We were lucky to catch up with Roger Omeus Jr recently and have shared our conversation below.
Roger, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I suppose I get it from my parents. Both of them are from Haiti and migrated here in the early 70s. Navigating a strange country, mastering the language and having to over come racism (which we’re still fighting to overcome) freshly off the heels of the civil rights era couldn’t have been easy. But they managed to raise 4 children in the midst of it all.
My father was a very proud Haitian man and instilled in me to be proud of my roots. That’s why I stand tall and strong in being a 1st generation Haitian American. Struggle is a part of life. You can’t have joy without it. And so, resilience is the opposite side of triumph. I believe I’m a bit of both. Being a filmmaker, a writer for almost 2o years now, with all the changes of the medium and surviving tells me I belong here.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’m a storyteller. Writing, photography and motion pictures is my canvas. I’ve always loved to people watch and create a story around what I see. Going into a world of make believe in my head. I was inspired by writer E. Lynn Harris’ novel, “Invisible Life” to write my own novel. This was back in the late 90s. But before even then I use to write short play’s in both grammar and high school. In high school I turned one of those plays into a teen soap that I actually filmed scenes of.
Episodic storytelling interest me a lot back then. But not having access to equipment made it impossible to do anything with the ideas in my head. That’s when I decided to go the route of novels. Coming out to myself at the age of 23 changed so much for me. I wanted my storytelling to reflect a bit of who I am. That is why I fell so in love with E. Lynn Harris’ writing. I saw myself in his work.
When the opportunity came, when all of the magical pieces came together, I wrote, directed and filmed my 1st feature film “Finding Me” in 2007. It got picked up for distribution by TLA Releasing and the rest is history. I subsequently filmed a sequel to that film “Finding Me: TRUTH” and then created a webseries based off the films, returning to my love of episodic storytelling.
Currently, I am working on the 6th season of “Talks With Myself,” which is a spin-off of the previous mentioned series. It has become an international hit with over a million views on YouTube. The series topics regarding mental health, introspection, rape, to name a few has really captured the pulse of an audience that feels underrepresented.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
One, you need to be opened to failing. I know that’s said a lot, but it’s true. Failing should encourage you to go back at it and do it better. Two, knowing nothing is perfect. If your aim is perfection you’re never going to achieve what you set out to do. There so many times, when I complete an episode: I know there are elements that can be improved, but I have to give “birth” to my baby. Meaning I can not remain in labor for months and months, so I set it free knowing there are some in perfections because nothing is perfect. Three, learn your craft backwards and forward. Even the things you may not be interested in. If it concerns your craft you should have a fair amount of knowledge in it. This way you are become more well-rounded in your field.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
My father bought me a book on African American writers. This was so important to me because in a traditional Haitian household, becoming a professional writer is the top profession parents want for their children. He certainly didn’t want that for me, but he saw past his own expectations and valued what I wanted. That meant so much to me even to this day.
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