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

Natalie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I learned my craft by studying the craft. Being under teachers, mentors and listening to people that inspire me. I will say that I have always been great at modeling. Even though, I looked up to certain people such as Tyra Banks, Naomi Cambell and watched a little bit of America’s Next Top Model here and there; I always knew I would be a supermodel. I knew that was just one of my callings. So many people that knew me back home in Birmingham knew me for modeling and not acting. Not saying I gave up on modeling but my focus is more on acting now because I’m loving the creative side of it. I’m loving how I can tap into another person emotions and mind and let everything I’m dealing with go for a little bit. It’s a beautiful thing. I actually wasn’t even good at acting when I lived in Birmingham Alabama, but I knew I wanted to try it out. I was in a short film and I looked back at it years later and was like; where in the world was my training? It wasn’t the production it was because as my coach say now everyone wants to be on set but you not really ready. You haven’t really put in the work yet. That was me. Knowing what I know now I wouldn’t want to speed up the process. I want to enjoy the process. Learn the craft more and just get as good as I can get. The most important thing that I have learned during this process is being patient with myself. Trusting that just because I hear a thousand no’s does not mean I’m not dope and not ready it just means it’s not my time yet. But when my time comes, the opportunities will be endless. Financially moving to another state, taking a job that pays less money than I made in Birmingham, moving into a new place has felt like a burden and it was very uncomfortable. But when I took a step back and looked at what I have and how far I’ve come I truly have nothing to complain about. I have so much to be thankful for. Since I have been here in Georgia I have seen an elevation in my life and for that I am thankful for. I can speak to so many people and tell them to keep going no matter how tough it gets. No matter if you feel like you can’t see past the pain. The pain is not the final destinaion.

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

Of course I’d love to catch everyone up to speed. So my name is Natalie Diane and I go by Hollywood Nat because I’m going straight to the tippy top and that’s on period.

I’m a model here in Atlanta Georgia but I’ve been blessed and fortunate enough to travel places such as LA, New York and Miami to live this dream. I got into this modeling industry at a young age it was always something I knew I wanted to do. I never knew much about acting but I always knew I was meant to be more in life. I remember my uncle asking me what I wanted to be when I grew up when I was about ten years old and I yelled, ” A rockstar.’ I didn’t really think anything of it but here I am years later living a reality that was once a dream. I’ve been able to help other models perfect their craft/walk. Building up their confidence because that’s something that I lacked growing up. That’s something I can say that sets me apart from others because I truly care about what others would consider “competition.” The only one I’m competing with is myself. Being a better person than I was last year, last month, or honestly yesterday. I’m most proud of my determenation, grind and hustle. No matter what has tried to stand in my way I have always found my way around it. I want readers, fans, followers, friends, family and whomever else reads this to take away strength. Everything that we go through its because it’s setting us up for something greater than what we can see. Even while writing this I’m going through situations that’s building me to be something more so I can be ready for what’s to come. And at first I wasn’t looking at it like that. I was losing faith because I questioned God, my higher power, the universe; why me? I was concerned. But when ya’ll think about my work or my brand think about the pain that hid behind the beauty for so long. I was afraid to show that side because sometimes we glorify the beauty and want to hide the pain and pretend it’s not happening. I want my followers and fans to see someone real. Someone like them. Yes I’m a model and I can teach you how to walk. Yes I’m an actress and I can give you certain tips. Yes I’m a content creator so I can teach you how to create content. But what’s most important is building the confidence and going through the pain as a human being. Being able to be real with yourself. That’s what I want ya’ll to take away from this article. The growth from the last one.

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

Whew chile! (that’s my new word; don’t steal it lol) This is a real question right here. First of all I want to say I had to unlearn so many behaviors since I moved to Georgia that I never knew about me until I got here. The biggest one I was say is the behavior of self-sabatoging. And I will be completely honest I just learned this within the last two months when I was doing some shadow work on myself (which I will say is very important.) Before I get into the backstory I want to define self sabotaging and how I have done it in my life, relationships and career. Most of the time was totally unintentional.

