We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ricky Borba. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ricky below.

Ricky, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Success is a vastly different defined term, depending on who you talk to . Most people define success as your socio-economic status. But that’s not how I do. When I think about success, I ask myself two questions. Am I doing what I know I was put on earth to do, and am I enjoying doing it? For me, both of those answers are yes. I know I was born to be a filmmaker, and it gives me all the joy in the world to be able to do so! But it took a LOT of hard work to get here! And on that road, I don’t think anyone would have looked at my socio-economic status and said “yeah, that guy is a success.” Because if that’s the lens you’re looking through, then there are going to be a lot of unsuccessful people in your life.

So, the question of “what does it take to be successful?” means something very different to me. It means you have to be secure in your identity; you can’t let your bank account, your material belongings, or anything else, define you as a person. To be successful, you have to make a decision that you’re going to find your joy and happiness based on your perspective of life, not your circumstances.

For me, that means I put my identity in who God says I am. And that has made all the difference in the world.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

From acting in and hosting nationally syndicated television shows and films, to directing big-budget feature-length theatrical films, I have never stopped pursuing the art of telling positive stories through various forms of media. While I was pursuing a career in film and television, I got my degree from William Jessup University, double majoring in Pastoral Care and Theology. Upon graduating in 2010, I began working at a Sacramento film company, eventually leaving in 2012 to start my own film production company. Since then, I have produced and directed two feature-length theatrically released films.

I grew up in the bay area and from my earliest memories I wanted to be the center of attention. Early on, my mother helped get me parts in small plays and encouraged me to continue down the road in the entertainment industry. As I got older the “bug” never left. Acting, writing, directing and making films was all I could think about. And despite putting those desires on the back burner to get married and start a family, I never gave up on those dreams. In 2017 I was given the opportunity to direct my first feature-length “Hollywood” film, which turned into directing my second feature-length film right after that.

Now, I’m working on my third film, a film I wrote and will direct. It’s a comedy about a pastor and a pimp switching bodies, and Collide Media Group out of Franklin, Tennessee is producing it.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

On a film set I make a point to tell everyone on day one that unless cameras are rolling and you are in front of the camera, then EVERYONE is going to get treated equally. From the teens who are getting coffee and making food runs, to the top actor or executive producer, everyone is going to be treated with respect and dignity. It’s very easy on a film set to get enamored with the talent and to treat the assistants like they’re less-valuable people. So making it a point to verbalize that everyone is valuable and has their own very necessary job to do has always resulted in my film sets feeling special to everyone on them.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

As a storyteller who makes films, the most rewarding part is when someone lets you know they really connected or felt positively with your work. Not everyone is going to love your films, that’s a given. But when someone takes the time to write a review, send an email, text or phone call letting you know that they loved your work, it does give you that sense of “yeah, I’m doing exactly what I was born to do!”

I think something missing in this day and age is positive affirmation. With social media, so much of what we do is “hey look at me!” so because of that, we’ve lost the desire to reach out to people to let them know how much you admire them.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rickyborba.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/borbafett
• Facebook: facebook.com/borbafett
• Twitter: twitter.com/borbafett