Tell me about your vision.
So I started off my career as an actor.
So I have my MFA in acting, and I've
been in tours that have gone across the country
and toured internationally.
And I've worked as an actor in San Francisco and New York,
and now I work out of LA.
And then I taught acting at a college
here in Hollywood for almost a decade,
where I taught acting and directing.
And now I am the CEO of Kika Labs,
where I work with people to help them get
more comfortable on camera.
So I do still work with actors, but I also
work with professionals to help them get
more comfortable on camera.
But the thing that makes it a vision for me
that helps me to see the connecting thread
between everything I'm drawn to is I
want to help people realize their visions.
So I want to be the person that helps them define what it is
that maybe they nebulously kind of see
glimpses of in daydreams or have a yearning towards,
but they feel like there's something in the way.
So I love to be the person that helps
be the bridge between someone and their vision.
So as an actor, you have to see the character
before you can embody them.
You have to think about what does their voice sound like?
How do they move through the world?
How do they dress?
Who do they talk to?
What kind of tactics do they use in the world?
And all of that transfers over really well
to somebody who maybe is nervous on camera.
They see everybody else, and they're like,
how can that person be so funny and confident and at ease?
I want to be like that.
But when I see myself right now, I
see somebody who's nervous and stiff or awkward
or doesn't know where to look.
And so it's about, for everything I do,
it's about helping people to see what the vision could be
and getting real concrete steps to go
from wherever they are to get there.
And I do that with my art as well.
I like to help people who maybe haven't seen themselves
represented to be able to see themselves in a new way
so they can see themselves as the lead, the romantic lead,
or the funny guy, or whatever it is that they
haven't had a chance to do.
I like helping people to see that vision for themselves
and then concrete steps and make a plan to help get there.
Wow.
Why is this, first of all, thank you for, Shaina,
as so much I gather in that that I'm excited to explore.
Why the name Key Collabs?
That's very intriguing.
It's very interesting.
There's a couple of different reasons.
The one that I think makes the most sense
is if you say it, it is like Key Collabs.
So collaboration is at the heart of everything I do.
And so it's just a fun, cute way to do that.
And then my name is Jessica.
And so one of the nicknames for Jessica is Kika.
And I've always loved the idea of experimenting and really
not taking myself too seriously, like taking my art seriously
and my job and my commitment to things,
having that joy of exploration.
So breaking it up like that helps me to remember for myself
to come from that core of joy and play and exploration
and collaboration with everything I do.
Thank you for sharing that.
Yeah.
Jessica, where would you say that this vision come from?
Because teaching a class and helping
people find their vision to starting your own business
and doing that sort of equation, how did that all happen
and where did it all come from?
I think I am somebody who thrives at the edge.
I like being the person who's kind of the trailblazer
in a way.
So when COVID happened and everyone went remote,
I was in the middle of teaching.
I was in the middle of directing.
I had dozens.
I probably had 45 students across my classes
and two productions that were supposed
to be live theatrical productions for agents
and managers in the heart of Hollywood.
And me and two other people took our entire college remote
and figured out in a week, how can we
take those live experiences and put them on camera?
How can I connect my students that are in Brazil
and Atlanta and in their home bedrooms
or they're crashing with a friend here in Hollywood,
how can we connect them and give them
a real true educational experience that's still
valuable and still artistic and still really
worth the experience for them?
And in that process, I learned I could, from my desk right here,
I could direct through the camera.
I could direct through Zoom.
I could set up their location, because all you get
is this little box, right?
I could set up their location to look like a movie set
and match someone that was in Brazil with someone
who was in Atlanta and record those, edit them together,
and make short films that looked fantastic.
And so of course, I did this with a team
and we all figured it out together.
But doing that made me realize that there's
so many people who hold themselves back
because of excuses of, I don't have the money,
I don't have the resources, I don't have the time.
And that's fine.
And we all come from that mindset originally.
But I was able to see how driven and passionate and creative
my students were and what great, incredible, I have goosebumps,
art they were making remotely and connecting with people
and seeing themselves in a different light
because they weren't in this kind of regular,
kind of more academic, structured creation space.
And that was really inspiring to me
because I've worked with business professionals before.
And I think a lot of people have a very buttoned up,
corporate, LinkedIn kind of mindset
that they're coming from in the negative way that
holds a lot of people back.
They see there's this one type.
And if I don't look like that type
and I don't feel like that type and that feels inauthentic,
I can't do corporate speeches.
And then they see somebody on Instagram
who's like really loud and really bold and kind of tick
tock and fast and loud and really maybe fun and fast.
But if it feels far away from what somebody
is as their natural kind of way they move through the world,
trying to mimic that feels very fake and inauthentic.
And so I just saw this need to help translate the skills
that I was able to use with my actors
to everybody who's trying to create something
but doesn't have their way to get there
in a way that feels good.
