We recently connected with Nguyen (Carrot) Ho and have shared our conversation below.

Nguyen (Carrot), thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

Storytelling is my passion. Therefore when it comes to legacy, I wish to share my voice towards as many people as I can, especially for those who would listen. There’s a saying that always stay with me, which is “Humans have one ending… ideas live forever” (Barbie 2023). I think this saying could be applied towards filmmaking and the creative industry. Arts, movies, musics, etc…, I believe that all of them will stay on forever. I’m honestly don’t know what people will say about me after I’m gone, but I tend to not overthink about that factor too much and rather focus on myself at the moment. I won’t deny that I’m still curious in some capacity though. A lot of the time I often found myself asking my peers about my own image, my reputations, and the way I portray in front of other people. If I’m allowed to have one hope towards my legacy in the future, my hope would simply to be remembered by my arts, my films, and my stories.

Nguyen (Carrot), 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?

My love for filmmaking involves the entire process/all the positions that are required to make a film. On student film sets, I usually take positions as Director of Photography or the First-Assistant Camera (1st AC). This means I am part of the camera department, responsible for the visuals of the film. On professional film/commercial sets, I’m usually the set PA (Production Assistant), or a PA in the Camera or Arts department. A PA job consists of making sure everything on set flows smoothly, as well as offering hands in the departments that need help. Recently, I’ve also landed positions as a Co-Producer on a semi-big budget professional film set. In addition, I write and direct my own films. The work that I’m most proud of is the short film about mental health awareness, “Sunflowers”, which I wrote and directed. What sets me apart from others is that I’ve always put all my effort into everything I do. Once I have established a plan, I put 100% of my energy into making it into a reality, no matter what the cost. I would do everything to ensure that I’m on the correct path for my career. With that mindset, I was able to work with many talented artists within the industry and was able to share my own voice within the filmmaker’s community in Atlanta. My positive outlook on life has gotten me lots and lots of opportunities to work, and financial outcomes.

It hasn’t been a smooth road. There were challenges and roadblocks that I had to overcome. In fact, I’m still learning to do so up to this day. The hardest challenge that I had to overcome was gaining the trust and support of my family and everyone around me. At first, when I proposed filmmaking as my career, my parents were concerned about how I’ll be able to achieve that dream. My family isn’t wealthy, but we live a comfortable life. Both my mom and dad work multiple jobs to ensure my little brother and I have the same benefits as others who were born in the States, and for me to risk it in an industry where not a lot of people with the same skin color as me have a voice in was surely a terrifying idea. I knew that I had to start taking things seriously, and that I had to prove to them that I was not taking my decision lightly. And I did. After the premiere of Sunflowers, my mom cried and my dad gave me the biggest hug accompanied by some words that I will never forget, “we are so proud of you, and the person you have become”.

There are still other roadblocks in life that I still need to learn to overcome, for instance, the remnants of my social anxiety. I have gotten better thanks to meetings, and the responsibilities I placed on myself when coordinating my film sets. There is still a long way ahead of me, but with positivity and motivation, I believe that I can make it a good one.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Moving from Vietnam at the age of 12, the language barrier definitely affected me. It made communicating with other students and my teachers so much more difficult. I got bullied, harassed, and called all sorts of racial slurs because I had a heavy accent and struggled to speak the language. These events laid the roots of my fear of public speaking, especially in large crowds. I remember in middle school, we were assigned to make a “Current Events” segment about our community every week. My anxieties and panic attacks kicked right in. The following week came by, and I stood there by the podium, speechless. I could not say a word, and my body started shaking like I was having a seizure. As expected, I did not receive a good grade, but it gave me the motivation to find alternatives to overcome my fear. That’s where I first encountered filmmaking. I discovered that by recording myself giving the presentation, I didn’t have to stand in front of all the people and by having a script could make me seem like I actually understood what I was talking about. To make it more engaging, I even toyed with all these fancy effects, music, and visuals. People in my class liked it, and I kept doing it for the rest of the school year. My presentation was voted the most innovative presentation out of the entire class. I get that the people who voted were only my middle-school classmates, but for a 12 years old immigrant kid who has no idea half of the stuff he was talking about, I felt amazing.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Something I would like to share is that no matter where you are in life, no matter the circumstances and the hardships that you’re dealing with, NEVER give up. You never know what you can achieve until you push yourself. You never know what you’re capable of until you try. Just go for it and don’t let anything hold you back. Little do you know, making that one decision on what you’ll do in life can, later on, make you the happiest person that you’ll ever be. One final thing, please make sure you’re keeping your mental health in check through every step! Love yourself first before anything, because being happy with yourself, being happy in your own skin, and your image is one of the most valuable things on earth.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.carrotho.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carrotnguyenho/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nguyen-ho-2968b2256/