We were lucky to catch up with Paola Chen Li recently and have shared our conversation below.

Paola, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today.

Just start making.

Get your hands dirty, experiment, and experience things. The best way to learn is to actually do it. It’s just like learning how to swim. No matter how much you practice on your bedroom floor or how many ads you had to skip to watch all the YouTube tutorials, you won’t know how to swim until you literally, dip your toes in the water. But, don’t stop there. Once you start making stuff, don’t be scared to experiment with different mediums and styles because you will most likely find what you like to do and more importantly, what you don’t like. Lastly, don’t worry about failure… we are humans after all.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hello! My name is Paola Chen Li and I’m an animator based in New York City. My work revolves around the silly little things in life. For example “Puncher” is a short film about the unfortunate smoothie story of a friend, “What’s the Deal with Staring” is a piece based on the podcast by How Stuff Works – Stuff You Should Know, and as of most recently, I’m working on a little short story loosely based in real life about the highly reliable New York City subway (spoiler: it really is not).

I’m currently a 2d animator working at Buck where I get to touch on a variety of projects. I’ve gotten to work on animations that celebrated the Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month for Spotify, contributed to a couple of characters for a short for Cartoon Network (my younger self would be very proud), and made a 30s spot about mental health for MTV, among many other projects. In general, I get to animate silly characters or make 2d food spin.

In addition to animation, I love to explore different types of creative outlets such as photography, music-making, and as of lately, 3d design.

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LINKS

Spotify:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPiPaODjtG6/?hl=en
https://buck.co/work/spotify-aapi-heritage-month

Cartoon Network:

https://buck.co/work/cartoonito-wideload-vacay

MTV:

https://www.mtv.com/video-clips/fubhpu/mental-health-is-health
https://www.instagram.com/p/CVA0xxfF6hb/

Spinning food (McDonalds):

https://buck.co/work/mcdonald-s-loyalty-rewards

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I want to tell stories about the everyday life that people can relate to because don’t we all, at some point in our lives, experience the boring and mundane (like maybe right now). I want people to realize and appreciate their surroundings. That is why, the goal behind my work is to show that there can be a story for everything.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

A book that I recommend is The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson. Have you ever been in that situation where you want to show the world the many ideas in your brain, but you always put up excuses and never do anything about it? Well this book is basically a huge slap on the butt telling you to get movin’.

… And it’s just a joy to read.

For anyone out there too shy or too scared to put things out there because you fear the evil people in the forums will start bad-mouthing behind your back, read this book! It is important to note that if you like your work, chances are someone out there in this 7+ billion populated Earth (and maybe the aliens that visit us from time to time) will like it too!

Start making, experiment, fail, and find success! Remember, the sun will always rise again 🌞 What stories do *you* want to tell?

Contact Info:

• Instagram: instagram.com/paolachenli
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paolachenli/
• Other: https://vimeo.com/PAOLACHEN