We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elisa Fowler a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Elisa , really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
You know, this is always a loaded question, but I think the journey I’ve gone on to find my purpose is one I really like to share.
Growing up, it was just me and my mother after my father passed away when I was five years old. We were always on the go, but for some reason all forms of entertainment were always introduced to me; whether it was live music, plays, Disney movies, television series, etc. It was always there. Since I was a little girl, I knew I wanted to be in the entertainment industry, whether it was acting or holding the camera. All these forms of art became my safe place as I grew older. I was able to find myself through the many films and television shows I watched. I knew this was my path and I would get there no matter what.
Not only was I able to find my safe space, I was always intrigued with the uproar blockbuster movies made opening weekend, how quickly one person could blow up from a simple role, the impact a story could make on someone – I wanted to do the same thing. My grandmother actually introduced me to the Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean trilogies when I was about seven years old. Me and her would attend every midnight opening show. When I attend these events, I enjoyed seeing the masses of people these films brought out and the communities it made through their fan bases. I was like oh yeah I have to be a part of the team who makes this happen. From that moment on, I knew I would one day bring my own community together with stories I would tell and one day hopefully make an impact on someone’s life.
A fun story took a crazy turn when my grandmother passed away my junior year of high school. It was like my spark for creativity died with her. I ended up going down a weird path and just latched on to a career someone told me I would be good at, which was being a teacher. I took some classes and did internships at Elementary schools but I just didn’t love it. It was too mundane for me, but I tried to stick to it. Towards the end of high school, I was over it and didn’t want to be a teacher anymore and still didn’t feel ready to fall back into my creative space. Looking back, I now realize I lost that spark because I lost the person who presented this life to me, my grandmother. So it was painful to go back to. At this point, I ended up going to Community College to figure out what I wanted to do, and this is where I slowly started to incorporate creativity back into my life. I dabbled into a few different aspects of filmmaking while I was attending college. I messed around with editing, operating a DSLR camera for video and photography — in all trying to create my own content. My mood, my life, the people around me, everything started to feel whole again and that’s when I took that jump. I said to heck with it, this has been my passion my whole life let’s pursue it as a career, nothing could go wrong, right?
I ended up going to the New York Film Academy in 2017 and graduated with my BFA in Filmmaking in 2020. And when I tell you, my purpose continues to be fulfilled, it’s the craziest thing I’ve experienced. While attending film school, I found my love for directing, screenwriting, and producing. I made and worked on countless films and commercials in that time period and really discovered what I was meant to do. I wrote, produced, and directed two really important films that were close to my heart. “Last Days”, this film was dedicated to my late grandmother and “Better Left Unsaid”, a film based on my mom and late fathers experience as an interracial couple. These moments validated every single choice I made to get here. This has always been my purpose.
In all, I’ve actively been pursuing my career and (purpose) for 7 years now. I currently work at a stills and motion production company and continue to work freelance in film, TV, music videos, and commercials. It’s been such a fulfilling journey, and if there’s one piece of advice I can give to those looking to find their purpose, go with your gut and chase what you truly love, not what someone tells you you’re good at. From very early on we know, and if you chase that feeling you won’t be disappointed.
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?
These days I’ve become more focused on working on films and bigger scale productions. Going through my whole journey and realizing that the creative space is where I need to be and that it will forever be my purpose, I really dove into that and have spent a lot of time ensuring I will be successful now and in the future. Doing this resulted in a lot of nights at home while my friends were out partying and enjoying their 20’s, getting into serious relationships/marriage, traveling, etc. There were a lot of sacrifices on my end, but in that time I worked on building my connections and the network around me. In doing this, I have been able to work on multiple shorts, feature films, commercials for big corporate brands like Disney, and have even ben able to secure a full-time job at a production company here in San Diego, CA where I’m working on up to 4-5 projects a month. It’s been such a blessing to see everything come to life and really stay consistent, because anyone in the creative field knows how hard it is to secure a consistent entertainment job. And being young in your 20’s it’s hard to not feel left out.
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?
Looking back I think being diligent, being kind, and understanding that there isn’t one job that you’re too good for impacted my journey the most.
By being diligent many clients/crew/and producers would point out how much they could rely on me in all aspects of a production and that was something they always had trouble finding, so this made a space for me to consistently get hired again by the same people. In the industry, I typically work in the directors department as an Assistant Director, and if you know, you know the AD is always known for being the “meanest person on set” and is a role that typically changes people and makes your super unfriendly. I really enjoy being in this role because I love to oversee things, I love being able to work with everyone, and not feel like I’m stuck in one place. I love being collaborative, so I took this as an opportunity to change the narrative in this space and that was by being kind to everyone on my team. When I say this has made almost every single production I’ve worked on result in having multiple friend groups and connections made by the end of it. This makes me so happy! There’s always this narrative that when you’re on set you have to “stay in your lane”, don’t really talk to anyone outside of your team, and just there can be a big stigma around actually having a good time on set, and I love that I have been able to find a way to change that, even if it’s just on my sets. It makes such a difference.
I think the best piece of advice I could give someone early on in their entertainment career is actually my last note above — is that there isn’t one job that you’re too good for. When I tell you by taking some of the WORST jobs in my career I have grown so much and have also met some of the most amazing, talented, and very well connected people. Take every job you can no matter how big or how small. Even if you don’t feel ready for the big ones, TAKE IT! I promise you at the end of it you will come out better and it will lead you in the right direction.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
Honestly, my therapist has helped me overcome a lot of personal and career challenges over the last few years. I 100% recommend going to some kind of therapy for anything, and especially when you are a creative. Our minds work very differently and if we don’t know how to control it, understand creative blocks, how our creativity bleeds into our personal life, and so many other things its actually a little hard for us operate. I’ve been doing therapy for about two and a half years now, and it’s really helped me understand how I need to get over humps and what actually drives me.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itselisafowler/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisa-fowler-73645a169/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/elisafowler
Image Credits
Saweetie shot by Elisa Fowler
Alpha 27 BTS shot by Alex Zamudio
Bird on a Wire Podcast shot by Tia Michelle
Esthetique BTS shot by Jorge Triping
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
