We were lucky to catch up with Laeitta Wade-Robinson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Laeitta, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
Within my years of experience as a videographer, I’ve completed many projects. Out of all of those, there was one that greatly impacted all of my future projects and my perspective on videography.
After I graduated from Delta State University, one of my mentors, Tricia Walker, blessed me with an opportunity to attend a three-week-long documentary training for storytelling and videography under an organization called Barefoot Workshops. Barefoot Workshops is a New York City-based, organization founded in 2004, that teaches individuals and organizations how to use digital video, new media, and the arts to transform their communities and themselves. The training was located in Clarksdale, Mississippi. The mission of this organization was to train people to not only be able to produce a documentary, but able to capture and tell stories from their communities properly. The founders, Alison Fast and Chandler Griffin, trained me and a small group of people of different ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds to work together and how to properly capture a story using professional equipment. At first, I was excited and nervous because, at that time, my skill sets were still at an amateur level. However, I knew that I would absorb as much knowledge as possible from this amazing couple. With this being my first documentary, I was excited to see what the final results would be.
My partner and I, Connie Souto Learman, began our search for a strong story to tell within Clarksdale. From that experience, I learned how to speak to locals to gain needed information that could lead us to a strong story. Honestly, I learned a lot from Connie in that area. She wasn’t afraid to walk up to people and connect quickly. After a couple of days, some of that confidence rubbed off on me. After a day or two, we began to get discouraged about finding a story until we stopped by a local club. Their story was good, however, a small food shack business next door to them is what would capture not only our interest but our hearts.
We planned on waiting until the food business owners arrived the next day, but someone trusted us and gave us their home address. Keep in mind that it was now eight o’clock in the evening. In African American culture, it isn’t always a good idea to knock on someone’s door you don’t know after a certain time of day. Not only was I concerned about the business owners’ response to us knocking on their door at night, but also the fact that we were not from the area. I didn’t know if we would be safe or not. My partner didn’t share the same fears as me at the time and I am so glad she didn’t. An older man with the build and height of a football player opened the door. He was at least 6’4 feet tall. After introducing ourselves, Chandler and Connie spoke with him about our goal of capturing and telling their story. Soon after, his wife came to the door to see who was at the door. We came to know them as Mr. and Mrs. Wops. I’ll explain the name later. We got their information and thanked them for their time. Connie and I were excited about having another story to decide to tell. We both decided that the food business would be the story we would capture and planned to call the couple tomorrow morning.
The next day, we couldn’t reach the couple. We believed they may have changed their minds so, unfortunately, we had to choose our second option. We began filming the story at the local club, but Connie and I both felt like something was off. After a day of filming, we were told that we couldn’t film anymore. The person we were talking to wasn’t the correct person to speak with and had decided without permission to complete this project with us. This placed Connie and I back to square one. It had been two days since we last spoke with Mr. and Mrs. Wops. We decided to throw a Hail Mary and stop by their house once more. This time was very different. We were welcomed with smiles and asked to come in for a cup of homemade tea. Connie and I spoke with the Wops family, which also included their daughter, son, and two grandchildren. During the pre-interview, we learned so much about their story as a family, business, struggles, loss of a daughter to cancer, growth, and impact on their community. After leaving the home of the Wops, we called Chandler and Alison with the great news of moving forward with capturing of one Clarksdale’s amazing family stories.
The business is called Wops. It is a name Mr. Wops was given while playing football in school. He was such a powerful force on the team. When he made contact with the opposing team, all the crowd heard was “Wop!” Their food business mainly focuses on short orders such as fish, polish sausage, fries, burgers, barbecue, and their legendary Rotel burgers. The Wops created their own mix of seasonings and cooking styles that made the entire city love them. To capture their story, we had to film them at their business during business hours. Wops would open in the late evening from 7:00 P.M. to 5:00 A.M. I am not a night person, so this was a major challenge for me, but my desire to tell this story outweighed my desire for sleep. We encountered different types of people from locals, multiple ethnic groups, young, old, sober, intoxicated, etc. Being raised in a Christian, I was way out of my comfort zone. I wasn’t allowed to be out in the middle of the night and definitely not out at a club, which was next door to Wops. The Wops family was also Christian and understood my struggles of being outside my comfort zone and comforted me with wisdom, knowledge, and security.
