Meet Gianna Russo

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Gianna Russo. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Gianna, 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?

I think resilience is something that you’re shaped with through experiences in your life. I have had a lot of challenging circumstances in both my personal life and professional career, and it can definitely become difficult to navigate those challenges. Overall, I feel like my resilience comes from a place of passion, hopefulness, and genuine excitement for my craft. I’m extraordinarily passionate about what I do, and I’ve really enjoyed all of the opportunities and people I’ve had the chance to meet through it. There are a lot of things that we will be faced with in life that can throw us off course and make certain goals feel unachievable, however the ability to step back, take a breath, and realign with our overarching goals allows us to continue to pursue the things were passionate about and allows us to create and foster new connections with people that helped to support those goals. The biggest challenge for me has been finding spaces where those people I surround myself with are also helping to fill my ambitions and are genuinely supportive of what I do. I think having a good support system and place for you to succeed is one of the most important lessons I’ve learned in my journey, not only as a creative and as an entrepreneur, but as a young adult in today’s modern world. I am definitely somebody who was raised a bit more old school, but I think it has been a very helpful trait of mine in walking into a younger, more modern career. I really have been prioritizing, and will continue to prioritize, making sure that I have a good foundation and support as I move forward to achieve these goals and to further my ambitions as a photographer and cinematographer.

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 am a multidisciplinary creative with a focus on visual media and storytelling through cinematography, still media, and audio. In the last 10 years, I have had the opportunity to be involved with many different facets of the digital, creative industry. I have experience with photography, cinematography, drone operation, and, most recently, have begun to expand my skill sets to audio production and engineering. I am working to expand my skills as a creative in the film industry and have had the opportunity to write, direct, and edit my for short film in the last few months. Overall, I am passionate about the ability to tell a story through visually driven, motion media. It has been a huge privilege to be able to work with so many wonderful creatives in my industry. There are so many opportunities and places that my career allows me to travel to and people that it allows me to meet, and since opening my business in 2024, I have had exponential success with marketing my work in my local area. I feel that I am always eager to learn more, and I am always excited to find myself in new spaces with new creatives, because everybody that I have met has allowed me to learn from them, both in their academic and educational background, as well as their personal experiences in the industry, which I have found to be greatly helpful as I continue to navigate through my career. I am very excited to see where my career will continue to expand, and I’m hopeful to get my work in the hands of more large companies and individuals of greater stature in the commercial photo and film industry. Although not entirely sure where the trajectory of my career will be, I am excited and hopeful to see where my skills and hard work will carry me as I continue to finish my degree at the Savannah College of Art and Design, and the opportunities that I will find as I navigate this next chapter of my career.

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?

There is a wide variety of skills, qualities, and knowledge that are required in order to be successful in this industry. It really is less a game of what you know than who you know. Connections are some of the most important assets in this industry. A lot of times, I found myself focusing so strongly on the skills that I carried in my work and the quality of work that I was producing that I didn’t focus as much on the social aspect of my career. Although I’m definitely a people person, I don’t think I spent as much time as I should have on really establishing good connections with people because I was so focused on my work and my education. It can be a real challenge to make time, space, and energy for networking and marketing while also trying to run a business, as well as attend school full-time as a student. As I navigate through the rest of my career, I have definitely found myself shifting focus to ensure that I am establishing good relationships with those in the industry around me and making more time not just be a creative with a large set of skills and a portfolio to back up my education and knowledge; rather, I think I will be taking more time to establish those relationships in a way that will help to support my work and my career. I think if I had to break it down into three specific skills for people in my industry, I would say the following three would be the most important:

1) Communication Skills

Overall, communication skills have been the most important that I have found while working in my career field. People are your greatest assets in this industry, and your ability to communicate your goals and communicate with people that you’re working on a project with in an efficient, friendly manner can make all the difference in the quality of work that you’re gonna be able to achieve. Other creatives in different disciplines are extremely important to be able to work on projects, and all projects require collaboration and good communication in order to get the project done well.

2) Time Management

The ability to juggle a lot of tasks at once is a necessity in the creative industry. A lot of times, you never have just one project going on at a time. You are constantly balancing the ability to make time for your work, continuing to educate yourself, and making time for yourself and your well-being. It is necessary to save time for friends, family, and social interactions, and it can be quite challenging to find healthy ways to balance all of it. I think that is something that I have struggled with, especially while running a business and attending school at the same time. However, once you can find balance, whether you’re in a creative career or in any career that is self-managed, such as entrepreneurship or freelancing, you will find it much easier to have a good relationship with the work that you’re doing.

3) Rest

Although this might not be taken as a skill set, we live in a world where constant work and achievement are idealized in a way I don’t think is healthy. I have been somebody who has struggled to know when to say no, and has not allowed myself to rest my mind and body when it needed it most. Burnout is a huge issue in creative careers, especially when we as creatives are so passionately driven by what we do, and we put so much of ourselves into the work that we create. It can quickly turn into an unhealthy relationship with that work, and burnout is one of the biggest detriments to these career fields and an individual’s success in these career fields. I have had periods of time in the last decade of working in my career that I have had to fully step away in order to recharge and re-center myself to continue my journey. Although as creatives, we are often told to constantly be creating work to keep up with the industry. I don’t find that that is always the most healthy way of navigating it. I know for me, I have found much more success with consistency and patience rather than constantly chugging out work like a machine. Although this industry will continue to change and adapt with the advancements of technology, which can be really challenging to keep up with, it’s necessary as a human being to take time to rest and recharge between projects when we can.

What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?

I like to make the joke that I’m a jack of all trades and a master of none. Most of my career has been built on a multidisciplinary set of skills, and I have found most of my success through trying to be as well-rounded and educated in different facets of my industry. Although I think it is important at a point in your career to niche down and hone in on what specific type of work you want to do, I think it is also equally as important to continue to be educated in different roles that are played in the collaboration of large-scale, creative projects. Although I don’t know that I am the best fit to speak on which direction is best, I found most of my success by trying to be as well-rounded and knowledgeable in different skill sets and fields as possible. I think everybody is different and will have a different outlook on their career for what fits their life best, but for me, I think it has been a much more enjoyable experience to be able to dip my toes into so many different paths in my career. Because I started my career young. I’ve had the opportunity to try a lot of new things, make a lot of mistakes, and find ways to become more well-rounded in my industry. I think the accessibility I have had since attending the Savannah College of Art and Design has also played a huge role in my ability to try so many different avenues in the creative industry. The school really helps to push you in different fields so that you can have more opportunities to find what works for you and what you are best at. The professors in all of the different departments really are there to help you succeed, regardless of which direction you take. If you are somebody who is not pursuing higher education for these industries, I think the same still applies. My very first job in photography I found by reaching out to a local photographer online. I worked with that photographer for years and definitely developed a large portion of my skills through learning from somebody who had those skills and was established in the industry already. If I had advice for anybody, it would be to reach out to those who are already experienced in your field of work and put yourself out there in a way that gets you in front of those people. I think it’s really more a challenge of not doubting yourself, regardless of where you’re at in your endeavors, and taking a little bit of risk. The worst thing that somebody could say is no, and if you don’t take the risk, you are guaranteeing that you won’t reap the reward.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Gianna Russo Photography LLC

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