We recently connected with Ana-Nube Thompson & Toni Houston and have shared our conversation below.
Ana-Nube & Toni, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
A: There are three things that I attribute my resilience to: God, my family and family lineage.
God, for letting me know I can give it all to him.
My relationship and faith with God allows me to acknowledge that everything has a reason, and through my trials and tribulations I grow strength, wisdom and fortitude.
My Family because giving up is not an option.
My Ancestors: “We are strong and powerful, set the course and do it.”
T: My resilience stems from me not rushing to numb uncomfortable emotions that may arise during difficult times. When I’m experiencing a setback, I give myself a certain time period to sit with my unpleasant thoughts and feelings. Once I make it through the mental and emotional storm, I bounce back stronger every time with new insights on life. Allowing myself to honestly feel, has helped me trust that there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Allow us to reintroduce ourselves. We are filmmakers who formally operated under the production company B.E. Artform Productions, but have rebranded ourselves, and we now go by the Film Grizzlies. It was time for a rebirth. We are still bringing our audiences healthy and inspiring visuals to positively shift the worlds paradigm. There are many things we find to be unique or exciting about us, the way we make who we work with comfortable and feel like family, how we celebrate life, we’re mothers, and change agents. We are passionate about what we do, we take from our lives inspirations and turn our lemons into lemonade.
We’re here, focused and ready to go!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
A: Taking a look back I can see being a life-time student, creative and having tough skin. I love learning and being hands on, I think that going into film making, that helps greatly because you have to go where the opportunities come and it may not always be what you were thinking. My mind is always working, being creative whether in film, art or problem solving in my life, it comes out. Being a mom gave me a tougher skin, I’m more willing to share my voice and step out as I am, than I was before.
Learn as much as you can, don’t be afraid to step out, ask questions, participate and go where you’re interests lie. Find your voice, the one that God brought you here to share.
T: Three skills that anyone should possess when trying to bring their dreams and ideas to life are, an idgaf attitude. The only person that will get in your way is you and your thoughts. If you’re worried about what other people may think or that you’re not good enough, you’ll never get anything in motion. It’s not easy, but just get out there and take your first step. You’ll surprise yourself. Determination would come next, a lot has gotten in the way on our journey because life happens but we persisted through hard times and never lost sight of our goals. Lastly, having problem solving skills will help you stay determined. You’ll develop those skills along the way. Gotta get out there first.
What kind of people do you want to work with and how can someone connect with you?
Yes! Where we are now, I feel like we’ve embraced our voices, and its that time to be in those spaces with the like minded. We love hearing peoples stories, the ones you don’t think anyone wants to hear because its too small or not pretty enough. Let’s share all the layers of ourselves, bring back the stories, the joy of life, goodness, beauty, triumphing over the obstacles that Maya , the illusion, portrays.
We’d like to work with people who have vision, love, and see life for what it can be, not for what it is now. Don’t trust the illusion, life is beautiful, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!
Connect with us on the gram: @filmgrizzlies
Email: [email protected]
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.youtube.com/@beautifullydocumented
- Instagram: instagram.com/filmgrizzlies
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@beautifullydocumented
Image Credits
Photos by Film Grizzlies
