We were lucky to catch up with Patricia Dawn Quimzon recently and have shared our conversation below.

Patricia Dawn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

After several years of going from oddball job to job, I finally have a full-time creative job that supports me and continuously helps me grow!

For the longest time, I was rejecting the creative part of me to satisfy my family’s expectations. But it wasn’t until years of being lost and then found through art and the small creative community in San Diego that I finally broke through that loop of confusion.

I probably would’ve made it to where I am now (or further on) in my creative career if I had pushed past my unwarranted expectations and followed my gut sooner, but I’ve learned that dwelling on past decisions do more harm than good. I don’t regret how long it took me to get here because then I wouldn’t have been able to harbor the necessary lessons needed to grow!

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

I’m a first generation Filipino-American who’s native to San Diego, specifically the South Bay (and more specifically, National City). I’ve been a videographer and editor professionally for roughly 6 years, but I’ve been a filmmaker for as long as I can remember.

My creative work stems from filming and editing social media advertising content for major companies, such as Rimmel London and Jergens, to editing and fostering short films and documentaries. It’s not unusual for creatives to have a hand in both advertising and filmmaking, but I find that being able to utilize the tools and knowledge gained from both worlds help strengthen my perspective and approach to new projects. And like everything, my skillset and creativity only gets better with every production I work on.

I’m really proud of all of the creative projects I’ve worked on within the last 6 years. But if I were to narrow it down to one project that I’m most proud of, it would have to be editing and coloring my senior thesis film, The Obedience Project. I had worked on this film with my classmates at SDSU during the pandemic. You can imagine how many variables we had to work around to raise our funding, build the set from scratch, and undergo post-production within an extremely limited window. All of the effort my classmates and I had made to bring that film to life was incredibly monumentous to me because it was the first time I was working on a “large” production with such talented people, and then being entrusted to bring a spectacle film to life on the cutting room floor.

All in all, I truly enjoy bringing ideas to life. Whether I’m conceptualizing my own ideas or fostering someone else’s vision, I’m just appreciative and enamored to create!

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Openly supporting creatives online is a HUGE way to support creatives. Social media exposure is a valuable currency to creatives. A simple like on a post and resharing their work that you genuinely believe in on your social media platform helps creatives immensely!

It’s tough to be noticed online because of the crazy amount of content and information that’s out here. But usually all it takes is one person to see the potential in you to create beautiful work with and then spread your name out here further to be heard through the noise.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

In my experience, community college was an amazing resource to nurture and grow. Although I’m a college graduate, I firmly believe you don’t need a university education to succeed. However, if you’re like me and had a period in life where you weren’t as connected to the creative community, then community college is an amazing place to not only learn the essentials creatives need to spur potential but also connect personably and professionally with other creatives.

I cannot stress the importance of networking and exchanging ideas with others outside of your bubble. It helps with your confidence and motivation to continue creating when you have other likeminded folk who you can emphasize with and mutually help each other grow.

Contact Info:

• Website: patriciaquimzon.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/patriciadawnq
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/patriciaquimzon

Image Credits
Lizeth Ray Taylor & Pond Tayo Oyekan