We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Omar Soto a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Omar thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.
as years pass by and I grow older I get to understand what are some of the things that matter the most in the world, when we help a cause it fills us up as humans. one of the things that made me the happiest recently was helping with my craft special needs kids and sexually abused kids in Venezuela, by creating a campaign and assisting several nonprofits to generate more awareness. seeing that with my craft I can generate a channel for people to see and motivate them to grow it has given me a new look at life.
Omar, 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 Name is Omar soto and I’m a Venezuelan-born filmmaker based in Atlanta Georgia. I’ve started this journey roughly about 11 years ago, I remember dreaming in my teen years about creating audiovisual productions, coming from a country that has had a difficult economy in the last 20 years I remember how hard it was at first. from taking pictures of food trucks in exchange for free food and being terrified to carry my camera thinking that I could get robbed at any minute to escaping that reality and having been blessed to travel to several countries and cities to now settling down in Atlanta Georgia and starting my own production studio named Liloz Films. sometimes I still cant believe the achievements that we accomplish in the past couple of years. being grateful is an understatement.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
I would have to say two words and that is “Believe it” I’m a really strong believer in having a can-do and will-do mindset. At times I would tell myself negative thoughts but when I switch that mindset into believing them, everything changes. Now that we had that settled, let’s talk about the funding, that was a challenge because there was no funding, and there was zero capital to start. I had a little camera and 2 cheap lights from amazon. I manage to do little projects and showcase my talent with the little that I had and with that, I got more clients and manage to get a little more money and invested it in some better lights, then a better camera, then a third camera, and so on, baby steps. and I believe it made me value my craft even more. just keep on investing and focusing on my business.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
Make things that will make a change in the world. why live and not transcend? Our goal is to keep learning, creating, and growing daily!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lilozfilms.com
- Instagram: @lilozfilms
- Facebook: Liloz Films
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omar-soto-87927b162/
- Twitter: @lilozfilms1
- Youtube: youtube.com/lilozfilms