We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Haley Gashi. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Haley below.

Haley, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Taking (calculated) risks is something everyone should do in life. It is especially important in the creative field to trust your gut and leap into projects that feel right. One of the biggest risks I took when starting my career was taking on the role of co-producer for a long-term film project. It was my first paid producer role and my director and producer, Lou Blackmon, put a lot of faith and trust in me to pull things together. It was an incredible learning experience for me and the start of a lasting professional partnership moving forward. Since then, I’ve been so comfortable putting myself out there and taking more and more risks every day!

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 was a very artistic child. My mother really encouraged this aspect of my person. She sent me to singing lessons, dance classes, and in high school, I was invited to a college acting program. I did about 14 years of theatre throughout my life. When I was 18, I moved to New York City for college where I major-hopped for about three years before dropping out. In my time at school, I was enrolled in Speech Language Pathology and Audiology before exploring film and finally illustration and animation. This is where I found passion. I decided to make it my personal project to learn to code and create a video game. I worked in Special Events for about four years as it aligned with my film production skills before helping a friend of mine, Jake Tavill, start his entertainment business, Indigo Soul NYC. I currently reside in Brooklyn, wearing a million hats as so many other artists in the city. I am currently most involved with my work at Indigo Soul NYC and some music video production projects. I am learning coding and animation when I have a spare hour to work toward my ultimate goal of creating a video game.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I loved video games growing up–I still do–but I’d like to see more diversity in them. I, at first, wanted to work for a larger video game company, but even the behind the scenes is still extremely sexist. This is why I made it my mission to create my own games or company to make a diverse lineup of games. I feel like I’m fulfilling a hole in the heart of young me. Maybe I’m trying to make that little girl inside my soul happy. Maybe I’m trying to inspire other women and Queer people to get into the industry!

In my film work, I experienced a lot of similar issues; my classes being full of men talking over me, going on dates with self-proclaimed film buffs who would tell me my opinions were wrong, and having men assume I’m a Production Assistant rather than a lead producer. Thankfully, these experiences have only fueled my desire to create!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Consistency and kindness! I pride myself in being a very social person. I love chatting with people about their passions and sharing my work. Making lasting impressions and connections is the best way to create opportunities for yourself and others. As far as the consistency goes, I just make sure to always deliver what I promise! I don’t offer more than I can give, but I do present myself to be an ambitious, creative thinker. I love to help problem solve, so producing comes naturally to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.haleygashi.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovelygould/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haley-gashi-2a3b91130
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LovelyGould
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm14481766/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1