Meet Rae Curry

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

Rae, so good to have you with us today. We’ve got so much planned, so let’s jump right into it. We live in such a diverse world, and in many ways the world is getting better and more understanding but it’s far from perfect. There are so many times where folks find themselves in rooms or situations where they are the only ones that look like them – that might mean being the only woman of color in the room or the only person who grew up in a certain environment etc. Can you talk to us about how you’ve managed to thrive even in situations where you were the only one in the room?

You have to be confident in who you are. Know yourself and trust your instincts and your skills or training. Stand on your principles and believe in what you bring to the table. If they won’t make room for you then go where you are valued and respected. Being someone that often sees trends before the mainstream I face this kind of energy often, unshaken, because I know what I know and no one can take that away from me. If people are shallow enough not to value my opinion or my feedback then that’s the wrong room for me from the jump. I’ve learned other people’s misconceptions about me are not my business. Move with confidence. I don’t wait for permission to make moves that I know will benefit the greater good. As long as it doesn’t put any one in danger or violate any laws, I’m doing it, unapologetically. I’ve learned that shrinking my greatness to appease the ego of others only creates discomfort for me and puts me into a box where people think I belong based on the color of my skin, not my acumen, IQ, or creative genius. Never settle.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I’ve been producing documentaries on underground Hip Hop since 2003. I’ve helped launch a lot of music artists careers through my work and I’ve had the privilege to work one on one with many major record labels, execs, DJs, and other industry professionals. For many years I produced a TV show that aired in North Carolina, Ohio, and the DMV. I’ve sat on industry panels offering professional expertise and adding value to the community I documented.

Then my grandmother passed – a loss I could not imagine would take such a toll on my life. I questioned everything. She was my mother, my compass, my best friend. She knew things about me I had not yet discovered about my life. Confused about which direction to take my profession, I left and went into corporate America. I was belittled. I worked a job I was super overqualified for but it was the only job I could get at the time and when you’re a single mom with high school kids, every dollar counts so I stayed amidst the disrespect, the overwork, and the overwhelm. But every time a training ppl came up I volunteered to attend it. The way I saw it, I was gaining a new skill set that would help me in the long run and it did. I climbed the ranks, fast. I moved around from company to company because every new role gave me new skills so I eventually started a bidding war and I would take contracts that benefited me and pushed me further up the ladder. It was a hustle. Recruiters saw me as a valuable commodity, while jobs offering full time employment saw me as a liability because on paper it looked like I jumped from job to job, which I did, but often times they were intimidated by the fact that I gained new skills with every role and I wasn’t afraid to negotiate for the highest end of the salary I knew I was worth.

In 2020 right before the pandemic I went to LA for my birthday and fell in love with the ocean, the palm trees, the life. Still carrying the weight of a tumultuous childhood (to say the least) I found peace at the beach and there was a calling for me to be in LA. So the next year I moved cross country from DC to LA. I didn’t know anyone in LA. I had my savings and paid for a shipping container to get my things to the west coast. I was still working in corporate but I had managed to phase out of Human Resources and start creating videos again. One year into my LA life I moved to a bigger apartment. I had a new job, new title, and new income to match my skills. But it was a startup and as the story typically goes, they laid us off! Right before Christmas they sent 140 of us packing. I was reeling! I couldn’t believe I was that close to reclaiming the title as a producer and the window of opportunity closed with a pink slip flailing in the wind. It took a few months of applying and not hearing back for me to start thinking outside of everything I knew in that moment. One day I went exploring my neighborhood and realized I lived across the street from a college and they had a film program! I had been in college before but hadn’t gotten a degree so I got my transcripts mailed to them and found out I was one year away from a degree in film, TV, and digital media. Last spring I got my first degree. I started producing again. I worked on so many projects, both indie and for the school that I had proved to myself once again I am who I think I am and I can carve out a place for myself. I don’t need permission. I don’t need acceptance from others. I just need to proceed like success is on my side because it is. Sure, along the way I had some haters and doubters – people that were more afraid or intimidated by the work I had done for them or their department/program and feared losing it. And they did. The moment I saw I was unappreciated or being taken advantage of, I shifted my focus to benefit myself.

I am a filmmaker and editor. I am self-taught and my college experience has just reinforced what I already knew about myself but lacked the confidence to claim because being independent comes with a high level of side eye from people that lack the confidence to do it on their own. My ability to translate stories into video and now AI is a skill passed down to me through DNA. (My father was a photographer/videographer and so was his grandmother, my great grandmother.) So I’ve learned to walk in confidence and not be afraid to toot my own horn in the right settings otherwise you get looked and passed over. I just produced my first AI film and while many of my professors are very anti when it comes to this new technology I overstand that my AI productions get the idea out of my head and onto the screen and provide a proof of concept to pitch to studios interested in optioning my content. I’d never be in the position I’m in now had I allowed the naysayers and doubters to cloud what I already know about myself.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The three qualities that were the most impactful to my journey are knowing myself and being confident about what I’m capable of, owning being a producer and walking in these shoes daily, and being unapologetic about being multi-hyphenated.

Advice for people early in their journey is to always believe in yourself and never think you’re done learning.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I’m interested in the possibility of collaborating with other creatives. Filmmaking can be done successfully as an independent producer and also with like minds. My portfolio website RaeCurry.com houses my current projects and a contact form for those interested in possibly collaborating with me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.RaeCurry.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raecurry

Image Credits

The Jennifer Hudson show photographer took the photo of my son & I on her show.