We were lucky to catch up with Chimechi Oparanozie recently and have shared our conversation below.
Chimechi, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
My resilience comes from my upbringing & where I’m from. I come from one of those places where if you fall & stay down it’s pretty frowned upon. In Pittsburgh toughness is embedded culturally & it goes hand & hand with whatever life throws at you.
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?
I’m an Actor first. I absolutely love my profession & am very blessed to have accomplished what I have so far. As a kid I held in so many emotions that I wanted to share but my environment put a block on that. So once I became an actor & started to study the art I realized that every emotion that I held inside as a kid is exactly what will help my career, also which will be displayed on the big screen in many different ways throughout my career.
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?
I’d say that 3 qualities that have actually turned in to skills for me are
1. Adaptability, being able to adapt with your environment is something that many people can not do. I’ve realized. If you know me, you know that one day I’m hanging out with 60 year old Armenians eating beef tar tar at 3am then the next day starts & in the middle of the hood kickin’ it with my boys then somehow end up at David Dobriks house. When you carry yourself with love & respect, read the room, & simply just have fun, maneuvering through life becomes less challenging.
2. Listening, My ability to listen is what makes a lot of people attracted to me. Sometimes I even have random people talk to me for 30+ minutes and we don’t even know each others names but I figure, I have no idea what this persons going through & maybe they have no one to talk to so what’s 30 mins out of my day going to hurt.
3. Humble Confidence, I treat every person with respect & I don’t think that I’m better than anyone! As a follower of Yeshua (some may know as Jesus Christ) it is my duty to treat every person with genuine love and respect but at the same time I know exactly where I’m headed and it’s all the way to the top. A common misconception is that people believe you have to carry yourself in a certain sort of fake humble/ arrogant way to be a star & that couldn’t be further from the truth. Authenticity will always prevail.
All 3 of these things translate so well on the big screen in beautiful ways.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
I’d say my mother constantly teaching me wisdom from the Bible since a kid, wisdom is my favorite topic, subject, ect. It’s principle. Only a fool lacks some sort of wisdom.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mechi2x/?hl=en
