We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Yelena Hertzberg a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Yelena thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
I’ll never forget when my parents sat me down and gently broke the news that we were moving to the US. At the time, I was nine years old and we were living in the former USSR. It felt like my world as I knew it was ending and the unknown of what lies ahead was paralyzing and terrifying. They explained to me that they were doing this for me and my sister. For our future. To give us a better life. A life of endless opportunities and freedom. They sacrificed everything, leaving their elderly parents and families behind, knowing that most likely they will never see them again. That amazing example of sacrifice and leap of faith really stuck with me and serves as a daily guide when I’m faced with life’s difficulties, challenges, and decisions and choices I make for my family.
Yelena, 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?
I am the CEO, Co-Founder, and Head of the Film/TV Division at FilmTribe, an Atlanta based film production and post/VFX company. I was born in Belarus (the former USSR), was raised in Los Angeles, CA and in 2011 moved to Atlanta, GA with my husband, Elan, and our 3 (now 4) children. I graduated from Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, with a BFA in Fashion Design. I’ve worked as a professional designer for various LA based fashion houses, but it was my love for the film industry that steered me into wardrobe styling. After several years of styling for TV commercials, music videos, and print, I founded a successful marketing and branding firm. It wasn’t until 2015, that our dream of owning a film production company together became a reality, when we formed FilmTribe. I spearheaded our new Film/TV division in 2016 and I oversee FilmTribe’s operations, including financing, PR, marketing, sales, and project development.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
This is actually a really cool story because my co-founder and business partner is my husband. I’ll briefly tell you how we met and why we went into business together. It was 1998 and I was a junior at Otis College of Art and Design. I was studying fashion design and had very little time for dating, so I took to AOL.com to find my soul mate. After a few quick member directory searches, I found my future husband’s profile. It happened to be that we were actually neighbors, living only a few blocks from each other. They key word I put in the search engine was “film.” Till this day I have no idea why, but it led me to my husband and business partner. He graduated from Art Center in Pasadena with a Film degree and at the time, was working as a PA in the TV commercial industry. He was an aspiring film director, but was on the producer track. Over the years, he climbed up the production ladder and became a sought-after TV Commercial Producer, working for the biggest production companies and agencies, producing for the hottest brands and clients. I believed in him and supported him every step of the way. I was proud of all his accomplishments and talents, and wanted him to achieve his dreams. With my background in design, marketing and branding, and his experience in the film industry, it slowly formed into a perfect storm for us to go out on our own and do something big. “Go big or go home” as they say. After years of dreaming and planning, we launched our production company FilmTribe in the spring of 2015 with the help of two investor partners who were also our friends and believed in us and our mission. Till this day, our original mission still rings true and is at the forefront of everything we do. Our company’s mission is to produce amazing work with the highest level of quality and business integrity, with an eye on social responsibility, because we know we impact our society through visual messaging.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
I don’t think there is a single start-up out there that doesn’t have a story or two about the near-death moments they’ve experienced in their business. I honestly think it’s an important part of growth. You need to experience the lows as much as the highs to remember why you are doing this and work even harder to reach your goals. I call these moments “little falls” but I always remember one of many inspirational quotes that says “It’s not how we fall. It’s how we get back up.” Do we allow our little falls to determine who we are, or do we get up, dust off, and strive to be even greater than we were? The more falls, the more opportunities for growth and change. While it’s important to know what caused the fall, it’s vital to focus on how you get up and move forward. There are countless stories I could share about almost missing payroll, close calls of shutting down, and near-death experiences of complete failure, but I want to focus on the fact that we are still standing seven years later, through a global pandemic, multiple film industry shutdowns, and an economic recession. In fact, we are not just standing. We are running! Running with renewed energy and drive to do even better and reach higher. Greatness is not measured by accomplishments, but by the oppositions you have overcome to reach your goals.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.filmtribeatl.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/filmtribeatl/?ref=hl
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/filmtribe?trk=tyah&trkInfo=clickedVertical%3Acompany%2CentityType%3AentityHistoryName%2CclickedEntityId%3Acompany_10569504%2Cidx%3A0
- Other: VIMEO: https://vimeo.com/filmtribeatl