We recently connected with Marvin Emetom and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Marvin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

For me, coming from a single-parent household, my mom was a great example on how to be a hard working and respected adult in this world and it only came down to a few things: if you say you’re going to do something then make sure you always act upon it, never let the world dictate your voice, beliefs or your path in life and always give it your all if you commit to a particular road you pursue in this world. Seeing her be able to apply that in her life time in and time out growing up was, by action, her way of saying that if she could do this then I should be able to do this too if not more with my life. Despite the environmental polarity between how she raised and instilled these practices to me in the home and the influences from the outside world as I knew and was exposed to as a kid, I am forever grateful that her lessons and practices have stuck with me to this day and blessed that she was the one to apply these teachings into my life.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Well one of these paths merged with the other harmoniously which keeps things fresh from me with every project I do regardless on which side of the camera I’m on.

It started with getting in the industry as an actor. This creative path was something I’ve always wanted to get into (outside of school and sports) but did not have any connections or resources growing up to be able to entertain the idea of starting that career on a professional level. As a kid, I did a few acting scenes at church and school which was exciting and even took a stage combat class at my college alma mater, The University of Texas at El Paso. Even though I did those things, it felt more like a hobby at the time because I still wasn’t doing this on the professional level. It wasn’t until February 2018 when I saw the screening of Black Panther and saw someone in the movie which I knew from back home where we grew up together. I realized after that movie that it wouldn’t hurt to ask how he got into the industry and he gave me all the essential information to get going. I made sure at that moment that I would retain this information and run with it full speed!

Fast forward a couple years, when the industry slowed down initially due to COVID, I was looking for a way to stay busy during these trying times. I reached out to one of my acting coaches at the time and she told me to start making my own work. I sat on that advice and realized that this could be a way to stay ahead ahead of the game. Lo and behold, this was congruently setting me up to be equipped to run a whole production along side with acting which will help me stay creative in more ways than one.

Now, I run a video production company with a phenomenal team alongside with acting which couldn’t be a better career pairing. Between that initial idea during COVID and now, I used to think that this was going to get me ahead of the game but instead It has shown me that it is bigger than that. It’s being able to work in tandem with ambitious creatives who are looking to level up their business lives: from working on set either in front or behind the camera to business owners looking for the solutions to their video needs for their businesses to grow and everything in between!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The pivot moment for me happened on October 2017. Before getting my in into the industry, I was working in car sales at the time and remember that I had the ability to sell like crazy but didn’t think this is where my life would have led to after school and sports. It took its toll as months went by and the motivation to sell started to follow. The dealership manager came to my corner one day and tried to see what inspired me in life. My response was that I am inspired by being creative and not being restricted in any capacity in this world. My creative path at the time was music so he gave me a creative challenge through music that I needed to present to him whenever I had the time. Within 72 hours, I had a whole song written and composed to present to him. After he heard it, he was the one to say, man to man, that the creative world is where I needed to be not in an office cubicle selling cars and that there was never any doubt of my selling abilities but there would be nothing in the world that would motivate me in the car sales world that would supersede you being expressive in this respectable fashion. That was my wake up call in real time and knew I had to find a way in this creative space…that golden ticket presented itself to me four months after this realization.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Well, for the masses, it seems that the two most prominent things people like to do in this world is supporting mainstream creatives/artist and enjoy anything in life that is free or cost little money in general. The best ways to support us creatives is a domino effect that starts with what they do with mainstream creatives and artist but for free: consistently promoting their work on social media through likes, comments, sharing and reposting their content, show love by getting the word out with people you know, these things cost nothing to do except five seconds of your time. If you want to go above and beyond, do all that and show up to their events whenever they have any. Events may or may not be free but it’s still great for you to show up for them. If your issue is cost, it would be a fraction compared to mainstream entertainment which then your money stretches longer. If your issue is that they are not mainstream yet, help them get one step closer by showing up to their events and promoting their work. Now you become a part of a larger movement AND you get to save some money in the process as opposed to the alternative. Sounds like a win-win situation for everyone to me!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsbigmarv
• Other: IMDb: www.imdb.me/marvinemetom

  Production Company Instagram: www.instagram.com/hashtagcre8

  Production Company Website: www.hashtagcre8.com