We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bibi Lucille a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Bibi , we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
Confidence and self-esteem is a hard thing to maintain, for everyone. Living in a western world, commercials profit off of insecurities by showing us what we don’t have. That their product is the key to beauty and success, that this one cologne or perfume will attract everyone you’ve ever desired… and it’ll even bring back your ex. From a female perspective, growing up with impossible beauty standards has been one of the base foundations in knocking down my self-esteem. Even before my teen years, I remember gazing up at a huge billboard of Marion Cotillard in a Dior campaign, desperately pleading to the gods that one day, I would look like that. Beauty consumes a large portion of many women’s minds, leading to countless hours spent on grooming and preening, only to catch your reflection in a mirror at Primark and wonder if there’s even any point. It’s tragic what the beauty industry is doing to women and distracts us greatly from achieving our full potential in areas that don’t involve shallow aesthetics.
I truly believe, that with age comes confidence. Looking back at my teens and early twenties, I feel sad for the girl who tried to morph her face into a different shape by covering it with makeup, and feeling scared at the idea of eating a biscuit. As time slips by, you realise how futile it all is, how physical beauty really is only skin deep. Despite my desperate attempts even now to attain some sort of physical standard for myself, it doesn’t plague my mind in the way it used to. Whether this came as some sudden realisation or my prefrontal cortex developing, I’m glad the desperation for perfection is slowly slipping away.
On a final note, as much as physical beauty will open industry doors for creatives, it’s important to know that it won’t keep them open. The industry is slowly catching on that the most successful and highly regarded TV shows aren’t ones that parade around attractive people; they’re the ones that show ‘real’ people. Breaking bad, Better Call Saul, The Boys… we become completely immersed in those worlds because we truly believe who we are watching. Talent and a good script will outdo them all.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
My (stage) name is Bibi Lucille (my last name is really unglamorous) and I’m an actress and writer. I started acting when I was kid in short films and plays and just carried on from there, keeping the ball rolling during and after school. I started in theatre where I performed in the West End with a Noel Coward play and went on to tour ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’ and take part in several Edinburgh Fringe stints. When lockdown hit, I started writing and created my first born, ‘Meat Cute’, developed and directed by my cousin Anastasia Bunce (keeping it in the family). After a London and Edinburgh run, ‘Meat Cute’ was published which opened a few more writing doors.
Despite acting and writing being my main loves, I’ve been dabbling in more creative ventures too. This year, I’ll be releasing a clothing brand called B.LUCILLE and have been developing some music with Halo studios; all with a Blues base of course, in lieu of being named after B.B King.
Some new projects on the horizon is the second season of the web-series ‘The Stairs’, which I will be acting and writing for (created by the incredible Bruna Pias). Following that, I’m developing a screenplay with the wonderful Giles Paley-Phillips and will be releasing the short film version of ‘Meat Cute’ this autumn.
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?
The three qualities that come to mind when I think about starting a creative career would be risk-taking, drive and humour. The risk-taking part is pretty self explanatory; starting any creative career is a risk in itself and it’s a great quality to have. You’ll be faced with many hard decisions along the way and many of those decisions will feel like it might be the end of the world if it goes wrong. Being fearless and having an unwavering amount of self-belief in those tough times is going to be what drives your inevitable success.
The word ‘drive’, again, speaks for itself. To have that constant want and need for whatever goal you want to achieve is going to be the thing that gets you up in the morning and keeps you going on the days you feel exhausted and unmotivated. Drive comes with finding a strong reason in going for what you want and a reason that this pursuit is worth the risk.
Humour is the final and most underrated quality a person can have when pursuing something challenging. If something goes wrong, being able to have a sense of humour about it will save you. Nothing ever goes to plan, so if you’re able to take it all on the chin and maybe have a laugh at how ridiculous it all is, you’ll essentially be unstoppable. My dad always told me, if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
My main goal is to collaborate over the next year. If anyone out there is a creative and wants to write, DOP, direct, sound design… please contact me! It takes a village and finding a tribe to create stuff with is invaluable. My instagram is @bibi_lucille to connect.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8477320/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bibi_lucille/
- Linkedin: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/bibi-lucille
- Twitter: https://x.com/bibi_lucille?lang=en
Image Credits
Felicity McCabe
Chiara Fulgoni
Kate Green
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
