Meet Layla Bird Revoldt

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

Hi Layla Bird, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.

When I first moved to NYC, to attend NYU Tisch School of the Arts, I was only 19 but I had already experienced a lot. I was from a home twice broken, I had moved more than 21 times, survived the Flint Water Crisis, had a gun pointed to my chest, worked a job for six years, lost people close to me to drugs, and lived on my own (with other teens) for over a year.

Yet, somehow, I felt truly behind. A lot of my peers had had so many opposite experiences. They had internationally traveled, gone to expensive camps and met celebrities, were exposed to advance training, had automatic connections in the industry, dressed well, etc. I remember the first time I raised my hand to answer a question in class, everyone laughed. I wasn’t on the level at all – I was worlds away. And even weirder, when I was growing up in Flint, especially in high school, I was criticized for speaking too properly, for taking myself too seriously, for being too fancy. Ironically, at NYU, I drowned in an inability to be perceived as more than a scholarship-hand-out white trash kid.

My sense of self was so jumbled from this swift change. I thought I was doing the right thing by coming all this way, getting out of my comfort zone. I had worked so hard, saved so much money, left my friends and family, and the life I had known. I came from a culture of respect. In Flint, respect is everything. We treat each other with respect to keep the peace. It’s a code of survival. As much as they are truly diverse, from all over the world, the general population of NYU Tisch kids do not give a shit about respect. This is the first, easiest, most obvious thing you can quickly learn about them.

I was a student in this new world, literally enrolled, so I tried to follow their lead. I tried to get rid of or even play down my commitment to respect but I honestly could not. I still cannot to this day, it lingers like a scar. For a solid year, I felt deeply aggravated. My belief in my qualifiers to be there, my enjoyment in my decision, my faith in my ability to overcome were totally zero. It was a dark time for me. I couldn’t believe the way I had betrayed myself by leaving the beautiful DIY scene of mid Michigan to be with some of the richest, dullest, and stupidest people I could ever imagine. Many of them did not even have to work a part time campus job, but on top of going to school, I worked full time plus. The whole thing felt unfair, impossible, and I was very salty about it. I couldn’t leave because I was stuck out of pride. I did not want people back home to think I was a quitter.

So I honestly just waited this out. My technique, the technique I had always been taught, was to pivot. When things get hard, let’s move, let’s change, let’s eliminate the problem. This survivalist mindset is like a shark, keep moving, don’t look back. So I thought unfamiliar problems ought to be conquered with unfamiliar solutions. I knew my instinct was to run so I forced myself to be patient and let it all play out.

Finally, it all became clear. Our second year, we started making and showing films, and I realized . . . many of my peers had no perspective. Simple as that. Their work was really boring. There were so many films about rolling out of bed and making a bowl of cereal. Countless. I know this is cruel now that I am a grown adult reflecting on youth films – none of our films were all that great to be sure, we were students! But come on do not feel bad for these rich idiots, they bullied me incessantly and there is no sweeter satisfaction in a burning, hungry stomach, than realizing money cannot buy everything. Money cannot buy perspective, creativity, vision, passion. The cereal films kept coming and I couldn’t stop cackling like an evil witch, actual tears in my eyes.

While they always seemed to have the money for better resources on their projects, they were poor competition creatively. So even now, as an adult, even with my professional success in my industry, whenever I feel that imposter syndrome creep in or start to feel stressed about pulling off risky moves financially, I think about this revelation; and it helps me push on, be patient in my process. It helps to be honest about how I am feeling. Many folks would find it poor taste to generalize rich people as being dull and stupid but I have never claimed to not have poor taste. I automatically respect people who have had to work hard in their lives, if I suspect someone has not then they can earn my respect if they find it necessary. I pick and choose to keep my peace, to keep the imposter syndrome at bay, because ceding to the capitalist machine would kill my creativity. When creativity is the only thing you’ve ever had, you have to protect it and invest in it energetically in this way.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I have been working as a multimedia producer, director, and writer in short form commercial content / non profit sphere for eight years. I am really drawn to humanist projects with flair, angst, rebellion. Despite everpresent expectations for women, I always dress comfortably for the job. I wear a lot of graphic t-shirts, yoga pants, jumpsuits, and combat boots. Waste reduction on set and in life is really important to me; I am always looking for ways to recycle, repurpose, and stretch our budgets. For this quality, I have been described as scrappy. I have also been described as a powerhouse because I offer a lot of passion, enthusiasm, and preparation to my projects.

In late June, I finished filming a short called Bloodsuckers of Bushwick. It’s about a lot of the grievances I offered in this interview, but it’s horror and has some silliness. We are currently in post production for that project and hoping to premiere in the Fall of this year. Follow the instagram @bloodsuckersofbushwick to stay up to date. I have a couple other projects coming down the pipeline that are not quite ready to go public. I am seeking more opportunities to blend my filmic work with my nonprofit/advocacy experience. It is hard to hold all of these elements in one life, let alone marry them but I am hopeful these things will come together in this next year.

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?

I think the three most important qualities I had were resilience, authenticity, and empathy.

As far as resilience, I did not give up sure, but I also did not take any crap. I fired back and defended myself. I set boundaries and expectations to protect my productivity. I kept pushing.

Authenticity is so important to me. It’s tricky when you are a person ever changing but I think staying true to yourself will save you a lot of heartache in the long run. Beginnings, especially that end of adolescence into early adulthood is really challenging for figuring out who you are after a lot of trial runs. You don’t need to be completely set in value system and aesthetic / brand / whatever but it’s important to have deliberate conversations with yourself.

And finally, having empathy for myself and others helped me a lot. Life is unfair but getting hung up on that can stall your potential completely. For me, addressing my feelings and being kind to myself has been essential. Also, to address a more political aspect of this, I think that our society really lacks class consciousness. It’s a next, or next, or next frontier. I see class experiences as an identity experience that deserves some accommodation. It’s not enough for big fancy universities like NYU to give scholarships to poor kids, but they need to be aware of their general population and create some sort of support system for their ‘under privileged’ group. Poor white people in America are a tricky bunch, we come in many different forms. In my lifetime, I would love to see our country improve and more people be able to afford to live and feed their children; and I want films, media, human beings in their day to day being transparent about these realities. Folks are taught it is unpleasant to bring up and address but I find that humor and again, empathy make these conversations easier.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

When I feel overwhelmed by the state of the world, and how difficult my dreams seem to be to achieve – I like to find some rebellion in my use of time.

For a long time, I lost the sense of rebellion in my use of time. When I wasn’t in school, I was working, eating mediocre dinners to save money, networking, doing my ‘homework’. I felt guilty anytime I took a break, a breather, or let my self ‘fuck off’ for a bit. I felt like if I didn’t stop working extraordinarily hard then I would not be deserving of any fruits, or they would not be possible anyways. Now, I realize that rest is resistance (Tricia Hersey) in an unfair, unforgiving society. What is the point of all this pushing, achieving, and discomfort if you aren’t enjoying it? You’re always going to have some unpleasant shit going on: a bad boss, a stupid job, some annoying peers, etc. Let it be true and funny and tell them (even if just in your head) to go kick rocks. If you live in NYC, catch the express train to Coney Island and go sit on the boardwalk and people watch with a cocktail, flirt with the possibility of getting a sunburn and look out at all that dirty water just full of unspeakable human proteins and trash and remember that it’s all a little bit of a joke.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @bloodsuckersofbushwick | @laylabirdrevoldt

Image Credits

Eric Hrabal
Lucas Hrabal