WELLMADE
MADEXXX
when things look ambiguous. There’s
always something that’s being built or
learned in the process of “in between,”
you know what I mean? So I’m grateful to
be old enough and to have gone through
enough and to have suffered enough
and triumphed enough to know that life
is cyclical. Just because it’s a downtime
doesn’t mean it’s going to stay that way or
just because it’s a time of what would be
perceived as famine, there are lessons to
be learned within that time period, and
there is character to be grown. I also have
amazing friends who speak life over me
and support me and remind me of what
I’ve made it through and remind me to
trust myself.
And then, I have a work ethic that con-
tinues to grow. So if I’m not in the world
of my career quote unquote “working” if
I’m not being paid to act, then I’m in class
and I’m learning. I’m studying and I’m
growing in my artistry so that I don’t feel
stagnant. And so I don’t.
that there are a lot of people who would
trade places with me in a heartbeat.
MADE Absolutely. So how do you
cultivate collaboration?
ESSENCE You have to find your
community and your community could
be a classroom taking a class or rallying
around other students. If you’re a film
student or whatever and creating content
and projects together again to stoke, to
learn, to challenge each other, creating a
tribe where you are contributing to one
another and you’re creating an environ-
ment where you’re helping each other rise
and grow and learn and there’s a healthy
environment that you’re flourishing in,
and you're free to make mistakes. Because
the thing is, is that once there’s a check
involved the margin of error gets way
And obviously my art is more collab-
orative. Most of the time it has to do
it requires at least an acting partner
or a scene partner. But, I still have the
opportunity to work my craft whether
there’s a check involved or not. So I make
sure that in those dry seasons where I’m
not necessarily employed by a studio,
I’m still curating my artistry and I’m still
feeding my soul and what it is that makes
me happy and I’m blessed because I do
something that I love and I recognize that
not everyone is in that position. So when
I am again employed I conduct myself in
gratitude and kindness because I know
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