Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Olivia Marie Valdez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Olivia Marie, appreciate you joining us today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your creative career?
The most important lessons I’ve learned are the importance of leading with compassion and how to work as a team. These lessons kind of came to me retroactively. I first endured some pretty awful jobs and co-working situations in my previous career, and wasn’t able to understand the value of a HEALTHY team dynamic until I came to my stop motion work. In stop motion there is such an understanding that all members of the team are working towards the same creative goal. Therefore you treat your collaborators with respect and understanding. And you start to enjoy every bit of the process! Even the problems that arise are fun puzzles to figure out as a team. Almost like solving an escape room together. Only after I finally experienced the joy of working in a positive environment did I realize how inefficient and detrimental the lack of consideration in previous work experiences really were.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Inspired by a dream I had, I took a stop motion course in my undergrad (shout out to my amazing professor, Dean Lennert) and fell in love. It was instantly clear to me that I have never been as happy or content as when I was animating. Despite my love for the craft, it took me 4+ years to finally make my way back to it and dedicate myself to growing a career out of it. I am now doing something I love everyday and all of my crazy ideas can actually BE something. It’s wild to me that when I tell the details of this absurd scenario in my head, people listen and are interested! I pride myself in being able to create dark worlds and scenarios that make us question our very human, cruel and unhealthy tendencies.
I hope to be thee reference for dark / horror stop motion film one day.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
My goal and mission is to amplify stories from my culture and the voices of women. In previous generations my family has been forced to white-wash their culture and distance themselves from our Hispanic and Indigenous roots. The result is that I don’t know much about my culture and ancestry. With my work, I try to dig in and tell the stories that have been muffled. In doing so, maybe I’ll get to know more about myself! In my crews, I focus on hiring incredible talent from lesser represented communities. I think it’s always been the right time to tell these stories, but that maybe society is finally ready to listen.
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.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.OliviaMarieValdez.com
- Instagram: @OliviaMarieValdez
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivia-valdez-stopmo/
- Other: https://vimeo.com/user100142527
Image Credits
self and K.D. Chalk