Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Pramita Mukherjee. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Pramita thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you been 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? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

It’s been a long 18 years since I have been working in the animation and visual effects industry. I was born and brought up in Kolkata, India. Right from my childhood, I loved sketching and playing musical instruments. I also learned and practiced Indian classical dance for over 17 years, but what captivated me the most was cartoons, specifically the ones from X-Men and DuckTales, and since then I have always dreamed of making animated movies someday. After high school I did a certification course on 3D animation and landed as an intern in Mumbai in 2007, doing months of graveyard shifts learning as much as I could. Back in those days, there were very few animation studios in India that were working on animated features for Hollywood. Crest Animation was one of them, and that is where I started my journey as a character rigging intern.

I was only 19 years old when I started working in the animation and visual effects industry. My Exposure , knowledge and professional maturity that I have currently was no way closer to having back then. Our industry can be quite hard and challenging for young creatives to shine up and this process can take sometime. Lot depends in which part of the Workd you are and how much work opportunities you have. I was lucky to get the creative work I wanted to do right there with my first job but then growing and surviving in the industry to where I am today was the hardest part.

Few major steps that helped me grow would be, from very early on I realized this industry is volatile and always changing, so adapting myself in its best interest is what I focused on. That included, choosing the right kind of project which enhanced my creative talent, taking lots of extra responsibilities and initiatives to grow my management and leadership skills, diversifying my skillset in multiple creative areas of film making and understanding the need of this industry to keep surviving and broadening my exposure going global , working and leading international projects starting from India to London and now currently in Los Angeles.
The other thing that has helped me immensely is finding the right kind of mentors at every phase of my career and getting involved with various non profit organizations such as being a mentor with WIA( women in animation), Board of Directors at Asians In Animation(AIA) , core award committee at Visual Effects Society(VES) to name a few.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Since the beginning of my career in 2007 , it has been quite a resilience at every phase. Back in those days there were even lesser female artists in the industry, especially in the Rigging department which was my specialty to start with. For a young girls of 19 years , it became really difficult to make myself part of the team with equal values and worth.
After my first year of working, the industry was hit by a massive recession which impacted my job and for the first time in my early career I faced layoffs. With very minimum pay and no job , it was quite difficult to survive by myself, but going back home would have ended my career in animation , so I kept struggling and trying to survive both financially and also finding new opportunities. In about 6 months when I managed to get another job with newer skills, life was indeed back on track but this experience so early on surely taught me the downside of animation industry.
With passing years , more experience and professional matuarity, I was able to grow not only in position but also secure jobs in the best studios in India. Though the next challenge did hit me soon after and quite hard. My husband also works in the same industry , in the same department and whenever we worked together in the same studio, I was the one who lost mine individuality and value as an artist. My presence in the studio was looked upon more as a favour rather than my talent and capability. It’s quite hard for the society to think otherwise especially when gender equality is still a major set back. This experience not only shattered my confidence but also started taking a toll in our personal life.
I have been always very lucky to have the full support of my family , may that be my parents , my husband or my in-laws and to make things better it was very important to get back my professional dignity and recognition on my abilities. I landed my next job abroad , away from my family , for the first time with full support and in less than a year, I was able to prove my worth back , leading global Hollywood projects successfully. In this phase , I faced different kind of challenges related to leadership, people management and subtle racism,

Slowly with time , I learnt to overcome these hardships and emerged to be a confident women , able to handle the global perspective on the industry all by myself.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

In my opinion the society can truely do a lot to help the creative community grow to their highest potential. To begin with, providing a space fillied with appreciation and recognition without judging the abilities at every step.
Creative minds does not function methodically, so it’s important to have time and liberty with minimum social burdens to let it flourish. Artists supporting artists, building a healthy community, providing the right mentorship, valuing talents irrespective of their gender or geographical backgrounds and rewarding them with a sense of healthy competition without pushing too hard , can be the best practice to build and help sustain this creative ecosystem in todays’ world,

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/breathe_with_pramita/profilecard/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pramita-mukherjee-46039917?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/pramita.mukherje/profilecard/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Image Credits

Richard harbaugh

John Truong