Meet Fé María Vásquez

We were lucky to catch up with Fé María Vásquez recently and have shared our conversation below.

Fé María , so good to have you with us today. We’ve got so much planned, so let’s jump right into it. We live in such a diverse world, and in many ways the world is getting better and more understanding but it’s far from perfect. There are so many times where folks find themselves in rooms or situations where they are the only ones that look like them – that might mean being the only woman of color in the room or the only person who grew up in a certain environment etc. Can you talk to us about how you’ve managed to thrive even in situations where you were the only one in the room?

The first thing that I have learned in order to be effective and successful is to be humble. Being the only one on the film set that looks and sounds like me has been humbling and empowering at the same time.

Being a professional in the film industry is challenging, being a professional woman in the industry doubly so, and breaking into the film industry in a foreign country adds to the challenges even more.

Keeping myself grounded, humble and bringing a positive attitude towards any experience (that includes yet is not limited to racism, sexism, bullying, discrimination, as well as, recognition, inclusion, respect and admiration) helped me to grow thick skin, sharpen my communication skills, maintain a laser focus on the project, and to learn about being socially and emotionally smart without sacrificing my values and principles.

Here is a tangible example. I have been a filmmaker since I can remember, it’s what I studied back home in Venezuela and what I pursued as a career. I had a thriving one as a first assistant director, I worked with local, national and international production companies and advertising agencies, I participated in Latin American campaigns, and then, fast forward, when I landed on Oahu, Hawai’i, I discovered that there was a pulsing and vibrant film industry that I was eager to be a part of right away!

However, it it took me time to break in, and I had to start from below zero, doing things that I never did before like being a production assistant. It didn’t matter what the position was, I was hungry for an opportunity, and I was open to do what it took. The difficulty was that I had no home advantages here. No one looked or sounded like me.

Who the heck was I? People knew nothing of my professional experience, work ethic, what I was able to bring to the table, nothing. I was a blank canvas, I was nobody. My resume contained nothing that people here could relate to. So this adventure has been painful, humbling and rewarding.

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?

Currently I do two things:

1. I am a professional filmmaker. I direct and produce anything audio visual material, from tv commercials, (the bulk of my work), to feature films and everything in between including corporate videos, documentaries, music videos and more. I received an award for one of my commercials and that made me the first female hispanic director so recognized in the twenty plus years of the advertising industry in Hawai’i.

I absolutely LOVE Filmmaking. I get energy from nowhere when I am working on a film project, and I still to this day get impressed by its multiple challenges and rewards. I confess that despite having skills to perform and shine as a producer, it is my least favorite role. Logistics, permits and budgets, require a more analytical brain. It’s less fun to be in charge of solving everyone’s problems.

On the other hand, directing or running the set are my most favorite roles. As a director I am fully immersed in the creative, the cinematographic language, the frame and composition, the mise en scène, the art and the performance of the talent, it’s fascinating.

As a First Assistant Director running the set, I combine both worlds. I receive and distribute information. I am the voice that people have to follow, and I always feel like I am running a mission impossible. There is always so much to shoot yet so many hours in a day, and I am responsible for making it happen. It’s a job of constant acceleration.

I fell in love with filmmaking without even knowing what it really was or what it entailed. I just overheard one of my brother’s friend that he was going to study film and bells went off for me. I felt something special all over my body, I thought it was the coolest thing on earth. I thus chose my course of study and the rest is history.

I strongly believe that filmmaking is the strongest communicational medium there is. It has been both misused, and also, it has been utilized to change paradigms and inspire social change. The second one is what drives me the most, to be able to tell stories that increase awareness and inspire social change.

As a woman who has made it in the industry I advocate for excellence period, in women and also men. However, since it gives me personal satisfaction to see more women take on in positions that traditionally were taken by only men, whenever I have an opportunity to choose the crew, I will lean towards high-performing women. Experience carries weight of course, but I am flexible when it comes to the level of experience. I am happy to train and teach. It motivates me to be and do better. That said, there is one thing that I am not able to tolerate from anyone and that is a bad attitude.

Working in the film industry has had its ups and downs. A special aspect for me is that I have been able to influence the collective with little things like purposefully writing on mass emails and documents that are distributed to the crew, agency, production company and clients notes like: This is a safe set and there is zero tolerance for bad attitude, discrimination, racism, sexism, etc. If you experience any of it, please tell production immediately. No more silence! For so many years, so many people have been and some still are emotionally, mentally and even sexually abused by higher rank people in the industry. On my set, it is mandatory to advocate the opposite, to offer a film set where people can be and feel respected and safe because it makes a huge difference. Of course this puts more pressure on me as I believe to lead by example means I must perform respectfully and efficiently at all times, no matter what, and that is not always easy.

I finished my latest short film which I co-directed and was the production supervisor on September 2024. It is on the last stages of post production, however, at this point, we don’t know when/where we will have the worldwide premiere.

