We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lateciara Gordon. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with LaTeciara below.
Alright, LaTeciara thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
Since I was 13, writing has always been something I was passionate about. I always tell people Poetry was my first love but I’ve always been musically inclined. Growing up, there were few instruments I didn’t play. I played the Viola in 5th grade, the Clarinet in 6th, 1:1 Opera Lessons through middle school, the piano in college, bass & electric guitars, there seemed to be no end to my creative pursuits. In High-school I explored Speech & Debate with the National Forensics League , competing mainly in Dramatic Interpretation and I was also a regular in my school theater productions. In 2016, I found a love for Photography and started my own business taking professional portraits and covering events like weddings & baby showers. I started dabbled in modeling this year as well. Throughout all my life, I have always had a love for the Arts in various mediums. It wasn’t until I went to college and had less time for these passions that I began feeling unhappy; I was deeply unfulfilled and couldn’t figure out why. I switched my major 4 times, then I dropped out. For a short while, I simply worked and came home. It didn’t occur to me that I couldn’t find motivation for college because I wasn’t feeding my soul. I thought I was just burnt out; not meant for college. In reality, I wasn’t meant to work in a field that didn’t fulfill me. I was raised to find a stable career; medicine, law, or education. Although I’m on my last year of college now, in psychology, I had to find myself first and I do so through my arts.
In 2020, I was roommates with a few high school buddies & one of them was making his own beats and rapping in his room. By that point, I had only ever freestyled for fun a few times during my school days. When I saw my friend, Aj, making his music it quickly caught my interest. I wanted to do that too! I tried to do it myself by playing with garage band on my phone. My first EVER track was actually produced that way, but I wanted to do more. One day, I asked him to show me a thing or two with what he does. “How do I arrange beats?” “How do I mix my vocals?” He showed me every foundational thing he knew. That same year I dropped 3 tracks that I mixed/mastered myself, and some with original beats! I was unemployed for a few months that year and I had nothing but time and my friends encouraging me.
I would post my music online, mainly soundcloud and Facebook, anticipating low engagement, but a lot of the feedback that I got was positive. I started looking online for open mics to vibe check my music and stumbled across this weekly one in Charlotte, NC called TrainingDayCLT. A song I made with my friend Aj called “Good Day” was the first I wanted to do, because rapping for an audience was intimidating – especially alone. It was so bad! I still have the video on YouTube but we were both nervous as hell, I hardly moved around because I was so nervous but it felt amazing to be on stage again. To perform & entertain; it felt like rekindling a lost love. I went on to perform at MaryMack’s weekly showcases and that was my segue into performing my music.
Fast forward 5 years and I’ve walked for 2 fashion shows in NYC, I’ve been a 2x Pre-show opener for Open To All Entertainment, successfully organized and curated my very own rising artist showcase called The VIBE concert, casted for the comedy Shayaya NYC, and so much more.
Although I’ve found my way back to college, this time has shown me that what I’m most passionate about is connecting with others. Professionally I work with Autistic children 1:1 within the home and I really enjoy what I do.
Though, I’d love to create for most of my days. Since I have to fund all these endeavors, I work a practical job. I found one in which I could still be fulfilled while funding my deeper passions. One day I will have time to dedicate solely to my crafts, as it’s been a part of me practically my whole life, but things take time. I appreciate my journey for what it’s been so far, & it’s only up from here.
LaTeciara, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
For those that don’t know me, I got into my different industries by way of, mainly, the Internet. Whether it was photography or performing my music or finding modeling opportunities for myself, I did everything through Instagram and Facebook. I didn’t have anyone to get me an end. I didn’t even know how to find an agent for most of my career and still don’t have one, but being in this age of technology, it wasn’t hard to find people who could give me the tools to find more. My first ever performance as a musician was at TrainingdayCLT, which was an open mic in Charlotte, NC that happened once a week and gave local artists an opportunity to hone in on their stage presence and performance skills. From there, I continue to perform on a weekly basis and met a lot of interesting people. I met someone who got me my first post high school production opportunity for Web series called death of me. Beyond that I started getting invited to events, people started recognizing my music and when I moved to New York, I only took those networking skills with me and applied it. Within the last two years of being in New York. I walked during New York fashion week for my first time last September & for an artisanal fashion showcase , then I walked for a local Queens, New York clothing brand called ForeverOnPoint just this last November. As far as my photography, it was a little different in that I didn’t find opportunities to meet new clientele at a large scale, however I was networking with a lot of rising models and filling my portfolio with trade for print images. Coupled with a solid hashtag strategy, I was able to find clients & people to pick me up as a second shooter for weddings. I boosted a couple of posts via Facebook ads and Instagram ads, and it helped me find more creators in this industry. Not only did I find another client, but I found photographers who wanted to work with me as a model. I applied the same strategy to find rising modeling opportunities to help me build my portfolio. I had actually started dabbling and modeling in 2016 but due to life circumstances, I stopped entirely and didn’t pick it up again until the Spring of 2023. When it comes to solving problems for people who are clients of mine, for my photography, my biggest skill is being able to learn in a short period what someone’s insecure are and frame them in a way that they still find a picture of themselves beautiful. It’s hard getting someone who doesn’t like seeing themselves on pictures to like what they see and so I’ve learned how to capture people in their most flattering light without feeling like they need heavy edits or Photoshop to their pictures.
