Meet Victoria Negri

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

Hi Victoria, appreciate you sitting with us today. Maybe we can start with a topic that we care deeply about because it’s something we’ve found really sets folks apart and can make all the difference in whether someone reaches their goals. Self discipline seems to have an outsized impact on how someone’s life plays out and so we’d love to hear about how you developed yours?

To preface my response, I don’t view self-discipline as a form of rigidness. I feel like sometimes when I or others think of self-discipline, it’s an unwavering focus on a goal, a relentless pursuit. I used to be a perfectionist, scheduling every moment of my day, and making sure I checked every task off the list. I’ve evolved beyond that into someone who can forgive herself for skipping a “to-do”, saving it for another day.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, my answer…

I am motivated by the feeling I know will wash over me after I’ve done the big thing. Many days when I need to do a long run, I lace up and take it one moment at a time, knowing I have NEVER regretted a run. I push forward with my feature film projects, writing scripts sometimes over months, most of the time over years. It isn’t always easy, I don’t always have the answers to what should happen or how within a story. My artistic process is slightly different than my passion for running when it comes to self-discipline because in honing my voice, I’ve developed a need to create. In writing screenplays and making films, self-discipline doesn’t feel entirely necessary. I don’t need to force myself to work on these things because they feel necessary to how I process the world, to my every day being, and my need to connect with people through my work.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Simply put, I’m a storyteller. I make films, which I write and direct. I sometimes produce projects for other people whom I love collaborating with. I’m making a concerted effort this year to write more without expectation, to pour my thoughts onto a page regardless of a goal with it, i.e., finished screenplay, book. I performed at The Moth earlier this year, and that really stoked the fire inside me that I really just love making work that comes from a personal place and connecting with folks over shared experience.

I’m currently in development on my second feature film, ULTRA, which will star Shailene Woodley. This film has been years in the making, and is set during the Badwater 135 ultramarathon race, which is a 135-mile race across Death Valley in July. It’s a deeply personal project about how we move through and process grief, and how getting through the other side of these seemingly impossible emotional and physical journeys is only possible through community. I can’t wait to film it. It’ll feel truly surreal to be on set directing that project.

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

My relationship with death has propelled me towards scary things in life. I grew up knowing my father would probably not make it to my 30th birthday, him being 62 when I was born. I write about it all the time, this experience has popped up in my work over and over, and I imagine it’s the main driver for how I live my life. I lost him when I was 24 years old, and suddenly the world seemed both scarier and less scary than before. I went through the hardest thing I could imagine at that time, losing a parent, so what else could be so terrifying when compared to that? I threw myself intensely into anything I could think that I would want to do after that point.

Which I think leads me to my second quality, I jump in fully before I’m ready. I don’t wait for some kind of answer or knowledge or “access” to start doing something. I wouldn’t attribute this to unabashed confidence, but rather knowing that life is short, and why waste time waiting for permission when you could just, you know, dive in and do the thing?

And my third quality would be my passion. I love what I do. I love the people in my life. I love being alive. I’m trying to cherish every moment of it and I think leaning more and more into that becomes a sort of magnet for others as I’ve been building my army to get big projects done. And beyond that, and most importantly, building my army of good people in my life that feel the same.

Some advice I would give to others would be to try and focus less on negative outcomes. If you can imagine the worst case scenario and give that lots of weight and let it affect your actions, why not imagine a best possible scenario and use that as motivation? What’s holding you back from starting something? Avoid all or nothing thinking, because big goals aren’t immediate. Check in with yourself as you’re working towards something and make sure every moment is a step forward, and try to enjoy the process. Learning and growing and challenging yourself is a wonderful thing. It’s also scary, but scary doesn’t necessarily have to be bad. It’s just the unknown, which, if you move forward, will soon be known!

How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?

I would stop all my day job hustles and have adventures with the people I love. I resent how society is setup to shackle us to a job we don’t necessarily love just so we can have money to pay rent and buy things. I would want to be outside, somewhere beautiful. I think I would spend a lot of time writing, too, to leave a piece of myself behind to the folks that mean the world to me. Netflix has a “Famous Last Words” series, and I just watched Eric Dane’s words of wisdom and message to his family. I imagine I’d do something similar and private for my family and loved ones. I know if I received something like that from my family members who are no longer with me, it’d mean a lot. I guess it’s funny because as I write this I’m not only thinking about the things I’d do in the present to enjoy my last year, and soak up how awesome it is to be alive, but also thinking about my legacy after I’m gone.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://victorianegri.com
• Instagram: @victorianegri

Image Credits

Romeo Santiago
Christina Campagnola
Phil Hill