We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Milla Nguyen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Milla, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I can say that while I have many inspirations from the world around me, I have always tried to be authentic in all the projects that I have created or taken part in. My interests started with photography in high school because I thought being able to capture visual images of memories was a beautiful thing. Since then, I had started off majoring in fashion design and worked to study the fundamentals of what I liked to wear and practical design. On the side, I also self-taught myself on how to write. edit, and do graphic design for a magazine that my colleague and I founded (Culture Talk @culturetalknet). Yet, I still wanted to create something that could make people emotional. I wanted people to feel how I felt or feel inspired by my stories, which led me to film. Film is the essence of visual storytelling and I am lucky to be in a college program that allows me to do that to an extent. I have met a lot of wonderful peers and filmmakers who are constantly creating stories. Though, making films is not the same as watching them  In fact, I found that filmmaking is extremely difficult. Also, some people seem to believe that filmmaking is an easy job due to social media portrayal. Instead, the field requires a lot of time (sometimes no sleeping or eating on time), creativity, and talent, as well as leadership. I am grateful to have learned some of these skills and I am deeply humbled by those who paved the way for the rest of us. I am still on my journey of learning, and I am certainly not perfect. But, I hope to get to a place where I can be diverse in my background as an Asian-American filmmaker and designer.

Milla, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Milla Nguyen and I am a Vietnamese-American aspiring film director/ writer and fashion designer. I am about to graduate from my college with a Bachelor’s degree in Film and Media Production with a minor in Fashion Design. I am also someone who likes to experiment with different things and constantly learn more about the world. Some of the skills I have acquired are directing, writing, designing, and editing. One of my favorite creations is my brand label @eclipsetherecord on Instagram. The brand motto is to always to try to surpass your personal best, and eclipse a new record each time. I am a firm believer in learning from your mistakes while making yourself a better person if you are in a creative industry. Over the years, I definitely have leaned into social media more and how to use it as a tool to raise awareness for topics that are important. It has served as a business tool and one that connects me to my community.

I also wanted to mention my upcoming senior capstone film, “I Want You to Live” which follows a Vietnamese-American teenager and her journey in understanding loss, love, and hope after her mother passes away from cancer. her mother leaves her personal journal behind, allowing the main character to view her journey as an immigrant and Vietnam war refugee. The film encompasses the idea that when life gets difficult, putting resilience into practice is never easy yet  it is something valuable. The film was shot locally in Arizona by about 32 crew members and a cast of several actors and is hopefully set to premiere in May 2023. I would just like to thank all of the crew members, cast, and professors so far who have propelled the making of this film. To me, I learned so much from the process as the director plus writer.

Next, I would like to mention Culture Talk which was founded by a dear friend and colleague- Anusha Natarajan. Together, we formed an organization during the COVID 19 pandemic which served as a creative space for domestic and international students in order to raise cultural/ socio-political awareness. I serve as the chief magazine editor and created all the design layouts for each issue of the magazine. Currently, we run our website, the magazine, a public blog, and our “This is Us” podcast. All are available on your website.

Finally, I also dabble in photography, modeling, and artwork for other projects and collaborations that I work on in my free time (when my hands aren’t tied with everything else).

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Yes! So, when I was a freshman in high school, social media was present but I felt it wasn’t as widespread as it is today. Yes, my classmates and friends always kept up with the rapid changes of pop culture but now, trends move like a millisecond on the internet. I had first started Instagram (later than everyone else, and had no knowledge or experience about branding, themes, or my audience. Though, my idea of influence has changed. I think society (especially in younger generations) view social media as social status or a competition which is still very true, and I am not impartial to this system. Therefore, I try my absolute best to keep it real and I would say my brand is built upon my own style of academics, lifestyle, and creative accomplishments. My feed is very much based around my projects and designs. Luckily, I felt that resonated with people, especially when I would write articles on Culture Talk about Asian hate crimes or about women’s rights. I am also deeply grateful that people listen or ask me for my opinion even if I haven’t had the chance to share a conversation with them in real life. My advice is that despite the system and whirlwind of opinions, try to stay true to yourself. Trust your gut. And remember, if there’s something in your life that you want to change, try to get up and change it.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Even though I previously mentioned it, I want to reiterate that I have grown my desire to keep up with what is going on in the AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) community. I didn’t always actively keep up with it especially when I was younger but after recent years, I deem it important as of now. Personally, I still feel like we need more diversity in the film, fashion, and social media scene. Finally, I feel like the AAPI community is getting a lot of recognition they deserve. For example, Michelle Yeoh’s win for the film. “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once” as the first Asian woman to win best actress at the Oscars. Or, Bong Joon-ho’s director’s win for his film, “Parasite”. Even the rapid climbing rise of Korean pop, Japanese Anime, and popular Asian foods/ products is increasing public awareness of the community. I also feel that telling stories with meaningful immigrant or refugee experiences can I also feel that telling stories that illustrate the immigrant experience can educate wider audiences about various struggles. I also believe that those who have large platforms can communicate to their followers that diversity brings perspective, and it is always good to learn from other’s experiences.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://eclipsetherecord.wixsite.com/etrthelabel
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/milla_nguyen.co/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuHZOBsGwV6LZgPh1wlZ8vQ
• Other: https://www.theculturetalk.net https://iwantyoutolivefilm.wixsite.com/millanguyen

Image Credits
Personal photo by Micah Rind (@rindstudio) Film set photo by Logan O’Neill (@logancreativity) Model by (@misplacedsurferphotography)