We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rijaa Nadeem a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Rijaa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Before diving into what I think makes one successful, I think it is important to understand what my definition of success is. For most, success is usually associated with either fame or fortune. It’s a tangible way to measure how successful a person is by quantifying what they have and how many people know them. In this definition, we are attaching success to material objects and our ability to obtain them.

When I stepped into my journey as a filmmaker and an artist, it was important for me to clearly define what the term success meant to me. It is such a broad and vague term and the worldly definition does not resonate with me. Through my experiences, I learnt early on that this was not how I wanted to measure my level of success, so creating my own definition of success became just as significant as being successful.

Being a female Pakistani living in America, my passion for being an artist and a director felt quite far-fetched as there were not many people in the field who looked like me. Hence, my definition of success became very simple: If I could make a living and support myself doing what I enjoy, I would consider myself successful. I wanted to measure my success in terms of my ability to be independent, have inner peace, and at the same time truly feel passionate about what each day had instore for me

This definition does not take away from my ambition. I have extremely high goals for what I want to achieve, along with having ideas for many challenging and grand things that I want to create. I am one of the most driven and goal oriented people you will ever meet. What it simply means is that I don’t attach my success and happiness only to monetary objects or achieving these goals. My success is determined by my ability to live a fulfilling existence no matter where my life takes me.

Based on this Ideology, how you achieve success is by being resilient and mindful. The beauty of my insatiable drive is that once I put my mind to something, I don’t give up. I will find a way to make it happen no matter how much time it takes. Along the way, I’m very mindful of the process. The important part is to enjoy the journey instead of trying to get to the end destination as fast as possible.

Rijaa, 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?

I am a Director, Producer and artist based in Dallas along with Los Angeles. My life started in Pakistan which is where I grew up. Fate eventually brought me to Texas where I finished my education in directing, producing and screenwriting. Right after I started my career in television. I have spent the last decade of my life working in different areas of media where I have produced and directed projects in television, films, Augmented reality, virtual reality, commercials, social and digital. The beauty of working on so many different projects has been that I have a very extensive knowledge of all the different parts of the world of media and entertainment. The one consistent objective throughout all the projects that I have worked on has been stories. The goal of each project was to tell a very specific story. So you can say that I have spent most of my life learning how to develop characters and tell their stories.

My painting journey started in Pakistan when I was a child. I trained under numerous artists in Pakistan and have spent my life enhancing my craft and painting style. A few years ago I started exploring painting in a more focused way while I was still producing full time. Since then, my art has taken on a life of its own and keeps on growing everyday. I have been part of numerous exhibitions and do commissions for private clients. Last summer, I attended an art residency in Italy where I worked alongside talented artists from around the globe and was able to evolve my style even more.
Utilizing my experience in storytelling, I have been able to create art with strong and meaningful messages. When I work on commissions, I enjoy working in a collaborative way. I start out by asking them questions about who they are and what they believe. By having these genuine conversations, I build an idea of what I can create that would be meaningful for them. I involve them heavily throughout because I want them to feel as if they are a part of the process of creating the piece. The most rewarding aspect of this for me is when they view the finished artwork and are able to see a piece of themselves reflected in it

I take a lot of pride in my ability to use my culture, background and all my diverse skills in order to create art that is unique to me and represents my voice. I have developed my own style as I’ve become more confident in my perspective. And when I work with others, I use that style in order to create something new that represents them too. My strength is my ability to tell authentic and meaningful stories whether it is through films or paintings.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Being a Pakistan-American who made it to the States in my teenage years, both the environments had different conditioning which played a huge role in my learning and unlearning process. Growing up, you are limited to your environment and that defines who you are. Your exposure is limited to your society, family, friends, and the interactions and observations within. My idea of what life meant also came from there.

I, on the other hand, wanted to take a different route; I wanted a career in art and it was the main driving factor for everything I did. This became challenging as it was fairly different from what I was surrounded by and I couldn’t relate to my environment. This motivated me to push myself out of my comfort zone constantly as it helped me challenge and understand myself better. And that in turn, inspired me to be who I am today.

In the process, I did question myself and wondered if there is something wrong with me for being different; however, my ability to define my own life and to break away from what I knew then has been one of the most important lessons for me. That’s the beauty of a wild imagination. I can imagine the kind of life I want and then all I have to do is make it happen. I had to understand that the beauty of being human is that we are all so different from each other. No one has the same journey. Then why do we constantly feel like we have to fit into a certain mold?

To summarize, through my experiences the most important lesson I have learned is that my life does not have to be limited to what I have seen or know. My strength is my imagination, and I can use it to create my own reality.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

The most crucial element that has helped me build my reputation is my body of work. It is vital to consistently produce meaningful artwork that resonates with people and can help me establish a strong reputation within the market. This involves creating a unique style or voice that sets me apart from others in the field. All my paintings include characters since based on my experience, that is my strongest format to tell stories. Another factor is the vibrancy of my work. The use of color is very important to me and all my work has a carefully thought out color palette. The use of negative space is also a vital part of my style. This is inspired by Japanese artwork and their concept of mindfulness for space and each brush stroke.

Another factor that has contributed to my reputation is my ability to effectively promote my work. My filmmaking background gives me the skillset to create video content that allows me to take my audience on the journey of creating each piece. By posting videos and images of the whole process, it allows my audience to feel more personally related to my work. Majority of my commissions come from social platforms such as Instagram and Tiktok. Most of them watch my videos of the process and feel inclined to get something created for themselves.

Other factors such as art shows, exhibitions, art residencies, contests, film festivals and film screenings all contribute to adding to my existing reputation within the market. These give me a chance to meet people and connect with other artists and filmmakers in person. The more involved I am, the more exposure I get and the more credible me and my work becomes.

Ultimately, an artist’s reputation within their market is built on a combination of factors, including the quality of their work, their ability to promote themselves effectively, and their ability to gain recognition and validation from the wider art community.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rijaanadeem.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rijaanadeem/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rijaa-nadeem/
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5207448/