I was able to witness why people loved coming to Wops. It was for the great food; however, it was also for the love these people showed their customers. If someone needed to vent, receive advice, or just wanted to talk, Mr. and Mrs. Wops were there. They also did the same for the young people in their communities. They would mentor the young men and young women so they would make better choices and live longer, fuller lives. During the home interviews, we were able to go deeper into the lives of the Wops family. They are beautiful people. Mrs. Wops cooked a huge meal for us and even taught me how to make candied yams. They shared their hearts with us, which made the story connect with us even more. We learned about the death of their daughter and even shared tears. At that moment, we all knew, we had become family. I love hearing stories from more mature and older people because within their stories are wisdom and lessons learned. Hearing how his mother taught him to cook and how his father showed him how to study the bible resonated with me because my family is the same way.
From filming with Connie and Chandler to story-building with Alison, the story was coming together. Summarizing such an amazing family story down to fifteen minutes was very challenging, but Connie and I were determined to do this family justice with this documentary. We didn’t sleep much that last week, but the results were mind-blowing. We watched the documentary with the family and local community members. Everyone cheered for the film and stood up and applauded the Wops family. The Wops also announced their retirement and plans to pass the business on to their children and grandchildren. I couldn’t have pictured that ending any other way.
This was a game changer for me because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my passion for film and storytelling. Getting to know the Wops family, working with some amazing people, and being pushed out of my comfort zone helped me see that I love telling stories of hidden gems in my community in a documentary format. That passion led me to work with teens in the MS Delta to help them express their feeling and thoughts through arts such as music, songwriting, and videos.
I stayed in contact with the family for a while after the project was completed because they had become a part of my heart. Mr. Wops passed away last year in May of 2022. Hearing the news broke my heart, but it made me reflect on the project. Mr. and Mrs. Wops allowing us to tell their story helped me find my calling to continue my own story. I could never repay them for that other than honoring them by continuing to share their stories and the stories of our communities.
If you would like to view this project, click on the link below:
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Laeitta Wade-Robinson, known as Eittabug. I am a native of Greenville, Mississippi. I graduated from Greenville Weston High School and continued my education at the Delta Music Institute at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi. I majored in Music Industry Studies with a concentration of Audio Engineering and Interdisciplinary Studies with the concentrations of Media Arts, Songwriting, and Entrepreneurship. Within my college years, I started to build my videography and photography skills with the help of some amazing mentors. With the help of the Steve Azar St. Cecilia Foundation, I was able to start my own production company called Eittabug Productions. Eittabug Productions is a videography company that meets the vision and creativity needs of the Mississippi Delta by supplying professional skills when capturing and producing a product that captures the vision of its clients. Eittabug offers videography and photography service for media content such as commercials, promotion clips, interviews, documentaries, music videos, short films, weddings, and events/programs. I have two amazing people that work with me, Jabari Buck and Victoria Battee`. Both bring skills, passion, and personality that creates an atmosphere where we all can grow as well as our clients.
For the past seven years, I’ve working at Delta State University under a program called Healing with a Groove 2.0 that focused on racing healing using the arts. With HWG, my team and I worked with different teenagers of different backgrounds throughout the MS Delta by having dialogue on topics such as identity, teamwork, community, etc. From there, we would complete different activities and create songs and music that reflect the thoughts of those students. We also traveled outside of MS to have workshop to encourage other communities to offer these types of programs as well. Now, I teach grades 9-12 grades at Greenville High School. Outside of that, I am either filming a story or practicing my photography.
I love taking abstract photographs. I love to travel with my camera and capture beauty in places that are looked over every day. When teaching my students about videography and photography, I tell them, “It’s not always about making the shot perfect, but capturing the perfect moment. Being a videographer/photographer is about seeing beauty in places most don’t see it.” I teach students to capture decisive moments and not focused on setting something up. We have enough artificial material in the world. Just take your camera and paint with your eyes.
