Meet Lagueria Davis

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

Hi Lagueria, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

I come from working class people. So, all we know is to work. My mom was a Nurse’s Aid and my dad worked for the city of Fort Worth as a bus parts manager. My mom still works at the same hospital, now as a Unit Secretary in the telemetry unit. My dad, though retired, works at Lowe’s and within months he had already worked his way into a full-time manager position. He declined the position, because he is retired after all and only sought a part time position in order to have something to do with some of his free time.

Seeing how my mom worked, at times 2-3 jobs at a time in order to take make ends meet, she instilled not only how having a strong work ethic could lead to success, but also having an education could take you further in hopes to not have to work 2-3 jobs. So, I feel my life has been working toward one goal at a time with that in mind, while understanding that there are systemic barriers in place that might take me a little longer to accomplish my goals. Along with work ethic and education, tenacity and patience became a piece of the equation as well. Never give up, no matter how long it takes, especially if you know that what you’re after is your calling and is rightfully, already yours.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I’m a writer and director in the entertainment industry. I see myself more as an artist, but have come to relish the business part of this career. However, it’s not my favorite part of what I do.

I’m excited about the documentary I wrote and directed BLACK BARBIE, a gorgeous film with heart, which was acquired by Shondaland after its acclaimed premiere at SXSW and a very successful festival run. It’s currently streaming on Netflix. While making this documentary, I shadowed on the full third season of THE L WORD: GENERATION Q for Showtime, where I took on directing establishing shots and marketing materials. Prior to shadowing for all of the final season, I was the writer’s Production Assistant on season 2 with Showrunner Marja-Lewis Ryan. I was also selected to participate in the Mentorship Matters Program where I was mentored by Nicole Levy. Commercially, I recently wrapped directing promotional materials for Bel-Air and Peacock Olympics featuring the Bel-Air Cast. I hail from Fort Worth, TX and bring my Southern, Black, and Queer perspective to a range of premium storytelling as a writer and director. I currently reside in Los Angeles and I’m developing my scripted feature directorial debut.

Also, keep a look out for a music video I directed titled BLACK ON BOTH SIDES. It’s one of the title tracks in BLACK BARBIE performed by Kelli Wakili, a hot emerging artist to check for. We’re dropping it in the next few weeks!

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?

For me, looking back, the three most impactful qualities I feel served me when I was younger are mindfulness, discipline, and openness. If I could add a fourth, it would be integrity. I feel that combination of qualities and skills is what has landed me to where I am now.

Mindfulness because that kept me in the present. I feel that helped me stay grounded and dialed in, anticipating what’s needed in the moment. Discipline because that kept me focused. The truth is, the motivation is not going to always be there. Discipline kept me actively working and looking for ways to get to where I wanted to be. You can dream and think about it, but if you don’t act then you’ll never realize your dream. I say openness because that led me to opportunities I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to do. Being open is about being flexible and for me, being open kept me from getting stuck and/or settling.

I wanted to add integrity because it kept me anchored to me and who I was at the time. As I navigated the world and the entertainment industry, I found that if you operate from a place of integrity then you’re less likely to make a decision you’ll regret. I think coupling openness with integrity is what leads to a growth mindset, so that not only could I stay anchored to who I was at that time, but it gave me the space to grow into who I wanted to be. Of course, as I continued to work in the industry and grow as a person, then these qualities and the skills needed would grow and shift. I think one of the most important qualities that I stepped into beyond the aforementioned, is tenacity. I quickly saw that this path was not going to be an easy one, but I knew that creating content was my calling, so I made it my purpose to never give up trying to get where I wanted to be.

My advice for folks early in their journey is to figure out what qualities and skills you’ll need to carry you through your journey, because I think it differs for everyone. This means you must know yourself and understand your “why.”
Know what lights you up, gives you joy, inspires you. Know what you stand for, acknowledge and honor your weaknesses, and know who you want to grow to be and let that guide you when you’re making decisions, because I think this is how you learn to trust yourself and be confident in yourself. This will help you keep going even when you make mistakes.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

The number one challenge I’m currently facing is feeling scattered. I am juggling a lot of different opportunities, both personally and professionally, and it can feel a bit overwhelming trying to give each their proper attention. However, I have to say that it’s not a bad challenge/obstacle to have, because I’m grateful for the developments in both my professional and personal life at the moment.

To resolve or overcome feeling scattered and overwhelmed I’ve been working with my therapist. I’m all for self-care methods and acknowledging my limitations. Then, in my day to day, I try to complete the most important items on my to-do list for each day and save the rest for the following day. I keep spreadsheets to track my to-do’s and my personal budget. I carve out time to write or to be creative and move the needle forward on my creative projects. Sometimes that means responding a little later to less urgent emails and texts. Also, I’ve almost eliminated my use of social media. I spend one or two days per month on the social platforms responding to as many people as I can and then I move on.

I make adjustments as needed in order to find the best flow so I can be as productive as possible professionally, while at the same time maintaining my personal relationships, which are very important to me.

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Image Credits

Event Photos by DAVID MENDOZA III
All photos curtesy of Netflix

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