Shaping the Future Shaping the Future digital FINAL X | Page 60

MIA
UPSHAW
AROA
SPOTLIGHT
graphy by
Jaytay Photography
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T
PHOTOGRAPHY BY IVORI TEASETTE
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NE
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EP
hoto by Creative Soul Photography
Hair & M/U by Tiri Bean @tressesbyta
R
T
EN

Mia Upshaw is an independent,
driven, funny, and intelligent young lady.
Her ultimate goal in life is to be happy and
at peace. She is a senior at Baton Rouge
Magnet High School who just turned 18 and
can’t wait to graduate in May of 2019. She
has two brothers, one who graduated last
year and is now engaged to be married and
the other will be graduating next semester.
One of her accomplishments is finally being
able to focus on herself and being at peace
with who she is. Mia is from Baton Rouge,
Louisiana. She started stage acting at the
age of 9 and has always had a love for film.
When she was a freshman, she made her
first film and quickly grew a love for film-
making. She later realized this is something
she would like to do for the rest of her life.
A few months later, she turned it into a
company that now employs 5 people and
later its mission grew into a bigger purpose.
When Mia Upshaw Productionss first start-
ed, Mia realized she had
skills in directing, writing,
producing, and acting. In
2016, the team of 5 wrote
small films and a web
series that quickly gained
attention throughout
her school. 2 years later,
her company started
signing models and actors
and eventually transpired
into being a company that
welcomes “all
types of visual entertainment
such as commercials, music videos, and more. Mia Upshaw Productions grew from not only being
one person who made 5 minute films to a company to 30 people producing entertainment in Baton
Rouge. When she made her first film called “Suicidal Productions,” she was just 14-years-old. Later
that year, she assembled a group of 5 people to go into business with. At that time, they named it
“Ecliptic Productions,” but unfortunately, the group could not come to agreements and ended up
breaking apart. Two years later, as a junior in high school, Mia desired to start filmmaking again but
this time, she wanted to ensure that it was able to be controlled properly. Mia thought through a
slew of possible business names, but couldn’t come up with anything. At the time, she remembers
being frustrated because people didn’t understand why she wanted to become a filmmaker again,
so people began to not take her seriously. Mia wanting to make a name for herself in the entertain-
ment industry, so she decided to use her own name as the title for her business.
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