Meet Monika Gobaira

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Monika Gobaira. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Monika below.

Monika, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

Ever since I was little, I was telling stories. My parents’ camcorder (which eventually became MY camcorder), was my main accessory and my favorite thing to play with. Anyone I came across with was now a character in one of my made-up stories which ranged from murderous zombies to sisters in a rock band, to undercover spies. I made so many homemade movies as a kid, it still baffles me how I had doubts about who I wanted to be when I grew up. But as kids, we don’t really think about other factors that may contribute to that important decision of our career path. When I turned 18, I decided I was going to go to med school. Why? I don’t even know how to answer that question. There were really no options for me to study film in the Dominican Republic, and I kind of liked the idea of following my dad’s footsteps and become a doctor like him. I thought I would have a good life, make good money, and eventually be just like him. A year into med school, I came to the realization that I was extremely unhappy. When I heard of people that were attending film school or that were doing storytelling of some sort, I always got extremely jealous and wondered why I wasn’t doing that as well. I decided to quit med school and focus 100% into going to film school, even if I had to leave the Dominican Republic and live far from my family. I guess I found my purpose by losing it at first.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I’m a filmmaker and a video creator. When I was in college studying film, I was learning all of these new skills such as editing and how to use a camera. I was learning about storytelling techniques, art directions, lighting, sound mixing. But I always felt like I wasn’t really putting it to use while I was there. Of course, we would make some group projects and films, and I was lucky enough to be the director for one of our class projects, but these projects didn’t happen as often. I decided to open a YouTube channel and make things on my own so I could practice and hone all my newly found skills. At first, I was making music videos to songs I had found on soundcloud. I was experimenting a lot, especially with editing. Then I decided I wanted to share a bit more about myself and my interests (which of course included movies), so I started to talk more and more about movies I had seen and movies I recommended, and that’s how my YouTube channel and online video creation evolved into what is now one of my passions. I am now in the process of writing and hopefully soon, actually making my first feature film. I know it could take years, but I’m taking it a step and a time and enjoying my video creations in the mean time.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

1. Fearlessness. I’ve never thought of myself as being fearless. In fact, I always thought I was someone who was scared, introverted and shy. But when I look back at all the things that haven led me to where I am right now, I applaud myself for putting myself out there and follow my dreams. Even posting videos of myself online (speaking English, which is not my first language), is a scary thing to do but I’m proud of myself for taking that leap.

2. Patience. Nothing happens overnight. As long as there is passion, things will come eventually.

3. Inspiration. I love getting inspiration from my favorite movies, filmmakers and content creators. I think some people are prone to comparing themselves to others (and of course, I’ve done it too), but it’s important to keep learning and get inspired in order to make stuff of your own.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

There was a moment where I found myself creating things in order to fit the current trends and to please algorithms. I wanted to grow my audience and make my videos reach a lot more people, so I caved into what the algorithms and apps were prioritizing. After some time of creating this way, I found myself not wanting to create anything at all. I wasn’t feeling inspired and instead I was feeling stressed and like there were outside forces dictating my own art. I realized I only wanted to create what inspired me, what I wanted to share with my audience and things that I was genuinely passionate about. I learned that I just need to do things because I want to and because they inspire me, even if it’s not what others are doing or if they won’t get as many views or likes.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @cinemonika
• Twitter: @cinemoni
• Youtube: cinemonika

Image Credits

I have the rights to all of the images