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

Myra, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

I’m a big advocate for rest; it’s equally important to work. As an artist, creativity is my livelihood. So I need to foster an environment and lifestyle where I can be my most creative self, and that means taking breaks – big or small.

As of today, the longest vacation I’ve taken lasted two months. I remember my headspace leading up to it, feeling incredibly burnt out and uninspired. So taking months off felt like the only way to reset. And of course spending time in nature, in a new country, away from all obligations, refreshed my perspective. For the first time in awhile, I wanted to get back into my creative practice.

Today, I have a work life balance that fits my current lifestyle. I plan vacations with friends and family eagerly without any anxiety surrounding the work when I return. I make sure to communicate with clients ahead of time and lock down any moving pieces. Especially in our remote friendly environments, I’ve found that maintaining this balance is far more accessible.

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.

I’m a film editor and motion designer that also enjoys working with experimental art and technology. My day-to-day varies depending on the project and the type of client. If I’m working with agencies, there’s usually a creative director, a few designers and producers that are collaborating. A film studio structures similarly but with different goals. In both scenarios, I’m contributing my creative ideas while integrating the director’s vision and client’s needs. These projects can be anything from commercial broadcasts, feature films, social media content, and web design.

Growing up I spent a lot of my time being creative, whether that was drawing, scrapbooking, or recording videos. I decided to go to film school and graduated with a bachelors. Today, my network expands beyond my Chicago base and into New York and LA. My favorite projects always revolve around storytelling – where a real person shares their life with us.

Besides client work, I’ve also had my own art exhibited in galleries across the country. I enjoy working with digital and physical mediums where I can blend art and technology. I also spend time as an organizer with Glitch Artists Collective where we connect artists across the world.

The project I’m most proud of is when I was able to interview survivors from a nonprofit. I had complete creative control and so I made a short documentary that incorporated their interviews with experimental visuals and sound. The film premiered at their gala, and it set tone for the night. In the end, they were able to raise over $450K towards their mission, and I felt I contributed in a way that was authentic to me. My vision moving forward is to continue working with human stories and telling them in interesting ways.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice

I think NFTs could be used as an interesting tool in the digital world. Currently, I don’t think the majority are. I’ve always been open to new technology, and I believe blockchain has real-world value to our web infrastructure. My first NFT was minted in 2019 and it’s still for sale! But lots of digital artists have been able to make a living selling NFTs and I think that is great for the community. Traditionally, its been more difficult to sell digital art as a smaller artist, and I think NFTs have began to change that. Over time I believe there will be more acceptance as we understand how to best utilize this technology.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

The majority of connections I’ve made have been through word of mouth. I like to think that because they like my work, I get the next job. Occasionally I’ve reach out to studios or artists that I’d like to collaborate with which can has to fun opportunities too. One time I got an email where they responded three years later looking to work with me!

Contact Info:

• Website: myyyraa.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myyyraa/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myyyraa/
• Twitter: https://x.com/myrasayshi