We had the good fortune of connecting with Carla Mejia and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Carla, other than deciding to work for yourself, what was the single most important decision you made that contributed to your success?
Aside from creating a website and having a resume, what helped my success as a freelancer is visually having a calendar. I have a whiteboard calendar in my room. I would write the days I had gigs and add the amount I making per gig. By waking up and looking at my calendar I could see the days I worked and how much I would make for the month. If I saw that I had 2 weeks with no freelance gigs, It would push me to go online talk to potential clients and apply for gigs in order to meet my monthly quota and make my calendar full. It helped. I stay on my A-game and I am a visual person so seeing the calender really helped me organize myself as a small business owner. At the end of the month – I take a picture of the completed month and keep it for reference for taxes and write it over onto my income excel sheet. I do it to this day 6 years later after starting that habit.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As a first Dominican-Salvadorian generation in America, it was very difficult to have access to certain things in new york city. I always knew I was interested in film but did not have the opportunity to explore anything until college. I never knew that it was possible to be a filmmaker. All of the people around me lived paycheck to paycheck and worked in restaurants or as a home attendant. I was lucky enough that my parents did not dictate any specific career as long as I was in college and studying something. In a film field that is mostly run by white men, I was intimidated at first but I was smart enough to work in the restaurant business before which opened my shell and I was comfortable talking to various types of people. I attended the City College of new york – they have a small film program it was about 20-22 students. it was still mostly men and a few women and they were definitely cliques most men would work together and the few females had to work together with some of our male colleagues.

After graduating, I had no clue about how to actually find jobs in film. I finally landed a PA job at “Impractical Joker” for the summer which opened doors for reality TV, but it was not something that I liked working on. I wanted to work in the camera department and learn how to light and set cameras up. Finally, I met a camera operator on the set of “Say Yes to the Dress” and he needed an AC to work with and that’s how I got my start in the camera department. I am grateful to have had my journey obviously they are some dark moments when you have to deal with being sexualized or sexually harassed by men in the field but as I am getting older, I have learned how to deal with it in the best way. You will meet some great people along your journey!

The lessons that I have learned along the way is always to speak your mind when you feel uncomfortable, fake it to you make it but make sure you are prepared in your field before being on set and believe in yourself, we all make mistakes push forward, and keep going! I know it can be hard for immigrants and first-generations in any career but I encourage you to seek knowledge, keep learning read books, watch videos, learn your craft, and be kind to people – we do not know what people are going through.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I am originally from NYC, if a friend visited me i would take them to time square, and Rockefeller center. Take them to this restaurant called Nice Matin- french cuisine in the upper west side. Amazing food and people. Walk around central park and go to a local coffee shop.

In Arizona – I would take my friend to the grand canyon or Antelope Canyon to hike of course, take pictures, and have a nice meditation moment. I used to love doing that in Arizona. I would take them to Tombstone, a old-timey town – I have not visited but I would love to go there with a friend!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I had the opportunity to have people in the film industry take me under their wing early on after college like Diamond grade Media. I was trained as a camera assistant and worked on high-end projects in the first year of my career after completing my BFA in Film and Video production. Another great support system that I have is my business partner Mehul Vahder- from the beginning, he has encouraged me to keep pushing and has given me business advice since he studied international business.

Website: www.carlamejia.com

Instagram: justcarlafilms

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/mejiacarla

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfYIOTovrRypoJHKhX__kcw

Other: tiktok: carlaamejia I will start making youtube videos for up and coming filmmakers stay tuned!

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutArizona is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.