We were lucky to catch up with Nikita T. Hamilton recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Nikita thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?
The answer for both careers is “no, they each began when they were supposed to even though I didn’t always feel that way.” I came to realize that I wanted to be a TV Writer in my late twenties, which felt so behind to be starting at the very bottom as an assistant. However, the truth is that I wouldn’t be the kind of writer that I am on paper or in the writers’ room without all of the experiences I had leading up to the day I was staffed. Those experiences shaped and enhanced my contributions. As for styling, I did an unpaid internship as a Stylist Assistant in New York the summer before my senior year of college. I loved the fashion and the shoots, and I didn’t even mind all of the take-backs that had me running all over Manhattan. What I couldn’t deal with was what felt like an unnecessarily overinflated atmosphere of stress and the inherent instability of being a Stylist (which is funny because TV Writer isn’t exactly a stable job, but here I am!). Becoming a Stylist officially (I’d been doing it for friends for a couple years for free) happened very recently and was perfectly timed because I needed all of those years to realize who my clientele should be: everyday, regular people who want better express their personal style. Everything happens as it should.
Nikita, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I was born and raised in Miami, Florida and came to Los Angeles by way of Philadelphia. I never imagined becoming a TV Writer and that definitely was not the reason for my cross-country move. I came to LA to do my PhD at USC in Communication. I studied representations of Black women in film and television and eventually got to the point in my program where I had to ask myself if I wanted to teach about TV and film or make it. The answer was the latter so I began to pursue that path while simultaneously finishing my degree. I was a Writers’ Assistant and Showrunner’s Assistant on a couple of shows, but received my first writing credit on Freeform’s The Bold Type thanks to Showrunner Amanda Lasher. I was later staffed on season 4 of the show. The rest is history (or on IMDB).
The thing I’m most proud of when I look back at my path is that I dared to start over. I won’t say that I wasn’t scared. I just did it scared. I’m also proud of the boundaries I set for myself and continue to respect. Becoming an assistant at an older age actually helped solidify that from the beginning. As I said before, everything happens as it should.
Is there a mission driving your creative journey?
My mission as a Writer has always been to make people think, feel, and maybe even learn while being entertained. It’s such an amazing and rare opportunity to get to write for television. I hope that my work, however small the audience, makes them laugh, cry, and everything in between. My goal as a Stylist is to help people feel and look the most “them” they’ve ever felt. I never want anyone to feel as if they’re putting on a costume. I’m there to help them find the items that express their amazing personal style.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist and a creative for me is touching people’s lives whether that’s through the television screen or the clothes that they’re using to share their own unique style with the world. I’ve been gifted the opportunity to make people feel. As Maya Angelou said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nikitahamilton.com and www.styleforallnh.com
- Instagram: nikitathamilton
- Twitter: nikitathamilton
Image Credits
Rachel Kerbs