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Tell me about your vision.

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So I started off my career as an actor.

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So I have my MFA in acting, and I've

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been in tours that have gone across the country

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and toured internationally.

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And I've worked as an actor in San Francisco and New York,

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and now I work out of LA.

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And then I taught acting at a college

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here in Hollywood for almost a decade,

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where I taught acting and directing.

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And now I am the CEO of Kika Labs,

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where I work with people to help them get

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more comfortable on camera.

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So I do still work with actors, but I also

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work with professionals to help them get

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more comfortable on camera.

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But the thing that makes it a vision for me

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that helps me to see the connecting thread

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between everything I'm drawn to is I

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want to help people realize their visions.

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So I want to be the person that helps them define what it is

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that maybe they nebulously kind of see

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glimpses of in daydreams or have a yearning towards,

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but they feel like there's something in the way.

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So I love to be the person that helps

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be the bridge between someone and their vision.

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So as an actor, you have to see the character

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before you can embody them.

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You have to think about what does their voice sound like?

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How do they move through the world?

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How do they dress?

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Who do they talk to?

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What kind of tactics do they use in the world?

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And all of that transfers over really well

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to somebody who maybe is nervous on camera.

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They see everybody else, and they're like,

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how can that person be so funny and confident and at ease?

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I want to be like that.

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But when I see myself right now, I

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see somebody who's nervous and stiff or awkward

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or doesn't know where to look.

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And so it's about, for everything I do,

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it's about helping people to see what the vision could be

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and getting real concrete steps to go

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from wherever they are to get there.

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And I do that with my art as well.

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I like to help people who maybe haven't seen themselves

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represented to be able to see themselves in a new way

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so they can see themselves as the lead, the romantic lead,

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or the funny guy, or whatever it is that they

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haven't had a chance to do.

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I like helping people to see that vision for themselves

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and then concrete steps and make a plan to help get there.

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Wow.

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Why is this, first of all, thank you for, Shaina,

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as so much I gather in that that I'm excited to explore.

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Why the name Key Collabs?

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That's very intriguing.

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It's very interesting.

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There's a couple of different reasons.

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The one that I think makes the most sense

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is if you say it, it is like Key Collabs.

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So collaboration is at the heart of everything I do.

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And so it's just a fun, cute way to do that.

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And then my name is Jessica.

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And so one of the nicknames for Jessica is Kika.

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And I've always loved the idea of experimenting and really

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not taking myself too seriously, like taking my art seriously

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and my job and my commitment to things,

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having that joy of exploration.

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So breaking it up like that helps me to remember for myself

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to come from that core of joy and play and exploration

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and collaboration with everything I do.

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Thank you for sharing that.

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Yeah.

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Jessica, where would you say that this vision come from?

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Because teaching a class and helping

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people find their vision to starting your own business

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and doing that sort of equation, how did that all happen

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and where did it all come from?

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I think I am somebody who thrives at the edge.

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I like being the person who's kind of the trailblazer

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in a way.

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So when COVID happened and everyone went remote,

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I was in the middle of teaching.

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I was in the middle of directing.

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I had dozens.

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I probably had 45 students across my classes

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and two productions that were supposed

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to be live theatrical productions for agents

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and managers in the heart of Hollywood.

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And me and two other people took our entire college remote

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and figured out in a week, how can we

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take those live experiences and put them on camera?

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How can I connect my students that are in Brazil

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and Atlanta and in their home bedrooms

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or they're crashing with a friend here in Hollywood,

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how can we connect them and give them

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a real true educational experience that's still

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valuable and still artistic and still really

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worth the experience for them?

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And in that process, I learned I could, from my desk right here,

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I could direct through the camera.

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I could direct through Zoom.

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I could set up their location, because all you get

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is this little box, right?

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I could set up their location to look like a movie set

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and match someone that was in Brazil with someone

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who was in Atlanta and record those, edit them together,

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and make short films that looked fantastic.

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And so of course, I did this with a team

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and we all figured it out together.

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But doing that made me realize that there's

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so many people who hold themselves back

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because of excuses of, I don't have the money,

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I don't have the resources, I don't have the time.

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And that's fine.

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And we all come from that mindset originally.

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But I was able to see how driven and passionate and creative

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my students were and what great, incredible, I have goosebumps,

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art they were making remotely and connecting with people

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and seeing themselves in a different light

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because they weren't in this kind of regular,

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kind of more academic, structured creation space.

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And that was really inspiring to me

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because I've worked with business professionals before.

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And I think a lot of people have a very buttoned up,

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corporate, LinkedIn kind of mindset

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that they're coming from in the negative way that

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holds a lot of people back.

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They see there's this one type.

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And if I don't look like that type

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and I don't feel like that type and that feels inauthentic,

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I can't do corporate speeches.

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And then they see somebody on Instagram

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who's like really loud and really bold and kind of tick

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tock and fast and loud and really maybe fun and fast.

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But if it feels far away from what somebody

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is as their natural kind of way they move through the world,

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trying to mimic that feels very fake and inauthentic.

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And so I just saw this need to help translate the skills

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that I was able to use with my actors

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to everybody who's trying to create something

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but doesn't have their way to get there

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in a way that feels good.

