Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Naomi Smith. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Naomi, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Being successful takes grit, it takes the determination to never give up on yourself even when all the obstacles are preventing you from getting to your goal.

My story is a long one, but I’ll try to sum it up. When I was young, I tried it all. I got my BFA food and beverage photography. Of course, being a photographer was really hard straight Outta college, so the jobs I did were being a photographer, photo assisting well-known Atlanta photographers, PA Camera department for film , Wardrobe PA, and eventually landing in Art & Props department as an assistant. All while working on all of my own personal projects in between all of my paid projects.

I had many jobs at once, trying to stay afloat, but the positive thing is I had a lot of mentors guiding me in the right direction, giving me advice that would change me forever.

One of mentors, Brandon Ross told me there are jobs for everyone and never feel like anyone is your enemy. Treat people with kindness, and do the best that you can never feel like someone will take your job, because there are plenty of jobs for everyone.

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

I am in Art Director as well as a food and beverage stylist for the commercial and film industry for the SouthEast region. I am my own boss.

Being a Art Director is a department head position. I hire my team between 2 to 5 people and I am usually in charge of the entire visual concept communicating with the Director and the producers. It’s having the same knowledge as an interior designer I am decorating a set and making sure that it will be the complete vision from their treatments/mood board that a client has given us. One of the challenges about this position is the constant planning, communicating with many people, budgeting, and making sure that everything gets checked off before we start filming. What I am most proud of is in the last decade I am able to work in a high stress environment, and to remove emotion entirely while keeping a very professional, composed demeanor on set.

When I am foodstyling, I am also in a department head position. Communicating with the client and the producers. I have a great Understanding of what the clients marketing needs are. I ask a lot of questions to make sure I am understanding their image, their design and brand, and making sure that the food or beverage be the star in every shot. What I am most proud of in this position is having a great understanding of texture, color, and composition because of my photography background. I’ve been able to pick up cues in the working environment, as well as understanding Film and Photography lingo to do my job better. Brianna Ray Ray hair looks great.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Yes, in the beginning of my career I was an active photographer. And it still will always be my first love. As I moved into the film and commercial industry into art department and food/ beverage styling, I knew right away, that I really loved that hands-on experience. Solving problems in a different way, creatively.

It wasn’t a smooth transition. The biggest reason why I moved into the industry because all of my photography equipment got stolen. I lived off of Memorial in Decatur and when I was out of town on a job, my gear was stolen. Luckily, I had renters insurance but it took a while for them to give me such a large paycheck and even when I got that paycheck, I took the money and moved out of that house.

Overall I would say changing careers. It was the biggest thing investing I gave for myself, and also gave me a new start. The courage to keep moving forward and to not give up.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The lessons that I had to unlearn were quite a few in my career. I would say that what I learned in school when it came to the concept of business and being professional, was definitely not always accurate from a book.

What I have learned giving bullet points when talking to my client and producers is very helpful. You keep your emails short and to the point. You have to be pleasant to work with and being a team player is vital just because you have the skills to do your job, but you’re unpleasant to work with you will probably just not get hired again. Also, nobody likes a know it all, prove what you know by action and by behavior with confidence and not be afraid to take charge when the time is right.

I also had to learn to refrain from speaking too much. Observe, pay attention and learn what not to do. Listen for the important names and know the important people by face. Also always respect everyone on a crew no matter what position they are in.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/naomibowiesmith
• Instagram: @naomibowiesmith
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PassionOfDreams?mibextid=LQQJ4d