We were lucky to catch up with Jayda Carcamo recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jayda , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

From when I was 13yrs old I knew I wanted a hand in the film industry. From there I thought acting would be a great start but when I took a Drama Class in High School, I realized I had serious stage fright and couldn’t Act at all. By 14yrs old I started writing my own film scripts, most were comedy and Romance. I still have those scripts and looking back on them is pretty funny because of how terrible they were. Fast forward to my Junior year of High School, I had a friend that was doing Photography and she had gained popularity through her work which was super inspiring to me. One day she had asked me to Model for her, which I did but I remember while modeling I kept thinking to myself “Wow being behind the camera seems so fun”. Just the thought of having an idea and bringing it to life through creativity seemed so dope to me. At this time I was taking a Video Production Class in School, my teacher noticed I took a liking to the class compared to the other Students, so he trusted me and would lend me Cameras to take photos for the school yearbook throughout the year. I started to fall in love with taking photos, I begged my Mom to buy me a camera. Funny enough, I went to a Pawn shop with my Grandmother and saw a Canon t3 Rebel in a glass case. My GMA knew I wanted it so thankfully she bought for me. That same summer I started taking photos of friends, not thinking anything of it. I honestly was trying to document the fun stuff my friends and I were doing that summer. Once I learned how to operate the camera better, I just kept shooting and shooting and shooting. I started posting my work on Social Media and before I knew it I was beginning to get Clientele for my work. Photography has always been a way to get my foot in the door to get on my dream path to be a Film Director.

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 believe to make it in this type of Industry, it’s truly about who you know. In 2018 I was asked to be a Vendor for the first time at Rapper, Rakeem Miles annual festival “Weird and Awful”. There, I had showcased my photography and sold had Clothes from Clothing Line “CHiPS”. But with that being said from there, I started socializing and networking ALOT. Although, I feel like because I’m based in LA it’s tough to get my name out there because there’s a lot of Creatives that are doing the same as me and just as hungry as me, unfortunately at times that can create some type of insecurity for me in my work. But at the same time I think that’s just another reason to go harder. I truly do believe I’m an underrated talented artist that deserves recognition. My biggest Accomplishment for me was Directing my first film in ‘22. It was incredibly stressful but I wouldn’t change a thing because I enjoyed doing it.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I think what a lot of people need to understand is you’re not too cool to ask for help. Everyone starts from somewhere, don’t be afraid to ask for help. To those that are where they want to be, it doesn’t hurt to give help because once upon of time you were in that person’s position, praying someone would take a bet on you. So Let’s just support and create beautiful masterpieces together.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me personally, I think seeing what was a simple idea in my head come to life is very rewarding. It’s also rewarding because of the hard work and dedication that was put behind it then it eventually all comes together.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @blackchippie

Image Credits

Johnny Valangem
Joselyn
Kaylin