We recently connected with Uzo Chijioke and have shared our conversation below.

Uzo, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

My first published work is a graphic novel series titled, “A Tale of Renown.”

But most recently, I co-created and produced a scripted podcast series called “TwentyOne 21: A Black AF Scripted Audio Comedy.” It centers around two female best friends who believe they are going to get superpowers on their 21st birthday based on a viral thread they read on “Black Twitter.” I had the pleasure of working on it with two people that I knew from college and we cast people we knew from our time in Maryland. Furthermore, we wrote and produced original music for every episode aligned to the episode’s narrative.

We were blessed to have been nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Scripted Podcast Series and a Webby Award for Best Indie Podcast – Limited Run for our first season.

Uzo, 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?

The first creative endeavor that I shared with the world was a card game called “Never Say Never” that I published under my company Smashed Studios in 2020. During the pandemic, I decided to explore more of that side of myself and crowdfunded to make the game on KickStarter. That same year, I got more serious about writing as well.

I had played around with a fantasy-fiction story, but really locked in and completed it in 2021. That was “A Tale of Renown.” But where things got interesting is, I originally wrote it as a novel manuscript. After some attempts in the traditional publishing trenches, I decided that the story would be better if adapted for the visual medium. In 2022, I connected with an illustrator and began adapting the story into a graphic novel series that I have sold at various comic conventions since the first issue was published in early 2023. For me, 2023 was the year of “make it yourself.” That same year, I finished writing, co-producing, and voice acting in our podcast show “TwentyOne 21: A Black AF Scripted Audio Comedy.”

I’d say I’m a true multi-hyphenate in every sense of the word. Often times, people have to remind me of the other things I have done or have going on when I’m explaining what I do in one arena. The way I balance that is in how I leverage partnerships to drive forward on some projects while others are in holding patterns. When it’s all said and done, I want to have a wide body of work that people can’t believe all came from the same mind.

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

People often say to enjoy the journey, but I do think for me what is most rewarding is finishing the work and experiencing how it impacts people. A lot of the creative process involves working in a void and I do not find enjoyment in that. That’s the scary part where you are alone to yourself working through your drafts and hoping the image you have in your mind is translating well into the output you’re creating. For me, it’s when I can share that work with a friend that I feel the most joy because now it is alive in someone else’s mind.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think we have to get back to treating the arts as important in school and not primarily see art as monetizable “content.” For quite some time, there was a big push on people to “learn to code.” What that has done is create a generation of people who are pushed to think in binary terms and have essentially created tools that prove deleterious to what it means to be human. It’s important to reflect on how much of our advancements in civilization stemmed from artists pursuing art for the love of it rather than because they wanted to monetize garbage for clicks.

Contact Info:

• Website: smashedstudios.com
• Instagram: @uzothecreator
• Twitter: @uzothecreator
• Other: TwentyOne 21: A Black AF Scripted Audio Comedy – https://pod.link/1703633801