Meet Kareem McMichael

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kareem McMichael. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kareem below.

Kareem , thrilled to have you on the platform as I think our readers can really benefit from your insights and experiences. In particular, we’d love to hear about where do you get your work ethic from?
A great deal of my work ethic comes from home. My parents, my grandparents, the community people I knew, and my aunts and uncles worked. My family definitely wanted the next generation to have it smoother, but they also still taught us to work for what we wanted and that hard work would pay off.

My dad painted houses and businesses, and that was his business. From a young age, he would take my brother and me to work with him, and through that process, we learned about working to earn your money and the things you wanted.

My mom is very organized and can plan things very well, so various events and projects she would work on very effectively to get things done. Even my mom made it known early on that I would have to put in work to achieve things. My parents expected greatness.

Aside from at home, where my parents taught me and instilled a good work ethic, so did school. The school I attended from Kindergarten to 8th grade was Progressive Christian Academy, and they expected excellence. They wanted us to be the best. For me, it was important to excel as much as I could.

I believe doing theater got me out of my shell, and in the world of theater, we had to rehearse and practice many days and weeks leading up to a show. In addition to theater, I played sports and did taekwondo, which required a great deal of diligence and work.

As I grew, it just became my nature to be a strong force when it comes to the work that I produce and the quality of my work. Also, maybe being a Virgo lol. We are known to work hard and can be perfectionists, but sometimes it is important to know when to relax and pace yourself to avoid burnout. Sometimes you have to enjoy yourself beyond just working.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Currently, I am the online content manager for the department of journalism and mass communication at Savannah State University, and I am the advisor of the student newspaper Tiger’s Roar. I am definitely focusing on making sure my students work and careers thrive. I want our program to continue to grow in a strong way. I am also the director of the Southern Regional Press Institute (SRPI), which is a 73-year-old two-day media conference, and I hope that this year, by coming back more in person since COVID, we can make a bigger impact.

On the film front, I have a few projects in film festivals. “The Power of the Pen,” a documentary about the repealing of the citizens arrest law in Georgia, is a semi-finalist in the Atlanta Film Awards festival. Another documentary in a festival is “DESERVE: A Better Tomorrow, Today,” which was accepted into the Atlanta Black Pride International Film Festival.

I am really excited that I will be recognized for my body of work and my career over the years at the Savannah Film Alliance Gala. The Savannah Film Alliance Honors Gala, presented by I.A.T.S.E. Local 491, will see numerous hard-working, deserving individuals recognized and honored for their invaluable contributions to the local film and television industry. This year, I am one of them.

I am looking forward to continuing to write for Connect Savannah. That has been a fun and amazing part of my career. I wrote for my home city newspaper, The Macon Telegraph, 20 years ago when I was in high school, thanks to my mom, and now I am living out one of my dreams.

I am still on the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Southeast Emmy chapter and in 2024 we celebrate or 50th so that will be exciting to see what new fun things we bring to the public.

I am looking forward to collaborating more as well. One of these collaborations will be helping produce “The Far Side of the Moon,” for writer and director Devon Moore, a very talented young man. I know I have more work to do with Shon Blaze; he is able to have you laughing in one project and in your feelings in another. I would love to work with IV Vision again. Jewel is amazing and has done so well with his brand. Comia Flynn and I have many things we talk about and are working on another project together. All of these people are amazing and have a lot of unique energy and different stories to bring to entertainment. There are many others as well, so just follow my web pages for more.

I have been writing some new plays and short films. So hopefully, within the next year, some of those will be produced and created. I am looking forward to those growing and gaining some attention since many of them will focus on personal aspects of my life.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Knowing your value and being able to know that you are worth more than what some people want you to feel and believe During some parts of my journey and as my career roles have changed over time, I found it interesting to navigate certain arenas because I am usually the youngest person or one of the younger people on teams and boards. While I did learn a lot in different spaces, there was also a lot that I brought to the table through my background and knowledge that I have had for years. I

Effective communication has been a helpful skill as well. I think knowing how and when to communicate is great. It helps navigate easy and difficult situations, and I think more importantly, if done well, hopefully moving forward, you and your team are able to get your goals and needs met instead of getting tripped up on small things that stop progress.

Having good forward vision to move an organization or program to the next level for the better Tradition and formality definitely have their place, but with so much media and technology, depending on your field, it is important to find ways to engage the audience that are more progressive.

Learn as much as you can, and never stop learning. I never feel like I know everything because I do not, and something new is always popping up, especially in technology.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
I am working on ways to structure my business and workflow that are better for me and my time management, but also hopefully something helpful for my clients to get their needs better met.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
All photos taken by Marquis Glover (Marq.G Media)

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