We recently connected with Nathan Navarrette and have shared our conversation below.

Nathan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I was raised in a very unorthodox environment. My parents were divorced when I was just starting middle school and it was a huge culture shock for me, but it was a scenario that built character and perspective. I was blessed with two distinct modes of being raised and I gained a lot of value from both. My mom was who I mostly grew up with, and she did right by showing unconditional love and support in all of my endeavors. She taught me the importance of loving myself, striving for good things, and treating others with respect. My dad gave me his undying work ethic in small moments of working with him in the garage or telling him I got my first job and getting his advice. He gave me the pearls of integrity, honesty, and the truth that hard work will always prevail. Both of them imparted wisdom that has helped not only my career, but my everyday life. I am a more amicable person, a valuable asset to any team, and the voice that makes everyone laugh because of the perfect people they are in my eyes.

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 am a filmmaker who mainly specializes in directing and cinematography. Throughout my life I have always been passionate about movies, and even at my kindergarten graduation I said I wanted to be a “movie maker”. My passions really kicked off in college where I pursued a degree in film and met a lot of fantastic people through networking events and being an officer for my university’s film club. I quickly gained experience in both direction and cinematography and pursue both on a professional level with a team of creatives in DFW called ZebraTail Studios. What I think sets me apart from others in my field is my willingness to strive for perfection. While it is an unachievable feat, I think it is important to get as close to it as possible. There are some things you can not rush, and I want to create meaningful art that demonstrates my desire to have the best product. On the same token, I am also a very flexible and adaptable artist who is never married to one idea. While excellence is the goal, I believe taking perspective and changing your approach will always get you closer to it. A testament of this is a film I shot for a fellow DFW creative called Recurrence. While I strived for perfection, I also worked closely with the director to ensure that I was adapting to conditions and gaining his perspective on the desired outcome. It is a team effort on every project and making sure everyone is having a good time is the ultimate goal. You can not have excellence with a bad attitude. I am most proud of my team and I’s ability to balance the positive environment and natural stress that comes with the desire for perfection.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I think the most rewarding part of being a creative is the process itself. While it is always desirable to see the final product, I truly believe that once you fall in love with the process you will never want to stop creating. I am always enamored by a final product, but when I take the time to reflect on the memories that were made and time that was spent with the crew it puts things into a beautiful retrospect. As corny as it may sound, the journey is the best part.

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 have VERY strong opinions on NFTs but to keep it brief, I have always thought it was a market the general public was not ready for. It is a rather simple concept in marketing that if you can not succinctly explain why a customer needs your product, they probably never will. The idea of exclusivity speaks to people, naturally, but I think having a tangible asset is what people enjoy about it the most. And while I understand the idea of “perks” behind an NFT, the everyday consumer just saw it as an expensive JPG. NFTs and AI kind of go hand in hand and I knew from the start that the general public would not readily accept them. While we are quickly seeing the steep decline of the NFT market, I hope the public gives the same trial by fire to AI art. Art is a part of humanity, and I think over-commodifying it and giving it to algorithms defeats the point.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Instagram.com/thenavarrette
• Facebook: Facebook.com/nathannavarrette
• Twitter: Twitter.com/thenavarrette
• Youtube: youtube.com/zebratail