Off the ChARTs

Jasper is a coordinator by day and a screenwriter by night, with wins at PAGE and Austin Film Festival in 2021. Having spent half of his formative years in Taiwan, he aims to tell universal stories and bridge cultures through a variety of different genres and mediums. Jasper graduated from USC in 2019 with a degree in Cinema & Media Studies and has since worked for sales agency Arclight Films and animation house Skydance Animation. On his own time, he oversees a production start-up geared towards making underrepresented content told by underrepresented voices. Listen to our chat to hear about what life is like after graduating from film school and much more about working within the entertainment industry!

Guest:

Jasper Chen 

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In this episode, Kojo speaks about choosing to pursue the arts having grown up in a factory town, transferring from U Michigan to USC and switching majors, working on script coverage projects in Hollywood, then his eventual pivot to the business industry. He reveals the glamorous stories of having Christopher Nolan open his door and giving script notes on Paddington. He also addresses the not so glamorous times such as having to pass off unpaid internship opportunities due to financial restraints and having to work as an uber driver simply to survive. Our conversation with Kojo taught us the importance of being consistently analytical with ourselves and our environments, to realizing the changes in the industry and how that warrants a shift in our goals. 

Kojo Owusu is a former filmmaker who holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Theatre from Michigan State University, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Cinema and Media Studies from the University of Southern California. Some of his experience in the film industry includes working as a development intern at Warner Brothers Entertainment, a talent manager at Novaland Media & Film Production, and a freeform production management intern at The Walt Disney Company. Since 2019, Kojo’s focus has shifted to the business field and has been working as a Regional Manager of Business Development at Blackline. 

Guest:

Kojo Owusu (@kojomcowusu on Instagram)

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Keesha is a filmmaker, content creator, model, event coordinator and creative whose widespread experience in the entertainment industry has elevated her voice as one of influence in the field. She has worked as on air talent for VICE and as both a host and segment producer on the series The Shift. She is also the co founder of Collective Culture, a platform that celebrates the voices of BIPOC creatives within and beyond Canadian borders through the collaborative development of multidisciplinary programming and content!

Guest:

Yazmeen is a Muslim Indo-Caribbean TIFF Next Wave Filmmaker, Hot Docs Accelerator fellow and the founder of the advocacy and consulting organization, Films With A Cause. She was the director of the award-winning films From Syria To Hope (2019) and With Love From Munera (2020). She is in development on her first feature film funded by the Hot Docs Cross Currents Fund, a documentary following the journey of one of the first recipients of a Bone Marrow Transplant to be potentially cured of Sickle Cell Disease. Yazmeen currently works at Charles Officer’s production company and supports Oscar-nominee Sami Khan’s projects while working in different capacities on Toronto based productions.

Guest:

Yazmeen Kanji (@yazmeenkanji on Instagram)

Films with a Cause (https://www.filmswithacause.com/)

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Dr.Kathleen Tesar is an incredibly accomplished musician, author, and education administrator with years of experience in the field. She currently serves as the Associate Dean of Enrollment Management at the Juilliard School, having overseen the offices of admissions and financial aid for over five years.

She began training in violin at the age of 9 and now holds a Masters of Music in violin performance. She’s worked professionally in an orchestra in Venezuela and the Alabama Symphony, was a violin teacher at the Alabama School of Fine Arts and the Eastern Music Festival, and even ran her own private studio in Birmingham. She is also apart of the founding team of the company College Prep for Musicians and co-wrote the company’s book College Prep for Musicians. Listen to our insightful episode for artist tips, university application advice and so much more!!

Guest:

Kathleen Tesar 

College Prep for Musicians (https://www.collegeprepformusicians.com/)

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Sabrina is an actress, producer, director, model, dancer, and content creator who is an absolute powerhouse in the film industry. She trained at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy of the Performing Arts for acting, and eventually went on to pursue a filmmaking career alongside that passion. She also started her own multi-media production company that focuses on curating media highlighting diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry. Sabrina has been able to use all of her film experience to serve the greater artistic community on social media, and has over 23K followers on her tiktok, where she shares tips and advice for aspiring creatives.

Guest:

Sabrina Lassegue (@sabrinalasagna)

Yellow Rain Production Company (@yellowrainproductions) 

TikTok (@directedbybrini)

Youtube (@aballerinasplace)

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Sylvia is a professional artist, art educator, breakdancer and businesswoman from Markham, Ontario with over 10 years of painting and teaching experience. She is currently the artistic director at the esteemed Creative Genius Academy, an art school voted the best in Markham two years in a row! Along with her commissioned work and multi-year breakdancing career, she’s also founded her own non-profit organization called Paint A Smile. This organization is committed to providing art workshops to kids in need around our community, helping individuals realize their creative potential. In this episode, we chat about her experiences attending multiple institutions for her arts education, her entrepreneurial journey and a variety of her other artistic talents including breakdancing!  

