We recently connected with JacquieO Silvia and have shared our conversation below.
JacquieO , looking forward to hearing all of your stories 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.
Biggest risk I ever took was betting on myself.
As a young child, I took a lot of risks. Mainly, because I lacked any fear at all as a kid. How did this come to be you ask? I tell ya, routinely making life or death decisions. This will literally take the fear out of anyone with a childhood like this. Turns out so will dying.
See, without any concept of fear, as a young person I tended to take many risks in life. To which I noticed, the greater the risk the greater reward. In some cases, the rewards were what some might even call miracles.
One day I’m sitting on the steps of a church in popular Jackson Square. Born and raised in New Orleans I was no stranger to the humidify and heat. Yet this particular hot summer day it was almost unbearable. As a young dis-housed teen, I would often sit right in the entrance way of this church so I could catch the cold breeze flying throw the doors every time the tourist would walk in and out of this beautifully angelic building. I found peace in and admired its stained glassed windows and ceilings. It truly is breathtaking.
I distinctly remember wondering for the first time ever, what would become of me. I wondered if I would even make it out of New Orleans alive much less make something of myself. Without grasping the magnitude or severity of my situation, I made a very risky decision to somehow some way no matter how long it took, I would be something. So, I can help others be something too. I knew nothing else about this plan, other than something had to change. Eventually, I was interrupted by some music being played on nearby radio. I remember thinking, while bopping my head to the tunes of “Funckdafide” by Da Brat, that I never hear a female on the radio like that before. She sounded tough as hell. Kind of like me.
Present day:
I’m outside on a hot summer day sitting on the steps of a popular celebrities’ house. We are filming and I have been tasked with making sure no one comes into the front door of this house and ruin a shot during filming and while I’m no stranger to heat, on this day it is unbearable, so I’m ok with sitting outside on these steps as I catch some of the breeze coming from that front door opening and closing, happily. As I’m keeping an eye on my lock-up, “Funkdafide” starts playing on my Air Pods and I’m instantly transported back to that day when 12-year-old little me was sitting on those steps hearing “Da Brat” for the first time. She would never believe me if I were able her that she will make it one day and that everything would be ok.
See, that celebrities house that I was tasked with locking up, the “Da Brat” owns it. I am grateful to be one of the very few people she lets get this close to her and her tribe. I am honored.
I if you learn nothing else from my story, know this, with great risks, comes great rewards, if you can manage and learn from your failures.
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?
How I got into the film industry, must be the #1 question that I get constantly. While managing a restaurant for a celebrity chef, one of the regulars that would come in with is uncle for his monthly visits, chatted me up one day. He asked me if I ever thought about working in the film industry. I recently graduated with an MBA in project management, and he thought that I might really find my home in the industry. Turns out he was right. It took me a week to figure out how to get myself on set. Once there all I had to do was be myself. I took any and every opportunity to identify every key player on set. Spoke with a producer and that turned into a 7-hour hair and make-up trailer visit, to be transformed into a mutant with facial prosthetics. True story. I also caught the attention of a production assistant; we chatted a bit while I helped him clean up the mess left behind by background actors in a holding area. I soon got my first internship that lasted way too long… over a year. But eventually I did land my first paying job in the film industry and while it was barely livable, I was eternally grateful. After all, it sure did beat sitting on steps in Jackson Square.
I’ve been working in the film industry for 5 years now. I’ve worn many hats below the line, but my most challenging title to date was that of an assistant production supervisor. The main challenge of this role is keeping everyone safe, making everyone happy, and solving every single production problem on set. The challenges my team and I faced aided in our ability to be adaptable and quick problem-solving free thinkers. We exceeded our own expectations of our individual abilities but together we got through it all. We took many risks, some turned to failures that allowed us to analyze, learn , and grow . This produced better outcomes within our team and ultimately for production.
These days I enjoy being a production fixer. I help studio executives and producers’ fix and/or maintain production standards & procedures. I believe what sets me apart from other production fixers is my natural curiosity and commitment to truth seeking. I also have an incredible ability to manage what I do not know. As a hyper realist I am aware that I am not the smartest person in the room and truly love collaborating with others to make dreams come true.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I’m on a mission is to teach folks that are struggling in our current times that we can do incredibly hard things and that each decision we make daily may seem small, but each decision is worth taking. When we stop making decisions for ourselves or taking risks, we stop living our fullest potential.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
I have had great success maintaining high morale with a team by being radically open-minded and transparent. I’m open minded about feedback and completely transparent about expectations. This allows me to better understand my team and allows my team to better understand me. Getting more out of people /work does not have to be hard work. Principles of open-mindedness and transparency drive progress effectively. It also makes learning others a more enjoyable process.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: therealjacquie.o
Image Credits
Photo Credits : IG: Chillyolovesyou Hair: Troy Higgins @ CuttersLoungeSalon.com