We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Zohra. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Zohra below.
Zohra, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
Leap of faith. Jump and you’ll land. Take the risk.
All these sound easy enough to do, but when it’s YOU in that moment and you are facing the fire, all the while your heart and brain are clashing at war, it’s YOU who has to make your life decision on your happiness and progression.
That was me, after graduating from college with a very tumultuous degree to obtain in Electrical Engineering. I thought I would have had an engineering job lined up for me before I even walked down the aisle with my cap and gown. Adulthood set in very quickly and I learned how when the economy is bad, companies don’t hire as much.
While I was setting up interviews, I started temping in an office (payback of student loans were about to start soon!) The kind owner of the company gave me some advice and suggested “Hey, why don’t you bartend or something and meet people who will hire you as an engineer. It’s the best networking out there.” I was a bit taken back. “I’m an electrical engineer,” I said. “I know how to drink, but I don’t know how to pour a drink.” The next day the kind owner took me to his friend’s cigar bar and they gave me a bartending job. Now, mind you, I didn’t even know how to pour a drink, but the staff at the cigar bar taught me everything I needed to know and I learned the ropes fairly quickly.
The kind company owner was right! I did network and met hundreds of influential people, some who I sent my engineering resume to, and some that called me in for an interview. I ALSO met a photographer who for months and months would persistently request a photoshoot with me. My response was “I’m an electrical engineer, not your photo subject.”
Persistence is key. After months, I finally took the risk and agreed to a photoshoot. Those images from that shoot actually turned out to be what got me into the door of the entertainment industry.
From that point on, I was selected by some modeling agencies, walked the runways, was in print and tv commercials, and my whole world changed in the blink of an eye!
After the tv commercial booking, I was just enamored by the cameras. I caught the acting bug. I worked 3 jobs, put myself through acting school, and enjoyed the hustle. After establishing myself as an actress in Chicago, the next step was moving to LA, obviously.
LA has been my second home for a very long time. Running from audition to audition, fighting LA traffic and getting to work, and then running back out of work for another call back…I loved it all. But that engineer brain of mine was still not satisfied.
“FEED ME!” my brain would crave. And my beloved CAMERA was the answer.
My techie brain would crave more learning and my natural progression was to be the keen eye behind the camera, instead of acting in front of it.
Directing and Producing films came naturally to me. I knew what I wanted to see and it was my job to make the actors deliver that to the camera. That’s when I feel the most in my element; the frequency resonates perfectly and air is so clean that it makes you high type of feeling.
I can recall even as a kid, I would be the one holding the camcorder, always filming events and skits and whatever was going on that day. I guess life came around full circle with that camcorder.
Now my films are on streaming platforms, winning awards at film festivals, and most importantly, influencing my audience with emotions and thoughts that they may not have had before. That’s why I make films, to open the minds of people with stories from around the globe.
If I never would have taken the leap, the jump, and set aside my fears of failure, I would never have achieved my success and discovered my true passion of filmmaking.
Zohra, 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’m a Chicago-born, award-winning filmmaker that graduated with an electrical engineering degree from Bradley University. Of South Asian heritage, I am a culturally rich and avid world traveler and love to tell stories from corners of the globe. I direct, produce, create and develop projects from the ground up, including feature films (Let Us Make Eve, White People Money), short films (An Outfit, Finding Mr. Right), documentaries (Fallen Star Rising Sun), tv shows (It’s Tei Time), commercials, and music videos, which led me to create my own production company, ZohraFilms. I have also Executive Produced the Nollywood film “A Soldier’s Story II: Return from the Dead” which has been distributed through Lionsgate.
I have created film festivals from scratch, have been the Festival Director of the Various Artists independent Film Festival, the Senior Programming Director of the Chicago South Asian Film Festival, and have been in the festival circuit for the last decade. My work schedule is happily hectic, but when I’m not immersed in a project, I am studying to get my pilot’s license and you can see me tooling around town on my motorcycle. And I never, ever, miss a Chicago Cubs game.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
You won’t believe it, but for me and my business, “word of mouth” is still the best source for new clients for me. I build a trusting relationship with my clients. They love the work I do and how I work with them, hence they refer me to others needing my services. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
Managing people, teams, crews, productions can be extremely overwhelming. And on top of that maintaining a high morale amongst can add more responsibility to your duties. From my years on set producing and directing, I’ve learned that there are so many different people from all walks of life that are going through something or another everyday, but they still showed up to work. That is a plus in the right direction. I need them to do their job so my project can be completed.
I always try to hear out what the person is asking for and why, and I try to assure them that I can look into it.
Patience is key.
Speaking positive and encouraging words throughout the day seems to bring people at ease and gives them a sense of belonging to the team and the bigger picture.
A genuine and sincere smile can work miracles.
And, I always will ask my team to let me know if there is anything I can do to help them to their job today. Some people may just need an extra break or need to take an important phone call and if you ease your team’s stress, they’ll be more likely to do their best.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.zohra.biz
- Instagram: @zohrabiz
- Facebook: /ZohraBiz
- Linkedin: /zohrabiz
- Twitter: @zohrabiz
- Other: http://vimeo.com/zohrabiz