now obstacles have many identities, it can be failures, blocks, setbacks, and almost anything you can think of. But success comes to those who adapt, and that leads me to another factors that’s important which is, Evolving aka adapting. This factor is huge because it shows that you do not maintain an ego. Your willingness to learn new things from others, experiences, or through research shows that you are able to adapt through eras, styles, collaborations and foundations. Giving you longevity in your industry. Being someone who is fun to work with due to the lack of ego but extreme amount of hunger and poise will make other appreciate your work. Leaving an amazing impression for those who get the chance to experience your energy in the environment you create. There are so many more factors to success but this last one that I can think of is super important, and that’s consistency. Many people have great ideas or have a moments of accomplishments but I try to remind others that time fades all. So being consistent, staying in the moment, and never settling is important. As I mentioned before time will always make things fade. Which is why heart, adaptability, and consistency are so important. The thought of one day having to change what works is scary but that’s when you grow and growth is something you need to become successful.
I remember when I started videography, it was so short sighted But so innocent. From shooting my own dance videos in my backyard to shooting other dancers classes was everything to me at that time. But Then I slowly started building up to other industries such as NBA and then transitioning to DP work with artist/ corporate companies. I always had a mindset of growth and fear of hitting a plateau. I had so much belief in myself but was still very humble to learn from others. Those experiences lead me to see people who I worked with in the past give me opportunities to grow into bigger industries due to my passion of film. I now have the opportunity to pursue cinematography full time, and I want to encourage others that dreams due come true. but success will only come to those who dream big and never give up on those dreams.
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?
I’m Eddie Mena! A Los Angeles native, who was born in the arts. Growing up i loved anything that I can touch with my hands and feet. Never limiting myself to any specific talent. I played sports such as soccer, basketball, track but I also loved to draw, play instruments (guitar and piano) and I became a professional dancer at the age of 15 signing with an la talent agency called CTG. I started my film experience booking job with Nickelodeon and Disney. But as older I signed with another agency called BLOC inc. and I experienced touring with Ariana grande and other artist that lead me to love film.
As times were changing and social media came into the picture I saw a huge change in how to create business. I understood very quickly that social media was going to be a huge factor in success. so at the age of 19 I bought my first camera (lumanix) and I started filming my dance ventures. Getting opportunities to film my own work to eventually filming other talented dancers visions. I saw more opportunity to arise, I started having photo and videos shoots. Now they weren’t all pretty and I learned very quickly that I didn’t have the equipment to prevail. So I made a couple of moves and through time I was able to build up enough revenue to invest in myself. Eventually buying a more expensive camera (Sony 6700 w/ a gmaster lens). This lead me grow into a bigger industry and that’s film influencers in the social media and YouTube platform. Working with basketball names and dancers. my social media videography career took off giving me the chance to build up a portfolio that got me into NBA work. But as great opportunities arrive I also came to learn that again my equipment wasn’t up to par to handle a bigger loud of work. Almost losing bigger jobs, I eventually had to save up more money to buy a professional camera (Sony a1) and multiple gm lenses to be able to capture anything in any angle. Also Investing in a new laptop and accessories that made it easier to get the job done with a fast turn around. As I mentioned before I had to learn quickly and adapt to be able to reach my next goals in my career. Making such huge investments was very scary but I saw VERY quickly… IT WAS WORTH IT
Being able to adapt and take advantage of the opportunities got me more attention which lead to being hired by artist and nba players as their personal videographer. Gaining experience in the arts, To NBA, and influencer work. Built up a portfolio that was pretty versatile, capturing an audience that saw that I could bring a lot to the table. Leading me to where I am now and becoming a DP (director of photography ) aka cinematographer. I now I travel for work, Shoot music videos for big time artist like quincy brown, working with companies for marketing such as nba, Kaos, and Jump. The client still continue to grow and this only happened because I was willing to grow from dance, to sports, to social media, and now film.
I was able to Open up my own marketing company called :
Supreme Focus Media
Offering services of film, photography, social media marketing, and more. I would have never thought this was possible, but through hard work, tremendous amount of passion, and love. I was able to build a life that I’m proud of having!
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
The goals that my industry have now given me is to be able to open up a Production Company. Being able to start handling major contracts with television shows and movie platforms. And being a bigger part of cinema. I always believe in wanting to leave a footprint in the arts that meaningful and inspiring. And I’m now one step closer!
Have you ever had to pivot?
As I mentioned I was a professional dancer booking jobs with many artist. But At one point i also went back to school to get a degree and a job with space x. But I soon came to find out that if I wasn’t passionate about that avenue of work, I was having a harder time taking the next step in my life. I started gaining bad habits and my attitude towards myself lead me down a road that I disliked! I then realized it was time to take the money I saved up and go back to videography. I invested in myself, bought a new camera and the rest was history. I can truly say I’m so much happier now then I was before.
Contact Info:
- Website: Supremefocusmedia.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/Enickmena
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/eddiemena