Meet Cyrille Vincent

We were lucky to catch up with Cyrille Vincent recently and have shared our conversation below.

Cyrille, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
My resilience mostly come from other people stories . Presently, I am working on a documentary film about America’s first Black world champion in cycling.
His name was Marshall Walter ”Major” Taylor.
Major Taylor endured tremendous adversity with dignity and never gave up.
Beyond making a film about him, he is a personal inspiration.
When life get hard, it always helps me to think about what Major Taylor went through and never gave up.

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 am an independent filmmaker with the passion to uncover overlooked stories in America and around the world. I am presently working on a documentary film project about Marshall Walter ”Major” Taylor, an unsung American sports hero who was the world track cycling champion in 1899.
He challenged the White supremacy myth in an era governed by Jim Crow laws and overt racism.
Major Taylor faced unfair barriers and virulent adversity because of his color.
However, he persevered, kept his faith, discipline and sportsmanship that ultimately propelled him to the top of the most popular game of his era namely track cycling.

To produce the film on Major Taylor, we need some fundings which frankly is a fraction of what a Hollywood studio will require to do the same work we are doing.
There is an ongoing fundraising campaign to support the film and we have recently partnered with Canadian entrepreneur and ex olympian cyclist Louis Garneau to boost the campaign through a series of artworks he will produce. Sales from this artworks will go to support the film initiative. There will be an exhibit of these artworks at the Worcester Center for Craft from June 27-July 5th with the opening ceremony and reception scheduled for Thursday June 27.
Reservations for the reception will open in early May on the film website event page : www.worcesterwhirlwind.com

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?
This might sound obvious, but I think it helps when you love what you are doing, whatever it is. Passion and purpose will make you go the extra miles that otherwise will not be possible.
I will also recommend patience and trusting the process as we are all different with different stories and destinies.
Furthermore, we cannot keep comparing ourselves to others…social media doesn’t help but it is possible to escape the rat race by spending more time reflecting on our choices and responsibilities.
I think trying to craft your purpose/mission as clearly as possible from the start helps to stay focused because if you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

Presently, raising funds for my films project is the most challenging aspect of my growth as a filmmaker and media content.
Of course, I assume that this is the same obstacle everyone else is going through.
In general raising money for anything is not easy…unless you are a high profile in your industry and even then, I heard it comes with great risks nowadays.
It is even more challenging when you have to wear many hats and no one can be great at everything.
Having a team that can help me with the development, fundraising and marketing of my projects will be great so I am looking to collaborate with people who can accelerate that process.
Currently, I can only afford to advance my films because I can leverage some of my network connections but I don’t know a lot of wealthy people tho.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Emma Helstrom

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