My second love is just as important to me. I am a fine artist, a painter. I paint with acrylics on canvas, and I create my own series and I also make custom art work for clients and art collectors.

Fine art is the extreme opposite of filmmaking because so much of the work is solitary. My team comes to play after the art pieces have emerged, however not before or during. I wrote that painting is my second love, but actually I have been painting longer than I’ve been a filmmaker. For a long time I painted for myself only due to a discouragement from my beloved dad.

When I was about to graduate from high school, my daddy asked me what I was going to study, and I replied, “I am going to study fine arts.” He said, “You are going to starve to death” and I believed him for too long. Nevertheless, I never stopped painting, I just kept it to myself, I was a closet artist until covid hit.

Covid gave me terror and an opportunity, because I was compelled to find creative solutions to generate income outside from the film industry which was shut down for many long months. For the first time in many years I started to look for a 9-to-5 job and it was depressing. I took a seasonal federal job, and I had gigs here and there, yet my soul was hurting.

One day during an emotional breakdown, I said to myself that I could not believe that even though I was educated, traveled, multilingual, with a solid career, the only way for me to generate income at that moment was through film, and then I saw the light. I looked around my room and saw a complete art collection and it hit me. It is time for me to come out of the closet as an artist and sell my art work!

I reached out to a dear friend who recommended a web designer, and we had my website up and going within two weeks. I sent an email to a handful of people, sharing my new adventure and web site, and I sold two originals right away, and they found a new home in California.

I was terrified, however the reactions were positive which helped me move forward. I started participating in solo and collective art shows, I made it into a gallery, I created custom pieces for clients and the list goes on.

In fact, I am having a Sensorial Art Exhibit where I will be unveiling my latest work, the “I am” series on:
February 13th, 2025
7-10pm
At Talk in Kaimuki: 3601 Waialae Ave, Honolulu, HI 96816

Here is the description of the night:
For this one-night exhibition, DJ Harmony will curate music to resonate with each artist piece, while Chef Bobby from Kalama Kuisine prepares hours d’oeuvre to complement the colors of the art. Bringing together sound, taste, and visual arts will create a unique and immersive experience

I paint because I believe there is power in beauty, because I have learned that art and color have healing properties, acknowledged and validated by neuroscience, because I am committed to helping people elevate their minds, revamp their space and transform their lives. My pieces are inspired by culture, nature and healing.

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?

I have lived, survived and thrived by constantly using the skills below:

1. Attitude. I always tell my assistants or interns who are just starting out that the best asset/quality/skill they can have is their attitude. A good attitude is even more important than experience. So many times we have hired a less experienced person who is eager to learn and has a fantastic attitude and they do better than an experienced hire with a bad attitude. Attitude determines if someone gets the next project or not. It is really that simple and it applies in film, art, or generally in every realm of life.

2. Knowledge is power. Whether academic or self taught, it has been crucial to educate myself, and I still keep learning. If I am not learning and growing I am decaying! And I share that with my team.

3. Do what you are passionate about no matter what, and don’t allow anyone to tell you what you can or cannot do. There is really no such thing as safety: a safe job, a safe marriage, safe life. So why wait? Do what fires you up and do it NOW!

4. When I get invited to high schools to talk about what I do, and I share the pains that I experienced starting in the film industry in Venezuela and breaking into the industry in Hawai’i, I always tell the students to use rejection and discouragement as fuel to feed their passion. Maybe they have a father like mine that unintentionally popped their dream balloon. Or they may be rejected multiple times for jobs they want. But instead of being sad and self pitying, they can use setbacks to fortify their determination to achieve what they want.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

The number one obstacle or challenge is myself. I strive for excellence, especially when I am running someone else’s project, however when it comes to my own, whether film or fine art, I can sometimes get in my own way and swing from high productivity to high procrastination. Since it’s my own project, I can be more flexible and forgiving, but honestly that does not help!

My solution is to have at least one accountability buddy. I choose a friend that has big dreams and goals and ask her how she is doing and when I hear similar stories to mine I ask if she would like to forge an accountability pact.

How it works is simple. We start each day with a short (less than 5 minutes) phone call or text message and each partner shares what is it that she wants to accomplish, tackle, or create that day, and at the end of the day, we check in to make sure we did it.

The whole thing is to encourage each other not to judge. By sharing what I am creating on a daily basis with someone else I become accountable to my word, to myself and another human being, therefore I have a much higher desire to accomplish what I said because I am not going to report that I didn’t do anything.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.femariavasquez.com
• Instagram: @fevasquezfineart @femvasquez
• Facebook: Fe Maria Vasquez https://www.facebook.com/fevasquezart
• Linkedin: Fe Maria vasquez
• Other: Google: Fe Maria Vasquez

Image Credits

Krista Carella
Cheryl Resor
Patrick Ecclesine
Hawai’i Women in Filmmaking
Joseph Agudo