Meet Holly Swoosh

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

Holly, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
The God in me, the excitement for the outcome, the excitement to show my ancestors and elders what I was able to bring forth into the universe during my time here while I’m willing and able. I have so many ideas and projects that are waiting for its debut into the world and this keeps me going because I know I have so much work to do. I’m so tunnel vision now more than before because I know I’m the only one who can make those ideas and projects come to life…with a little assistance from a few trusted partners in this journey. I know I have to do whatever it takes to maintain my peace of mind to bring forth these projects and ideas in the most effective way possible. It is my goal to be extremely intentional about the projects and the way they are presented.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I go by Holly Swoosh and I am from Charleston, SC born and raised. I attended Francis Marion University studied Sociology as a minor and Psychology as a major. In 2017 I graduated with a BS in Psychology and went back home to Charleston with hopes of landing a job in my field and starting a show about the gullah/geechee language in Charleston, SC. I spent 7 years learning all I had offered to me about psychology and jobs I could possibly have in the field just to be denied the opportunity due to a simple possession of marijuana charge on my record. I knew my story didn’t end there but the more I grew and evolved I learned that I was no longer interested in the traditional and corporate way of practicing psychology and therapy. I knew creatively, that there were a plethora of ways to reach someone without a traditional couch therapy session. Also being a story teller, I knew there was another way to reach people (especially after listening to Tyler Perry’s speeches at the end of his plays). After graduating college I started to make a buzz on social media when I created a youtube series “Charansalachunz” ( pronounced Cha-ran-suh-lay-shunz) and created this character Charleston Moesha that generated thousands of views but very little money. I knew that I still had to make money somehow to survive so I was forced into entrepreneurship and went back to my childhood loves by creating my first business MissUnderstood Productions. I purposely MISSpelled MISSunderstood Productions because I’ve aways felt MISSunderstood all my life and more into my adolescent and adult life I had been MISStaken for a Mr. when I am indeed a MISS. Missunderstood Productions is a production company where we specialize in Videography and later expanded into photography. We started with Charansalachunz and Charleston Moesha and I then created a merch line for the show Charansalachunz. I also started to promote the photography side of the production company more and making videos for other business owners as well. This began to generate income that I needed and this all came from an idea to create a show just to expand the knowledge of the gullah/geechee language and that turned into me wanting to expand the knowledge of the gullah/geechee culture. I felt like since other states and countries were being praised for their unique style and accent, somehow Charleston, SC was left out of that and couldn’t help but do my best to change it. Later I created my 6 episode web series on Youtube called “Boonkey Burgaz” (we have three more episodes left to reveal) and despite the naysayers and peanut galleries, I have had several people thank me and encourage me to continue to spread the knowledge. In creating this series I came across several creatives from and in charleston and wanted to know why we weren’t collaborating more like our neighboring cities and states. The more I listened to their conversations, the more I wanted more people to hear these explanations so we can somehow come to a solution to work together so we will be able to “put Charleston,SC in the map”. This prompted me to create my Podcast the “Hash it with Holly” Podcast. The visual portion on youtube is still fairly new however we have been on the podcast platform since 2020. Wearing all of these hats is definitely a juggle and the more I learn about business and tap in more creatively, the more I know that it takes a team to make this dream work. I am currently expanding and creating a dream team however I do know that this is a process that can’t be rushed and will come together perfectly in due time.

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?
The three qualities I possessed that I felt was important was having a good heart, a good spirit and faith in myself. I had to have a good heart to be able to come up with this. My heart has pure intentions to spread the knowledge of the culture and language of those who walked this land on Charleston, SC before us and the ones who will walk and posses the land after us. It is important to know that having a good heart is important for the energies of others to be trusting of this work I present. Having a good spirit is just as important as having a good heart especially in the event that we fall short of our confidence in our abilities to do well. Keeping your spirit light is important because you’re in charge of so many things. So many people look to you for guidance so it’s important that when you’re seen you show that good spirit so it can reflect onto them as well. Having faith in myself is THE most important because if I don’t believe then who else will? People can tell when you don’t believe in your work and I made it my business to always showcase that I do. As a human it’s normal to have discouraging moments but its just as normal to snap yourself out of that and be proud of where you are so you can be prouder of where this current state will take you. Three skills I felt were a necessity was knowing patience, how to talk to people and going with the flow. Having patience is TOP TIER when it comes to juggling so much. I had to learn and to keep reminding myself that everything happens for a reason and I should just go with the flow. Each time I release my resistance and just go with the flow everything comes together so beautifully. Being patient enough to slow down, breathe and know the right ways to say what is needed is imperative. You can sometimes say something wrong to the right person and have everything blow up in your face because your lack of consideration for other peoples feelings and how they perceive the delivery of what you’re trying to say. Even if you don’t know how, you can learn how. Talk to or listen to interviews of people who you have witnessed being patient and kind with their words and others in midst of chaos.
Areas of knowledge that came in handy was knowing how to film, how to edit and how to be myself. Since childhood I always watched a lot of movies on dvds which had a lot of behind the scenes footage, interviews on set, and even directors commentary during the movie. I learned so much about how mishaps can happen and ways they overcame the different adversities on set. This was film college for me at a very young age might I add. My fondest memory was watching ALL of the behind the scenes and DVD extras for the John Q DVD with Denzel Washington. I not only learned a little about filming but I also learned about the actors and how they got into character for different scenes. I learned how to film over the years by studying Great and horrible films. I saw what drew me in and what bored me out. Learning how to film helped teach me how to edit in a way that would draw in my audience. I taught myself how to edit because every editor in Charleston I knew and asked to help were either too busy or too uninterested in what I was trying to do so I ended up teaching myself to edit by attending Youtube University. I could have used their disinterest as an excuse to stop but I spent time not getting money just to learn how to edit my own projects. I knew above all the things I learned to do I knew most importantly that I had to be myself. Me being myself made it 1000% times easier to film, to be filmed and to edit because that way I was being authentic and telling an authentic story. It’s so much more fun to film, edit and even watch an authentic story. Having these things helped tremendously on this journey and continue to help me every day. Always being a student of the craft is also extremely important. There was a time where I was stumped because I thought I knew all there was to know until I sat down, sat back and became and remained a student of my craft. I now know everything because I know I know nothing at all and thats due to being a student who is willing to learn more about the craft and the business.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
The Rich Dad Poor Dad Series has been very impactful on how I view life and business. Robert and Kim Kiyosaki taught about the four quadrants in the work field which are Employees, Self Employed, Business owner and Investor. Learning where I stood on the quadrant showed me a lot about where I am and where I want to end up eventually. I knew then that I had a lot of work to do to be able to make the necessary shifts. Investors are always the Boss who is in charge of the big decisions at the end of the day. Business funding is a MUST for this to work. Working a job and saving is not the way to make my dreams come true and will never happen in my lifetime that way, there just wouldn’t be enough time. Finding this out really caused me to make a shift in how I started to operate when it came to projects and business.

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