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

Syd, appreciate you joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I have been blessed to work full time as an artist but for those who walk this delicate tightrope, you know you have to be creative with how you finance your dream. I work as an independent writer and filmmaker, and recently completed a season on Johnson which is airing on Bounce TV. I just completed a season on a new show called G.R.I.T.S from the creator of Johnson which will air next year on the AMC affiliate AllBlk. I’m so grateful to my community of creatives. I don’t have an agent, my attorney is kinda MIA so all of my opportunities have come through my network.

Shout out to Deji LaRay and Reesha Archibald who intentionally include others in their projects.

My “side hustle” job is actually my other dream job. I am the founder and CEO of Better Youth, Inc where we build creative confidence, close resource gaps and prepare foster and system-impacted youth ages 16-24 for career success in the creative economy. We accomplish our mission through media arts training, mentoring and professional development.
Through my work at Better Youth, I help emerging creatives find their voices and help provide access and equity to an industry that has historically marginalized the narratives of BIPOC people. I also keep creating, helping to write, produce, and direct short form content driven by young people.

Through my non profit, I have been able to partner with mega studios and production houses like Warner Brothers, NBCUniversal, Disney, Focus Films, Skydance Media and Amazon Studios therefore increasing my professional and personal network of industry professionals.

But living this dream isn’t easy. I work form 8am to 8pm just to avoid working a real job. Most entrepreneurs will work 12 hours a day just to avoid working the typical 8. It takes grit, grind and uber focus. I write and earn my own checks by sheer sweat equity and crazy faith. I have been homeless and without a dime to my name all in pursuit of this road less traveled..

Without God, none of this would be possible.

Syd, 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?

I stumbled into the industry by DIY filmmaking. I decided to film a “day in the life” of myself as a poet/actress, utilizing with my boyfriend at the time as my cinematographer. During the course of our filming, I scheduled” a live audition that ended up being for an HBO film called “Everyday People” of which I booked a lead role. The film went on to Sundance Film Festival and I moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career. Little did I know as a college graduate with a degree in Microbiology, that I would have to sacrifice a lot for success as an artist including couch surfing with friends and working jobs that paid in peanuts. I also discovered that I leaned more into social justice causes and was evolving into activist which made auditioning for trope and stereotypical roles for African American women difficult to accept. Which again, left me damn near homeless and broke. I decided to establish Better Youth my non profit organization, that I had formed in the projects of Harlem, New York in Watts at a High School I was working as an after school program coordinator. In this job, I not only controlled my narrative but I also could control my salary as well. Thus, I became a teaching artist helping foster and system impacted youth build creative confidence and discover pathways into the entertainment industry and in doing so I fulfilled both my passion and purpose simultaneously.

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

In 2016, I moved back home with my mom in Las Vegas and it was a very difficult season. I was still operating my non profit in Los Angeles and would commute via Bolt Bus every month to maintain presence in the philanthropic community in addition to the creative community.

I would schedule meetings and poetry readings during my monthly visits and eventually after two and a half years, I was able to move back to LA into an apartment in 2019. So in 2020, I had already survived a very difficult time and so navigating the pandemic came naturally to me. It was during tis time that I was hired as a staff writer on my first television series and also secured Skydance Media as an anchor program partner with my non profit.

Resilience is sharpened through adversity.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is having the freedom to design my own pathway and the confidence to declare who I am in the world and live the life that feels most authentic, regardless of the consequences.

I give birth to stories untold
and characters who fight
on their feet
on bended knee or backs barren
who speak in dialects, languages
and tongues /
I write to celebrate the spirit of the
single mom shero
the gangster of a regular Joe
and the beauty that rises
from the ashes of
the gutter or ghetto /

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sydsteword.com
• Instagram: @sydsteword
• Twitter: @sydsteword
• Other: www.betteryouth.org

Image Credits
Dominique Ross Syd Stewart