We recently connected with Sharee Silerio and have shared our conversation below.

Sharee, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I was born and raised in St. Louis, MO. My parents tell me that when I was in elementary school, I would talk about California. I had never been to the state, and didn’t have any close family members there, so for them, it was odd. Lol. I even remember checking out a book from the school library about California (that I may or may not still have, lol).

Growing up, writing, recording myself dancing and singing on the family camcorder, and watching films and tv shows from sunset to sunrise were ways I felt seen and heard. When I found out in college that I could merge my love for writing and films as a screenwriter or filmmaker, I knew I had to get to Los Angeles.

With student loan debt in the amount of several years of income, credit card debt, and fear of the unknown, it all looked impossible. But one day, I decided that I wouldn’t let any of it stop me, because I had a God-given dream and purpose that needed to be fulfilled.

In 2014, I reached out to a station in St. Louis to work with them as an intern, was promoted and tasked with producing and launching a new show, and from then on, I focused on my dreams in film and television. I’ve worked on shows that are on Netflix, Oxygen, MTV, and more!

My husband and I planned to move to Los Angeles in 2020, but COVID-19 derailed those plans. In late winter / early spring of this year (2022), he asked me when we’re setting a date. We talked about how it seemed like COVID was going to be here for awhile, and we didn’t want to still be in St. Louis three or four more years.

So we set a date – we were moving to Los Angeles on August 22, 2022!

In May – three months before we were moving, I worked on a short doc project with a team from LA. They told me to let them know when I was in town so they could give me a tour of their studio.

Now let’s fast forward to 30 years later from when I was in kindergarten. It’s August 22, 2022 and my husband, family and I are packing up our SUV with our belongings to move to LA.

Around 3 pm, we were officially on the road from St. Louis, MO to Los Angeles, CA via an epic seven-day road trip. Neither of us had a job lined up, prospects in the works or anything.

Seven days and over 2,300 miles later, made it to the City of Angels!

I let the team from May know that I arrived in LA, and they sent me an opening for a position. I applied and GOT THE JOB! I’m now a full-time Production Coordinator at an Oscar nominated and Academy Award-winning production company!

I am LITERALLY living my dreams!

Sharee, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

An enthusiastic student of life, I have an MA in media communications from Webster University as well as a BA in communication with a film studies certificate from St. Louis University.

My desire to make sure Black women and girls feel accepted and valued through my work comes from my personal experiences moving to a predominantly white neighborhood after living in a predominantly Black neighborhood.

Since I often felt out of place, watching movies, music videos and sitcoms became my refuge. Expressing myself through poetry; videotaping myself lip syncing and dancing to my favorite R&B and Pop bops; reciting monologues on the family camcorder; and recording my sister act out scenes of a horror film I wrote allowed me to be and see myself.

At St. Louis University, I was the first Black reporter and anchor for the campus TV news program, and my interests in writing and film merged when I took film classes and wrote my first screenplay. After Graduate school, I became an intern at STL TV, where I was quickly promoted to a producer and helped write and launch an entertainment news show.

A few years later, I was selected out of over 100 applicants to participate in Continuity’s inaugural media training program, where I produced several three-to-four-minute short documentaries.

One of the short docs I created as a participant in the cohort – “The Mountains That Made Me” – was selected for the 18th Annual St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase plus invited to screen at the 27th Annual St. Louis International Film Festival as part of the Doc Shorts: Black Voices line up.

After graduating from Continuity’s program, I worked as a Production Assistant on projects such as “Rhythm and Flow” (Netflix), “The Disappearance of Phoenix Coldon” (Oxygen), “Hart of the City: St. Louis” (Comedy Central), “The Busch Family Brewed” (MTV) and more.

My first crew-produced, crowd-funded documentary, a short about mental health titled “Black Girl, Bleu”, was completed in 2020. It was selected to screen at film festivals across the U.S., including the African American Film Marketplace and S.E. Manly Short Film Showcase, the Denton Black Film Festival, The Micheaux Film Festival, the BronzeLens Film Festival, and the Imagine This Women’s International Film Festival.

“Black Girl, Bleu” has won multiple film festival awards, from Outstanding Special Programming (The Micheaux Film Festival) to Best Mental Health Promotion (Believe Psychology Film Festival), and an Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary Short (St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase).

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

From documentaries to digital series’ and narrative films, my mission is to use intimate and authentic storytelling to explore the depth, reality, gifts, magic, and beauty of being Black. My dream is to continue telling stories that move audiences to confront biases, cultivate empathy, and encourage vulnerability.

I tell coming-of-age, self-discovery, and real-life stories where Black women and girls exist as full human beings on screen and feel seen, heard, loved, and affirmed beyond the screen.

My desire to make sure Black women and girls feel accepted and valued through my work comes from my personal experiences moving to a predominately white neighborhood after living in a predominately Black neighborhood.

One day, when I was a child, I sat on my parents’ bed, with my eyes closed, reveling in the warmth of the sun’s rays shining on my face. In that picture perfect moment, I was also praying to God, begging for my skin to miraculously become lighter. When I woke up the next morning and looked in the mirror, a knot of anxiety grew in the pit of my belly. I had to survive another day as me.

It didn’t help that a white classmate told me “You’re ugly because you’re black”, or that the kids who looked like me called my “burnt”, “crispy”, and “ugly” among other things. Unfortunately, I received everything everyone said about me as truth, so to protect myself, I withdrew from those around me. Thankfully, I had an outlet.

Watching movies, music videos, and sitcoms became my refuge. Expressing myself through poetry; videotaping myself lip syncing and dancing to my favorite music; reciting monologues on the family camcorder; and recording my sister act out scenes of a horror film I wrote allowed me to be and see myself.

Now, film and television are the outlets through which I express all the things I needed to say but felt like I couldn’t. And my mission is for each of my projects to offer the same for Black women and girls.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

After graduating from Webster University, my student job with a government entity ended abruptly, so I ended up on unemployment. On one of my last days at work, a co-worker asked me what I was going to do next. I told her that I was going to pursue my dreams in film and television, and she angrily responded with “You’re too nice for that industry, they’re going to eat you alive. Don’t stay on unemployment too long.”

This caught me by surprise and cast a bit of doubt on my plan because for a minute, I wondered if she was right. It took a couple of years after this experience for me to get the nerve to move towards my plans, but I’m so happy I didn’t let her words ring true.

It’s been 10 years since that day, and now I’m working in the industry I love with an Academy-Award winning production company!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shareesilerio.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/ShareeSilerio
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShareeSilerio
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shareesilerio/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShareeSilerio
• Other: https://blackgirlbleu.com/

Image Credits
Mena Darré | Brand Photographer + Strategist