I believe what set me apart from other videographer is the desire to bring the narrative story out of their projects and move that to the front of the viewers eyes. Simon Sinek mentioned in one of his Ted Talks that people connect with your why. I am to capture the client’s because in order to present the narrative for their customers to connect with. At the end of the day, we are all human and want to connect in some type of way. The same impact my first documentary project had on me that helped me find me why, I hope that my skills sets can help other find their visual arts.
I can say that I am proud of the work that my team and I have put together over the years. Due to the influence and impact of social media, I have to look back at where I started and reflect on where I am now at times. I am not perfect, however, I am growing and learning more and more about my craft. My ultimate goal is telling as many stories as possible. I want to reveal hidden gems and show the world that there are some amazing things in the world and it’s not all evil or dark.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
During my college years, I decided to practice interviewing people. I didn’t realize that I was building up skills that would be helpful to me with creating documentaries. It began with my father that needed a commercial for his hobby with racing remote control cars. I was able to practice filming interviews and live action. That was the first video I ever created. After that I became more interested in videography. I thought I had a “little” talent in that field. I decided to practice interviewing people by interviewing local pastors and Christian leaders to get their opinion on the meaning of worship and having a relationship with God. One of the pastors was my own pastor at the time, Pastor Ruben Lewis. He has begun noticing how I loved video and the words he spoke to me after the interview didn’t take root until I understood what he meant years later. He said, “You should interview others. You have a personality that would make a lot of people open up to you easily. They have a word for people like you. Griots.” I had heard the word before in Clarksdale, MS because I worked with a youth group with the same name. Years later, I was looking over my some of my past project was and Pastor Lewis words hit me. I learned that a griot is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician. Of course, I am not from West Africa, but I was unconsciously recording history for my community. I’ve interviewed sculptors, painters, singers, artists, etc. I enjoy telling the story that would be history of our area. I definitely would love to tell stories in other states, but the MS Delta is a place filled with many hidden stories that deserve to be told. Even though some stories were challenging to capture and tell, but it was worth it because that is history captured. To me, that is one of the most rewarding aspects of being creative.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
This question is quite challenging because there were many lessons I had to unlearn during my years in this field. For anyone who is thinking about getting this area or career field, I would say don’t let social media dictate to you on how successful you are. Success is not measured the same for everyone. Success comes in many forms. Success comes in small wins and big wins. Sometimes, success follows failing. Once you fail at something and you choose to get up, you have successfully decided to move forward. Social media would have you thinking that if you don’t have the newest equipment that you won’t be successful, or your vision isn’t worth capturing.
For my final project in college, I wanted to show my poetry scriptwriting skills as well as my videography skills; however, I didn’t have any equipment I thought I needed to create a successful project. I was seeing other classmates with the finances to purchase or rent certain equipment that they needed to complete their projects. I was already under a lot of stress because both of my parents were in the hospitals that semester and I was ready to quit. I felt like I had given all I could and that I would not be successful because I don’t have all the tools I needed. When one of my mentors saw me slowly checking out, they approached me with a stern love that I needed. They told me that success isn’t measured by when society says it is. Getting up every day and not giving up on life is being successful. Choosing to go to school rather than sit at home is being successful. You don’t need the best equipment to produce greatness. He said I shouldn’t allow such small things hinder me from obtaining a huge win. A camera of good quality was provided to me as well as assistance with some nice lighting, an amazing actress, a great music composer, amazing friends and professors that assisted with audio and editing, and a space to edit. The project came out better than I expected. The project was called, “A Time To Heal: From Victim To Victor.” I didn’t realize that the story I wrote was written to help me come out of a dark place during that time. I was so busy focusing on what someone else was able to do the I didn’t give myself a chance to show what I could do. Success is just steps taken in life to growth, not based on society definition. 
Contact Info:
- Website: eittabugproductions.squarespace.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eittabugproductions/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/EittabugProductions
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laeitta-wade-robinson-0332052a/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@eittabug