We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Roxana Baldovin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Roxana below.
Roxana, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?
I was misunderstood out the womb. I grew up in the largest conglomeration of people from the Soviet Union outside of the former USSR – but my dad was Italian and even though my mom was born in Ukraine, she grew up in Poland. To the kids in my neighborhood, I was either too Polish or too American. Then I got out the hood and went to a private school where everyone was American, and I was that trashy Russian girl from South Brooklyn. I never felt like an artist in NYC, but when I went to college in Arizona, I was the token hipster artsy girl. I think being all those things at once and never really fitting in anywhere has had a profound effect on me. It’s made me an explorer by nature, and there’s truly nothing I love more on this planet than going to a new place and having a conversation with a stranger. There’s so much to learn from humanity. I’ve been told i’m an iceberg – you only see the surface, but there’s so much underneath and the accuracy overwhelms me. I have so much knowledge to share with the world on a plethora of topics – but someone who’s made a living off doing rap videos can’t possibly also be a Beatnik bookworm, right ;P ?
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I fell into music videos by chance; I planned to work at Vice and become the next Anthony Bourdain (still on the to-do list!). The first video I ever worked on got 12 million views so I chased that high and it led me to where I am today. I’m extremely versatile in my creativity with a specific knack for world building – I attempted to do a feature-length documentary before I even directed one short-form anything and the fact that we kind of had to shoot as we go stressed me out. That documentary, Age of Aquarius, is still set to be released next year now that I have a bit more experience under my belt – but the experience of shooting that versus shooting something more controlled helped hone in on my aesthetic. I’m highly stylized and I like to create a world on screen that feels magical, mystical and different than what we experience on the day-to-day – even in the most subtle way, i’ll find that hint of sparkle. The video I am most proud of that’s been produced is Tulips and Roses, the black and white noir film I directed for G-Eazy in Paris. I got that video completely on my own by way of my own chutzpah – going up to G on a whim in the wild – and he really took a chance on me in a way a label wouldn’t have. I had never done anything black & white before that video so it took me out of my comfort zone and allowed me to expand my artistry and I’m eternally grateful to Gerald for that.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
When I got out of college, I was absolutely determined not to have a 9 to 5 and to be my own boss. I perservered and I hustled and luckily, I’ve been freelance since I was 23 years old. I had a production company with my ex-boyfriend and when we broke up I worked with a lot of different producers. I missed being in control of the money so I started another company with a girl I didn’t trust from day one (LISTEN TO YOUR GUT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN). Two failed production companies later, I should have been patient. No regrets but if I could do it all over again or give anyone a piece of advice – your 20s is for learning from people smarter than you and more seasoned than you. To this day, I still haven’t had the experience of working at a huge company day in, day out and that is how you learn to become the best version of yourself – by watching people who you admire. Even if you want to be a director or a photographer, work part-time, in-house at a company you respect and take notes on everything you see.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
I am an avid reader so answering questions like this are my favorite.
I re-read the essay Security by Hunter S. Thompson a few times a year because I am always recommending it to people. The last sentence reads – who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? To be a working artist is to brave that storm.
Speaking of stormy waters, The War of Art is a must-read. It’s all about the resistance we innately push towards the ideas we want to put out there. That is another book I have highlighted to the high heavens and I will always just randomly go back to it. There’s so many gems of goodness in there to inspire you and get you out of your own way.
My boy Russ actually wrote a book called “Its All In Your Head”. And that’s what it’s all about. Getting out of your own way. This was personal for me because I was there in those early days; we were coming up at the same time in the same circles so not only were the actual words super inspiring but to see how far he’s come from doing $500 videos in my mom’s house to having a best seller is powerful.
I also really loved An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield. Astronauts have to be so disciplined, routine, PRECISE to survive in space and not only does this book teach those lessons but it also reminds us of our place in the universe and to practice gratitude every single day.
Contact Info:
- Website: roxanabaldovin.com
- Instagram: senoradirectora
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS3flQVF_vDnhXEl4WL-KLQ
Image Credits
paris photo: @mashamedvedeva rico and snoop photos: @afterlifecastro umi and shenseea: @walterwbrady blacklight: @basiliosilvaphoto others i dunno :D