And I find as a woman, as a person with ADHD,
and as somebody who is naturally an observer
and a little more on the quiet side,
I've starred in musicals that have performed
for hundreds of thousands of people.
I've been on the biggest movie sets.
I've done huge incredible things.
But I come from a base of quiet ADHD nerd who's
more of an observer at heart.
And so I've had to navigate a lot of these things
for myself of how do I present in a way that feels good to me
and how do I connect to people through a camera in a way that
feels authentic and real and I care about and want to do
and it doesn't feel icky.
And because I've had to navigate that,
I was able to help my students navigate that.
So then I was able to start a business where
I'm able to help a wider, just a wider swath of professionals
to do that.
Wow.
Wow, that's awesome.
Thank you.
It's so awesome.
Thank you.
Jessica, so for now, where you're at, your video vision,
if you could imagine what will be success to you
or what is success to you moving forward
and where do you want to take your vision, your business,
and maybe the careers of your students?
Yeah, my kind of North Star of what sounds and feels amazing
is to take Kika Labs and become two branches.
So it's kind of a creative studio and a coaching studio
business.
So the coaching studio business is
me having a roster of clients that I
work with on a one-on-one basis, a group coaching basis,
and then I also have digital courses
to teach a lot of this because I have really
found that I enjoy learning from digital courses because then
it's self-paced.
You can go back and forth, you can refer to it,
you can do it on your own time.
So I actually really like consuming those.
So I've made a few of those myself.
So I see a world that has me kind of as the executive
director channeling that vision and then a team because I mean,
I'm so lucky.
I've been in Hollywood for 10 years.
So I'm surrounded by professional actors
and directors and coaches and cinematographers
and all of these amazing creatives
who I can then pull in to teach courses,
to do one-on-one coaching, to make their own digital courses.
So having that ecosphere going and then also creating work
that I'm help creating as a writer
and acting in as an actor sometimes,
directing as a director sometimes,
and sometimes just funneling and supporting and collaborating
with people to take kind of the best of our visions
and create art that embodies that.
Something I notice is a lot of people
create art that's a mirror, create
art that reflects what we're currently going through.
And I think that's really valuable, especially
for times where people don't see what somebody else is
going through.
I think it can give us real empathy for somebody else
to say, this is my story.
Look at what I'm going through.
But because we've had a lot of tough times,
a lot of people are creating really dark dystopian art.
And there is this, there's the bias
from a psychological term of what you put your attention on,
you see more of.
If you decide you want to like, you're
looking at buying a specific kind of car,
you see them all over the place.
So there's that bias of relevancy for you.
And so if we're thinking about always everything that's wrong,
then we're going to just kind of get more of that
because we're focused on it in a certain way.
And I have found with my students, and also as an actor,
there's this concept of having an objective.
And when you go after what you want,
you can acknowledge all the obstacles in the way,
but you keep your focus on what you want.
So it's never about pretending that something doesn't exist
or not acknowledging the negatives.
It's just about keeping your vision on the focus point
that you want.
And so I'm really passionate about putting my energy
behind people who are focused on a future that we all
want to step into and helping them to get there
and creating art that helps us get there.
It's not dystopian versus utopian.
It's not like, oh, I want this fake perfect thing.
I don't think that's ever going to exist.
But just using our combined imaginations and resources
to create art that is creating a vision that's
exciting for us to step into.
So much of our technology now is just because Star Trek imagined
it in the 60s.
And then kids grew up watching that and said,
yeah, we should have that.
Let's create it.
And what can we put into our art now?
And what can my clients put into their business
and their messages now that is passionate and visionary that
then paves the future for us to step into?
So I'm really excited about being a trailblazer for that
and also supporting people who already are,
but they just need some of the creative skill
set or the on-camera skill set.
Wow.
I feel so unqualified to ask you these questions.
I feel like Jonate should be the one here talking to you.
Because there's so much depth he can go in that I don't
know what to say and ask.
What's great is I honestly think of myself more
as the connector between a lot of things
as opposed to an expert.
I have expertise in a lot of different areas, honestly.
And I'm an expert at acting and coaching acting and coaching
people on camera and the directing side of things.
So I am an expert in that area.
But what's exciting to me is working
with people who are passionate and see what they want,
or even are just passionate and don't see what they want
and need help clarifying that vision.
So I think it's never about expertise.
And it's never about where you are right now.
To me, it's about your passion to get to the next level
and what it is you're excited about.
Because honestly, I've helped people
who are at the very beginning of their journeys.
And that's as exciting to me as making little tweaks to somebody
who is already working at a high, excellent professional level.
You're just doing, you're applying the same skills,
but meeting people wherever they are.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions
as these episodes continue to move forward.
This is going to get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show.
And thank you for giving us your time and attention.
Have an excellent time building out your vision
and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.