My business is what it is to this day because of word-of-mouth referrals. I always try to prioritize how a client feels rather than how much am I getting paid from this gig to determine the amount of effort I’m putting into their session. When I sit and reflect on what it is that I’m most proud of as it pertains to my talents the things that I’ve accomplished, etc. , I am most proud of my ability to never confine myself to one lane. I think in this life, especially as an entertainer, people are expected to find a niche & stick with a tried and true formula to success. Some may think, who am I to go against the grain? But, I don’t do the things that I do because I’m trying to meet a calculated conclusion. I do the things that I do because it makes me happy. It makes my soul happy and I can’t live this life without fulfilling my soul so I touch all of the things that would make me happy whether that’s modeling, taking pictures, writing poetry, making music or acting on the stage; making people laugh and making people cry that is who I am! I think that is what sets me apart the most , because people get so lost in doing these things to become famous or successful instead of just doing these things to feel good and letting fame/success be the icing on the cake.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I think a lot of non-creatives struggle with waiting. I say that because there is no immediate gratification that comes from being an artist or an entertainer most of the times you’re doing it simply for your love of the craft with little to no recognition – even the world‘s most famous painters didn’t get their flowers until after death. On the outside, looking in, non-creatives probably wouldn’t be the most interested in that. They are likely more interested in immediate results – I do this job, I get a paycheck. Being an artist isn’t always that. You might do a job; you might do something and it may lead to money but it may not. it may just be another step on your staircase towards seeing profits/success. Sometimes that staircase can be a short journey, other times it could be a long journey and I think non-creatives may not understand why artists are motivated by that. The idea of being a starving artist probably seems a little asinine to other people when there are plenty of other jobs and fields that will pay us well & consistently enough to survive, but I think it’s important for us as humans to know that we gotta feed our soul too. Working the usual 9 to 5, even if you’re a non-creative yourself, doing only that for your days is not gonna be fulfilling. You have to find something that brings you joy, that makes you passionate and puts a fire in you and being able to find joy in the journey rather than trying to reach some sort of prize or end goal. Often, I find that the people that I know who are super successful and well off financially – once they got that “more” that they wanted, they only wanted more than that. They weren’t satisfied because they know, deep down, that those things were not fulfilling them. I think it’s important for us, especially for my peers because I’m 27, we don’t need to be like our parents and kill ourselves off the sake of a grind or superficial success. We need to be able to find passion in this life; what puts a fire in you?
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My biggest goal during this creative journey is to find community. I have performed in a lot of places over the last three years, I’ve met a lot of people and one of the biggest things was how I felt like the events that I went to did not foster community, but they foster competition And that is why I decided to create my own showcase series called The VIBE concert, which is an acronym for vibrant, innovative, bold, and expressive. I want to be able to have the funds in the future to help other rising artists, even though I haven’t made it myself I think it’s important to have a foundation in something positive before any of us make it to the big leagues because that’s how you lose yourself in this world. Even though our talents can be a meal ticket for a lot of of us, I think that most of us gotta remember where we started; every single independent artist that I’ve met, whether they were an actor, a poet, a singer or a rapper , all of them started because they wanted to connect with other people. They want people to hear the deepest parts of their soul, and they wanted to share that in a space of others who felt like that’s how their soul could be heard too. I want to continue to be a beacon of that because not every place that I’ve gone to made me feel that way. There was a few places along my journey of being a performing artist that made me feel like this could be a home for me , like TrainingDayCLT, and a home for my crafts. I want to be able to be that for others, but I have to achieve certain levels of success first before I can actualize that, but that is one of the main things that I’m looking towards. I’d like to intersect all of my skills so that I can use it to bring people together as well as giving them something for their work. I want to be able to give prizes. I wanna be able to give people opportunities. I wanna be able to really give people something REAL, on top of bringing them together with other like-minded souls.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.officialc.univer.se
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/venus.images_?igsh=MXdydzFlZDh2ZDV6cw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1AxBf6LsTY/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lateciara-gordon-4980a2117?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@venus.images_?si=H5vzbJNOasFJmTtP
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/gMuABtYmejpBmScB8
- Other: Photography Page:
(FB) https://www.facebook.com/share/1HSK97ru2P/?mibextid=wwXIfr
(IG)
https://www.instagram.com/venusimagesproduction?igsh=eDB6ZDVvbWU3a3Y3
Image Credits
@unitedartistryllc
@cultureshot_visuals
@enemypixels
@logo704
@shotbyoldhafer