Mitchel Wu of Valencia CA on Life, Lessons & Legacy

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Mitchel Wu. Check out our conversation below.

Mitchel, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
I’m walking a path. I have my main goals mapped out and I’m focused on getting things done. But sometimes the most interesting things happen when you take an unexpected turn. So, while I’m focused and moving forward, I’m always keeping an eye out for cool new ideas or new creative opportunities, ready to wander off the path for a bit. I embrace the chance encounter and serendipity as those often lead to creative, personal and even professional growth. I don’t see those detours as getting lost or distracted; they usually teach me something or lead to tangible opportunities.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Based in Los Angeles, I’m the founder of Mitchel Wu Toy Photography. I use toys to create stories that are infused with motion and emotion. My studio recently celebrated its 10 year anniversary – 10 years of creativity and play. My clients include The Walt Disney Company, NBCU, Marvel Entertainment, Crunchyroll, Nick Jr, Warner Bros, Boss Fight Studio, Hasbro, Mattel and others. My work has been featured extensively in print, online, on YouTube and on television.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I have always been a restless creative. I’ve had creative ‘jobs’ my entire professional life, including a six-year run with The Walt Disney Company, which was the longest I’d worked for any one company. No single role could hold my interest for long. As soon as I began tiring of working with the same properties and routines, I’d feel that familiar lure of new challenges pulling me away. Once that happened I knew change was inevitable. I’m actually still a restless creative, the difference now is that toy photography, with its limitless creative possibilities, continues to serve up properties, characters and challenges that keeps my restlessness at bay.

What fear has held you back the most in your life?
Most definitely the fear of being different, which is probably a more common fear in people than uncommon. I believe that one of the biggest factors to unlocking one’s potential is realizing there is power in being different, in not just being one of the crowd. If you extend this thinking to your career, it will likely lead to your working in a niche of some kind. The old saying, “A Jack of all trades, a master of none” kind of applies to what I’m saying, although there are definitely exceptions. But in terms of creative careers, I think embracing what makes you different, and finding a tight niche to work in, can lead to success some might have felt was out of reach.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
I feel many people, not just intelligent people, prioritize the size of their paycheck over doing something that’s personally meaningful to them. I’ve been guilty of that myself. I will never make that mistake again.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
10 years is such a long time…especially considering any one of us could be gone tomorrow. So for the most part it would be business as usual for me. But what would I stop doing immediately if I knew I had ONE year left? I’d definitely stop sweating the small stuff, the stuff that matters more if you’re going to be around the next 10 or more years. And although I have a very healthy work-life balance right now, if I knew I had just one year left I’d step away from the career and spend the year making incredible memories with and for my family.

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