We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Moremi Okoroh a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Moremi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
When I hear people discuss the topic of taking a risk it always feels a bit cliche. Isn’t life innately risky? You see I’m the the type of person who loves the thrill of new experiences. That is to say, I’m an endlessly curious person and for me, curiosity in and of itself is risky. Curious people are driven by an inner compulsion to seek out things they may not understand. Risky. You may often find yourself saying yes to things or put yourself in situations you previously couldn’t fathom, all in the name of curiosity.
When I started out my career, I sought out any and all PA positions I could no matter the task. I could go from helping out the tech department one moment to the art department the next. At the time, learning something new was a great way to avoid boredom during long days on set. But as I saw my friends who took the safer, more clear path move up quickly, I began to waver about my choices. Was I wasting my time by not doing the expected thing? Was my curiosity setting me up for failure? However, as my career progressed, I realized all the seemingly random abilities I’d acquired lent itself to being a great manager and an even better producer. Not to mention my now large network was diverse and wide ranging. I had built job security for myself without even trying.
My curiosity propelled me onto a path less traveled, which at some points felt like I was risking my entire career. Luckily, that risk opened and continues to open new and exciting opportunities in my life and career.
As a creative, we owe it to ourselves to take on risk. To push past our perceived limits or inadequacies, to test ourselves and live life aloud. The person who went to the party can always describe it better than the person who streamed it online. Doing this may just get you everything you ever dreamed of or at the very least give you’d a fantastic story to tell.
Moremi, 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?
I am a writer-producer who’s been working in reality tv for over a decade. I moved to LA to become an actor and quickly realized I wanted to tell my own stories. After stepping away from acting, I found production as a way to keep me connected to the industry I loved while laying the foundation for my larger dreams.
It wasn’t easy for a girl from small town Arizona. I grew up in a strict Nigerian household, where academic achievement was paramount. I can still recall the many and honestly difficult conversations I had with my parents. You can imagine their shock when I told them I would be leaving my secure job in finance to not only move away from everything and everyone I’d ever known but to do so in pursuit of a career in entertainment. I’m pretty sure my parents are still holding out hope for a possible career in law. But the years I’ve been blessed to have in the industry confirms I made the right choice.
Through a lot of luck and hard work I was able to go from shoveling popcorn and cleaning up puke at the local Arclight to working for major movie studios. After building up my production background I took another chance on myself and pursued my more creative dreams by becoming a producer.
My experiences as a producer made me realize the dire need for diverse voices and the importance of not selling oneself short. I spent years telling myself I didn’t have what it took, taking myself out of the race before it ever even started. The lock down gave me the much needed time to focus on my own projects. I began harnessing the power of my own individuality, understanding that the thing that sets me apart would be the key to achieving my dreams. Figuring out what I wanted to say to the world allowed me to create and write things I could have once only dreamt about. This realization allowed me to finish my first book and I’ve now been shopping around a reality game show I created; entering rooms that I could once only dream about. But I haven’t stopped there.
Representation matters and we owe it to ourselves and the audience to boldly share our individuality and unique perspectives. The industry NEEDS us. I mean, have you seen those numbers lately?
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Early on in my career, I once worked for one of those stereo-typically narcissistic, ego-driven bosses who liked to assert their seemingly omniscient power through manipulation and gas lighting. As I considered them a mentor at the time, I began to believe all the negative things I was being told. I thought to myself, If someone you look up to doesn’t believe in your talent, then maybe they were right? I thought about quitting. I started summing up all the sacrifices I’d made up to that point. But I couldn’t give up on myself like that. So, instead of leaving everything behind, I took a step back and tried to enrich other parts of my career. I strove to do my absolute best with every job I booked and I never shied away from trying something new or making a different choice. With each new credit, however small, I slowly remembered why I wanted to create again and learned to listen to my own voice. My path ended up being a lot longer than originally anticipated but that’s how life is sometimes. I like to think of it like a championship boxing match. No matter how well prepared you are, there will always be that inevitable right hook you didn’t see coming. You have to learn to have a strong enough chin to eat the hit or get back on your feet before the counts out. And if you didn’t get a knockout in the first round, as initially planned, you remember you have 12 rounds to get the win. And if you’re able to pivot and learn from each round, you just might win it all.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I think as a society there’s a lot of emphasis on using age as a barometer to test success against. If you don’t accomplish such and such thing, by such and such age, you’re a failure. This is what has been ingrained in me, and I think most people, our entire lives. And although that may have been true, when the average life expectancy was 50, that’s just not the case anymore. We could one day, commonly have more life after 50 than before it. As I’ve already explained, our lived experiences are what makes our art better. The time I’ve put into my career has helped me hone my craft. The years have been to my benefit, not detriment. I had to unlearn or better I’ve had to learn there’s no age for success. It was not, nor has ever been a race. As long as I move forward day by day, striving to get better, and celebrating no matter how small the achievement, I’m doing the “thing.” As the cliche goes, the movie is the journey.