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And I find as a woman, as a person with ADHD,

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and as somebody who is naturally an observer

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and a little more on the quiet side,

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I've starred in musicals that have performed

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for hundreds of thousands of people.

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I've been on the biggest movie sets.

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I've done huge incredible things.

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But I come from a base of quiet ADHD nerd who's

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more of an observer at heart.

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And so I've had to navigate a lot of these things

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for myself of how do I present in a way that feels good to me

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and how do I connect to people through a camera in a way that

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feels authentic and real and I care about and want to do

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and it doesn't feel icky.

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And because I've had to navigate that,

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I was able to help my students navigate that.

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So then I was able to start a business where

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I'm able to help a wider, just a wider swath of professionals

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to do that.

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Wow.

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Wow, that's awesome.

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Thank you.

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It's so awesome.

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Thank you.

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Jessica, so for now, where you're at, your video vision,

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if you could imagine what will be success to you

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or what is success to you moving forward

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and where do you want to take your vision, your business,

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and maybe the careers of your students?

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Yeah, my kind of North Star of what sounds and feels amazing

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is to take Kika Labs and become two branches.

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So it's kind of a creative studio and a coaching studio

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business.

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So the coaching studio business is

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me having a roster of clients that I

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work with on a one-on-one basis, a group coaching basis,

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and then I also have digital courses

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to teach a lot of this because I have really

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found that I enjoy learning from digital courses because then

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it's self-paced.

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You can go back and forth, you can refer to it,

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you can do it on your own time.

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So I actually really like consuming those.

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So I've made a few of those myself.

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So I see a world that has me kind of as the executive

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director channeling that vision and then a team because I mean,

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I'm so lucky.

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I've been in Hollywood for 10 years.

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So I'm surrounded by professional actors

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and directors and coaches and cinematographers

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and all of these amazing creatives

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who I can then pull in to teach courses,

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to do one-on-one coaching, to make their own digital courses.

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So having that ecosphere going and then also creating work

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that I'm help creating as a writer

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and acting in as an actor sometimes,

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directing as a director sometimes,

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and sometimes just funneling and supporting and collaborating

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with people to take kind of the best of our visions

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and create art that embodies that.

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Something I notice is a lot of people

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create art that's a mirror, create

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art that reflects what we're currently going through.

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And I think that's really valuable, especially

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for times where people don't see what somebody else is

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going through.

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I think it can give us real empathy for somebody else

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to say, this is my story.

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Look at what I'm going through.

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But because we've had a lot of tough times,

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a lot of people are creating really dark dystopian art.

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And there is this, there's the bias

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from a psychological term of what you put your attention on,

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you see more of.

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If you decide you want to like, you're

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looking at buying a specific kind of car,

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you see them all over the place.

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So there's that bias of relevancy for you.

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And so if we're thinking about always everything that's wrong,

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then we're going to just kind of get more of that

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because we're focused on it in a certain way.

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And I have found with my students, and also as an actor,

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there's this concept of having an objective.

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And when you go after what you want,

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you can acknowledge all the obstacles in the way,

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but you keep your focus on what you want.

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So it's never about pretending that something doesn't exist

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or not acknowledging the negatives.

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It's just about keeping your vision on the focus point

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that you want.

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And so I'm really passionate about putting my energy

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behind people who are focused on a future that we all

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want to step into and helping them to get there

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and creating art that helps us get there.

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It's not dystopian versus utopian.

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It's not like, oh, I want this fake perfect thing.

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I don't think that's ever going to exist.

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But just using our combined imaginations and resources

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to create art that is creating a vision that's

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exciting for us to step into.

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So much of our technology now is just because Star Trek imagined

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it in the 60s.

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And then kids grew up watching that and said,

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yeah, we should have that.

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Let's create it.

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And what can we put into our art now?

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And what can my clients put into their business

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and their messages now that is passionate and visionary that

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then paves the future for us to step into?

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So I'm really excited about being a trailblazer for that

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and also supporting people who already are,

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but they just need some of the creative skill

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set or the on-camera skill set.

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Wow.

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I feel so unqualified to ask you these questions.

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I feel like Jonate should be the one here talking to you.

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Because there's so much depth he can go in that I don't

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know what to say and ask.

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What's great is I honestly think of myself more

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as the connector between a lot of things

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as opposed to an expert.

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I have expertise in a lot of different areas, honestly.

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And I'm an expert at acting and coaching acting and coaching

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people on camera and the directing side of things.

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So I am an expert in that area.

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But what's exciting to me is working

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with people who are passionate and see what they want,

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or even are just passionate and don't see what they want

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and need help clarifying that vision.

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So I think it's never about expertise.

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And it's never about where you are right now.

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To me, it's about your passion to get to the next level

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and what it is you're excited about.

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Because honestly, I've helped people

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who are at the very beginning of their journeys.

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And that's as exciting to me as making little tweaks to somebody

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who is already working at a high, excellent professional level.

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You're just doing, you're applying the same skills,

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but meeting people wherever they are.

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Thank you for being here today.

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I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.

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I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions

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as these episodes continue to move forward.

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This is going to get more and more fun.

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We'll have more and more engagement as well.

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We'll invite people to participate in the show.

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And thank you for giving us your time and attention.

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Have an excellent time building out your vision

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and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.