We recently connected with Hilda Boulware and have shared our conversation below.
Hilda, 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?
I believe my resilience comes partly through my DNA from seven generations of determination to survive and be successful. My maternal grandfather was enslaved. My mother‘s father. He was sold at four years old and cried on his deathbed to return to his mother in the shack. He said at 96 years old, I don’t want to go to the big house. Great trauma and great comeback running through my veins. He went on to own land in Texas as a farmer which was later taken from him. My mother is the last of his 21 children and we are determined to survive. I also have a paternal grandfather that was born during slavery. He was later an entrepreneur and extremely successful businessman. Great resilience all around.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My first love is Acting. I have been a professional actor since I was about 17 years old. I later became a children’s social worker and recently an author.
My book “water, my soul “ is about, faith, family and race relations. I’m from Tulsa, Oklahoma. That experience of growing up in Tulsa with family as entrepreneurs building wealth, motivated me to debut the book during the 100th year in remembrance of the 1921 Tulsa massacre.
I enjoy a creative acting/writing balance with service in professionally helping children and people. I am able to balance acting auditions and bookings along with visiting families to assure children are in safe homes. I’m also in process of shopping a script with my daughter who is also a writer.
Although I have many television and film credits, the most recent is a costar on Abbott Elementary. I’m also a recurring as paternal grandmother to Dr. Ndugo on Grey’s Anatomy. My undergrad is in theater speech communication/oral interpretation. My masters is in spiritual psychology from the university of Santa Monica. I’m also alumni at Clark and Spelman in Atlanta.
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?
The number one quality most impactful in my journey has been family. Respect and honor of family values is nonnegotiable. Resiliency from perseverance has been important and finally communication is imperative for my success.
I have creative and unique ideas that I’m able to express as a creative talent through writing, acting and understanding with an intention of empathy.
I suggest using Marshall Rosenberg‘s nonviolent communication or sometimes known as compassionate communication. He teaches how to say what you’ve always wanted to say without feeling bad about it using a particular formula. (OFNR) Observation feelings needs, and request. Advice to others would be to honor, protect and preserve family, learn to be patient and persevere through trials with balance, and communicate in every situation.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I’m looking for collaboration on a couple of things. Number one involves my desire to develop directing skills for television. My daughter and I are also looking for partners to develop a TV dramedy. Her children are fluent in Mandarin and the premise is about their experience navigating the Asian world.
I would also like to find venues to speak about my book, perhaps with colleges and universities or other organizations that would be interested in learning about my experience in Tulsa with family as entrepreneurs.
Contact Info:
- Instagram:hildaboulware 27
- Facebook: Hilda Boulware
- Linkedin: Hilda Boulware
- X: @BoulwareHilda.
Image Credits
Grey’s Anatomy Young Sheldon, Saved By The Bell, Modern Family, Atypical
