We were lucky to catch up with Thiago Roma recently and have shared our conversation below.

Thiago, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

To be successful in this industry, I believe it takes a combination of passion, a lot of persistence, and a clear vision. I’ve spent the last ten years self-teaching and evolving from photography to cinema and advertising. Throughout this journey, I’ve prioritized creating work that resonates with my values, even if that usually means sacrificing higher-paying opportunities.

Success, for me, isn’t solely about financial gain or viewer numbers; it’s about making films that have cultural and social relevance. I find the most fulfillment in resonating with meaningful stories. Although my work in branding and advertising helps pay the bills, my ultimate goal is to produce impactful stories that contribute to important conversations. Staying true to this vision, even in the face of the challenges that this decision brings, is what I believe leads to true success.

Thiago, 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?

My name is Thiago Roma. Although I was born in São Paulo, I moved with my parents to Laranjal Paulista, a tiny rural town about 100 miles from the capital, when I was eight. The townsfolk were and still are highly conservative, so as I grew up, I had zero exposure to cultural and artistic activities. To scratch that itch, I spent my days downloading old music through a really sketchy internet connection to listen to with my friends. At 17, I moved to Sorocaba for college, pursuing a degree in Production Engineering. I always had a passion for photography, but I never considered it a career option because I often heard that “artists starve.”

Little did I know that Sorocaba had a vibrant artistic scene, full of great music, theater, dance, circus, and performances. Being exposed to this prolific environment, I began photographing the local arts scene and got to know many of the artists, understanding how they lived and endured in their craft. I started working with them, doing photography at venues and creating promotional materials, initially focusing on still images and later expanding into video work. During this time, I also met key figures in the industry who taught me the foundations of video production.

When I was 21, I decided to quit engineering school, just two years shy of completing my degree, to pursue my passion full-time. Since then, I’ve never looked back. Nowadays, my work as a content creator—producing ads and freelancing for video production companies that cater to big brands like Ford, GM, Rock in Rio, Jack Daniel’s, and many others—mostly pays the bills. At the same time, I continue to collaborate with artists worldwide, primarily creating music videos, short films, and documentaries.

My last big achievement was being awarded “best foreign movie” on the LABRFF (Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival) with a completely independent Short Movie called “Snail”, the movie was made with practically no budget alongside my great friends Renato Fimene (already featured on Rebel Canvas) and Bruno Ducatti..

After ten years in the industry, I can clearly see that my work has two aspects: the part that pays the bills and the part that ignites my passion. Each day, I strive to bring these two aspects closer together. Sometimes, I achieve a complete merger of the two, and that’s what I’m most interested in right now. I’m focusing my energy on creating an environment where this integration is not only possible but becomes the norm.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

While I was still in college, I worked in the engineering workshop alongside some professors, creating projects with social impact. For example, we developed an innovative medical walker for disabled children that could be easily adapted for various physical impairments and used in different therapeutic procedures, including in a pool. Since I studied at a federal college, I received a financial scholarship for these projects that helped pay my bills while I lived in Sorocaba.

However, due to political turmoil in 2015, most scholarships of that kind were cut, including mine. With no other income and limited available time—my classes ran from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM—I started working as a photographer at parties at night. That’s when I began to immerse myself in the artistic scene of the city after living there for a couple of years, fully focused on my studies.

As a year passed, I found myself working a lot with my camera. I started to struggle with juggling my college responsibilities and my work as a photographer, so I had to make a decision: find another income source that would require less time to complete college, or go full-time as a photographer. Of course, I chose the latter!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

In my field, I often see people focusing solely on the final product and the equipment used as marketing tools. I believe that truly getting involved with each project and deeply understanding all the questions surrounding the subject matter explored in a video production helps create genuine connections with everyone involved—your team, your subjects, and your viewers. This level of engagement inevitably translates into how smoothly everything goes from pre-production to distribution. It also impacts the final product and how others perceive it.

It’s a challenging statement to make since it leans on the sensorial realm, but I truly believe that this level of connection builds relationships that go beyond work, and word of mouth about these experiences travels fast.

I often get called to projects through referrals. Most of the time, I discover that the connections made involve more mutual admiration and friendship than I initially knew. This network of relationships often leads to exciting opportunities and collaborative projects.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thiagoroma.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thiagoroma47/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thiago-roma-8290a81b4/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thiagoroma3937

Image Credits

Bruno Ducatti
Brunno Kawagoe
Gustavo Campos
Rogério Passini