Self-sabotage occurs when people hinder their own success. When people take these destructive steps, their harmful behavior can negatively impact nearly every part of their lives including their relationships and career (https://www.verywellmind.com/)

The backstory of me learning about this behavior was one of my mentors was helping me grow and learn in my career. I thought he was being extremly hard on me and it’s something I didn’t think I wanted to hear at the time. He told me that I would catch an attitude when people don’t tell me what I want to hear, I get defensive, emotional. And when I got emotional I made decisions based off those emotions. I made decisions that were not rational. And no one wants to be around somone like that. It was so bad I would talk back to people that were put here to help me thinking that they are here to harm me. Because that’s what I was used to. I was used to being picked on and bullied. Which I used this as an excuse once I got older. Whenever someone would say anything to me once I got to an age where I was able to defend myself that’s exactly what I started doing. Everytime someone said said I had to get the last word and prove a point. Prove that they can’t talk to me like that. I would always want to say something not knowing that silence had/has more power. So I would run people away that truly wanted the best for me. To help elevate me in life, my career and relationships. I did this because I was used to a cruel type of treatment from people.I thought that when mentors and coaches tried to help me by telling me what I was doing wrong they were picking on me or bullying me. I was afraid of the pain that may follow what I thought were cruel words from them when all they wanted to do was help me. I didn’t know this was love. I was afraid to be the “weak” one because I was always consider the weak one growing up. I didn’t want to be chose last because I was never picked first growing up not knowing my way of thinking is what was keeping me in last place. So just changing my whole thought process. And being even more honest I would’ve never gotten to this point if I hadn’t moved from my hometown. I love my family and friends that are there but Birmingham Alabama and Trenton New Jersey was all I knew. That’s where I grew up. That’s where I got bullied, that’s where I fell in love, where I met all my friends. I needed something different. I remember someone told me Birmingham was a job and it was time for me to be promoted which is why I needed to move. To get to the headspace I’m in right now. I knew I was different but I never knew it would feel this damn good and scary at the same time.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I believe non-creatives truly don’t understand the sacrifices we have to make as creatives. When it comes to our time, money, social life, and so much more. I’ll touch on each one of those to give me my insight. When it comes time us as creators have to dedicate our time to our craft. We have to study, learn the industry we desire to be in, learn from people that are in the position we want to be in. We are literally in school for our craft. Just like the ones that want to go to school for being a doctor, nurse, lawyer or whatever else requires you to go to school for a degree. Those people have to dedicate time for studying, going to class, preparing for tests and preparing to be one of the greatest in their field; which takes time. I believe these last two go hand in hand because money can often lead to having or not having a social life. In this case of making sacrifices in my career means the only people you will really have a social life is the people that are in the same field as you. Going to the example I made earlier about being in school; think about the study groups they have. Most of the friends they have are in that study group because they understand. A lot of people that are not like-minded or on the same path as you won’t understand that you can’t go out this weekend or you have to miss your favorite artist concert because you have to pay for classes. Or you have to pay for new headshots. Some don’t understand that you can’t make a family members birthday because you have to be on set or at a fashion show at 10 am in the morning even if the show don’t start until 7 pm because all the models there have to get their hair and makeup done. They don’t understand the late nights we stay up crying because we feel like we running out of time;or getting “too old’ for this. We feel like we running out of money and don’t have enough for certain bills. They just ask well why don’t you just not pay for classes this month? Or tell you to just “take a break” not knowing a break could turn into forever. When you know that can’t be an option for you because you have to continue to learn and continue to train to get to elevate to a certain level. Quitting is easy but to keep going seems to be the hardest. The dopest people in this industry had those moments too and look at them now. Quitting is not an option for us.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @_hollywoodnat
• Youtube: Hollywood Nat
• Other: TikTok: _hollywoodnat

Image Credits
Zipper Face Phographer Antoinne Duane Jones IG: @antoinneduanejones MUA IG: @sohingcopeland | Assisted by @syddyyy__ Siloutte Photo Jeff Suttle IG @jeffsuttlephotography_ MUA Natalie Diane IG @_hollywoodnat Elegance 1 & 2 Phographer IG @shotby.chi Creative Director @kissworksstudios | @as_sceneby_mari_ MUA Natalie Diane IG @_hollywoodnat