Meet Shant Zadouri

We were lucky to catch up with Shant Zadouri recently and have shared our conversation below.

Shant, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

I had always struggled with gaining confidence, I could never trust myself to reach the goals that I intended on reaching. Until, I came to a point in my life where I realized I needed to be consistent in reinforcing my thoughts and taking action. I did this by doing all the things I had put off doing, one of which was directing and producing my first indie film. I began production on my first film, ‘The Hit’ in late 2021 to mid 2022, I developed confidence by throwing myself into unfamiliar situations, but my mindset was, “If I don’t know something or I cannot find someone to help me in achieving a task, I am willing to learn and do it myself”. I quickly had to learn how to cast actors/actress, conduct auditions, keep track of budget, submit to film festivals and so much more. At times, it was beyond difficult to where I wanted to quit, but I knew that was not an option and I could not allow fear or anxiousness be the reason as to why I did not achieve my goals. I am proud to say I now am much more comfortable with being thrown into situations that I am not familiar with and learning how to manage each situation and grow my confidence in the process.

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

I spend most of my time coming up with new ideas for screenplays and potential films I can create in the future. I have always enjoyed creating content weather that’s short films, podcasts, gaming videos, etc. My goal has always been to make the audience feel something, whether that’s laughter, happiness, sadness, anger, I always try to evoke some type of emotion from whoever is watching. I also think it’s important to expand my horizons and try different genres as opposed to just sticking one type of content. I am happy to share that currently I am working on my second short film which will be released some time soon with the intention of being submitted to various film festivals! I also am active on my Instagram page @itsShantze where I am always uploading different pieces of content for all my viewers.

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?

First skill I’d say is consistency. No matter what you’re doing or what you’re trying to achieve, you have to be consistent. Sometimes, it’s hard and there are a lot of roadblocks on the path to success, but if you’re willing to learn and improve yourself and try to be an even better version of yourself, it will take you a long way.

Second is confidence, if you do not believe in yourself, nobody will. In my personal experience, I had to attain confidence by doing things that I thought I did not have the skill set to do, but I quickly realized that most of that fear and anxiety was internal. Yes, at times, it was hard and I questioned if I really could reach my goals, and there were times where I made mistakes, but I chose to learn from them and do everything in my power to become better as a person. With confidence you can change the direction of your life.

This to me, is the most important quality a person can have, being humble. I’ve always believed that the biggest mistake a person can make is if you attain success and forget where you came from or how you got to your success. At the end of all my short films, I always put a quote that I believe in at my core, “….it is never a one man/woman show, always keep your feet on the ground, be humble.” This is shown by how you treat others, it’s very important to remember all those times where maybe you weren’t as successful and you didn’t have all the things you have now, life can change quickly and it’s always important to be humble in everything you do.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

I lost my dad when I was just 14 years old. My mom has been there for me every step of the way and the most impactful thing that she has always done is push me. In various stages of my life, I had thought about stopping my journey or not doing the things I wanted to because I felt as though I couldn’t see it through, and my mom always encouraged me to keep moving forward even if sometimes I had to look a little bit harder for that light at the end of the tunnel. She was always my rock when I felt like I was crumbling, she was always my best friend when I felt alone. She was always my tag team partner anytime I felt like I needed to lean on someone for help. I think it’s important to have someone that you can go to who you know has your best interest in mind and who reminds you of what you can do when you believe in yourself.

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