We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Iris Reyes. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Iris below.
Hi Iris , thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.
There were so many topics to choose to write about but I chose the question asked of me, by my daughter, a million times. I’m not sure why I remain optimistic even when my soul is breaking and I honestly feel no hope. Why I say things like, “it won’t always be this way”. Perhaps I’m fooling myself but that may be the exact thing I need to keep me alive. I believe everything happens for a reason. Whether bad or a good. Your perspective is what counts. Every challenging and heartbreaking experience has helped to unlock something in my soul and in my way of looking at the world. However, if I didn’t already ask, “what is this moment teaching me”, I may not have been able to unlock those spaces. I found myself broke, lost, alone and depressed after an extremely challenging divorce. Starting again when you’re over 40, is scary. All I could wonder was how many other women were also experiencing the same challenges I was experiencing and if I make it out of this, how can I help them? That alone helped me deal with all of the sadness and pain. I felt if I was experiencing this, it would help me empathize and find real solutions in the future.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am a single parent of a homeschooled teenager, a Latina Filmmaker and Screenwriter, on the Board of Directors for the Dunedin International Film Festival and the Director of the Tampa Bay Latin International Film Festival. I own a small film production company, with a business partner, called iReyes Films, LLC and I now work full time in the education industry. I did all of these things while going through a very challenging divorce, after 18 years together. I was a stay at home parent prior to this. I honestly believe I was dealing with so much fear in my personal life, that I didn’t process the other monumental tasks I was facing in my career. So I’m very grateful for that. I may not have stepped into certain rooms otherwise.. I’ve worked on large and small Film sets, Commercials and Documentaries as a Line Producer, Assistant Director, Unit Production manager and as a Script Supervisor, I am now in the process of Writing, Producing and Directing my own films.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think my cultural experiences helped me step into certain spaces. The film industry is male dominated and cut throat. Growing up in a male dominated Latinx culture but also around strong women, helped me navigate those spaces. I also learned how to take care of myself and others, at an early age, so multitasking comes naturally to me. Lastly, I’ve moved around a lot in my life, whether it was a new school or a brand new state on the opposite coast, I learned a lot about how to be the new kid on the block and how to communicate with people who are different than me.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
I think this has been the most challenging. My daughter and I had to relocate several times over the past 4yrs and financial stability, or stability in general, has been elusive. I knew I needed to keep it together for my child, who was dealing with her own issues after divorce and during our moves. I made sure to not hide certain things from her. I couldn’t pretend this wasn’t awful. I allowed her to see my vulnerability and encouraged her to speak about what she was going through. “Don’t cry” was something I had to stop saying because you have to let it out. I forced myself to do things that didn’t feel as if they were helping in the moment but I knew and hoped eventually they would. I did it all, listened to self help videos, uplifting music and healing vibrations, avoided toxic people when I wasn’t at work, meditated, posted uplifting messages for others, took longer showers, allowed myself to be lazy, watched comedies and Horror movies etc. I had to make time for mental breaks before tackling the most important tasks first and not beating myself up for not being able to get it ALL done!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: iReyesfilms
- Facebook: Cookie Reyes
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