Guest:

Sylvia Chan (@sylviachanart)

Art school: @creativegeniusacademy 

Break dancing: @bgirlshade 

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Desiree Mckenzie is a youth spoken word poet from Canada whose been involved in community arts empowerment for many years. She does commissioned spoken word projects for businesses, as well as having worked with organizations like Unity Charity, JAYU, CBC Arts, Poetry in Voice to help deliver arts programming to youth and schools all across Canada.  On this episode, we chat with Desiree about all her work in the arts industry. She discusses what drew her to spoken word and the professional creative industry (note: 6th grade rejections from boys are the perfect start to a career). We chat about her drive towards social activism through her work, gaining confidence as an artist, and her experience networking to help her gain the opportunities she’s had. She also gives us an inside look into the creation of her EP “Wet Hair”, her work with CBC Arts in “The Original Pandemic”, and of course her work in promoting arts education to youth everywhere. We hope you enjoy!!

Guest:

Desiree Mckenzie (@desireemckenzie)

It's been a while since we have had an episode with only the co-hosts and no planned direction so we brought it back! In this hour-long conversation, we started by reflecting on our podcasting journey from picking the name to all the tech difficulties we've battled. We talked a bit about what's been going on with us as artists. Jasma revealed she recently reaching her five full years of making Youtube videos (take a shot of a non-alcoholic beverage every time we say "fIVe yEarS"). And Amber shares more about the journey to becoming an actress and how she deals with self-doubt. We went onto a weird rant about Brat tv and Tiktokers while being very diligent of not getting cancelled. Apologies for the abrupt ending --- we were going WAY over time. Hope you enjoy our talk!!

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On this special episode, we welcome three talented guests from South Africa -- Talia Smith, Sabelo Ndumo, and Malibongwe Mdwaba! They are a part of the crew for the award-winning short film "Umama" which won gold for the Student Academy awards alongside many more achievements. They give us insight into the creative and logistical process that went into creating "Umama" and what it feels like to receive international validation and recognition. We also chat about the importance of authentic media representation and the universal language of film that allows individuals to see themselves in characters from all over the world. In the end, we asked for advice from our three artists with many years of experience in the industry. They spoke about what life looks like after graduation, how to deal with the doubt that arises on the unconventional paths to success and some honest truths about how competitive it truly is. 

Guests: 

Talia Smith (@talsmith, @umama_film, http://umamafilm.com/)

Talia is a filmmaker born and raised in South Africa, who studied at the prestigious NYU Tisch School of the Arts in their Film & TV program. Talia focuses her filmmaking on highlighting ordinary people with extraordinary stories, and those inspired by resilience in the face of adversity.

Sabelo Udumo (@sabelo.ndumo)

Sabelo is an actor, screenplay writer, and screen-acting lecturer who graduated from AFDA, one of South Africa’s premier film universities. He’s worked for many years in the industry on films like “Frank and Fearless” and “Okae Molao”, and continues to hone in on his craft with newer projects.

Malibongwe Mdwama (@malibongwe_mdwaba, @indibanotheencounter)

Malibongwe is an award-winning actor, voice-over artist, arts manager and social activist who has worked in the industry for over five years. He is the founder of Indibano The Encounter, a community organization aiming to bring together emerging creatives and industry professionals in South Africa.

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Carina is an 18-year-old singer, dancer, actress and model from Ontario, who has been driven by a passion for the arts as a multi-faceted creative for years. Carina is an original member of the all-girl pop-rock group Girl Pow-R. They advocate for self-expression, female empowerment, and overall awareness for various other social causes. In fact, their debut album “This Is Us” went on to be nominated for a JUNO in the Children’s Album of the Year Category 2020. Carina has also released multiple solo singles including “Just Groove” and “Good Intentions”.   In this episode, we sit down with Carina and chat about her early years as a competitive dancer, the influence of her musically-inclined family, and of course, her experience with Girl Pow-R. We also get an inside look at how Carina was able to overcome her own mental health struggles and her work in advocacy, including working with the Ontario Ministry of Education to implement mental health arts initiatives. Hope you enjoy it!!

Guest:

Carina (@carinaa.b)

Girl Pow-R (@girl_pow_r)

Hosted by:

Jessie is a Vancouver-based actress, playwright, and acting coach whose love of the arts has led her on an incredibly successful journey as an industry creative. From her work as the Associate Resident Producer for the award-winning theatre company Solo Collective to being a part of Pacific Theatre’s 2018 production and tour of Kim’s Convenience, and even founding her own company Acting Expanded in 2020, Jessie has a lot of information and tips from her experiences!  In the episode, we chat about how Jessie’s path as a creative didn’t always go as planned. Not only did she start off in a completely different field of study, but also experienced the incredible hardships that come with working as a professional creative  (socially and financially). Nevertheless, Jessie talks about how all those struggles (and knowledge she obtained as a business student) helped her in founding both her career and company as an actor!

Guest:

Jessie Liang (@jessieliang21, @actingexpanded)

Julia is a 17-year-old youth filmmaker, visual artist and photographer based in Toronto. She is currently enrolled in the film program at the Etobicoke School of the Arts and has been a member of TIFF’s youth programming team, the TIFF Next Wave Committee, for almost 3 years. With all of this experience, her work has been recognized and acclaimed in a variety of settings such as being a recipient of the Scholastic Art and Writing Silver Key, as well as having her work screened at the Philadelphia Youth Film Festival in 2019. Her work ventures into a variety of art forms and mediums, mainly exploring the stories of navigating western societies through the influences of race. Julia describes her work as aiming to attack western ethnocentrism, and shine a light on the duality between our own cultural identities.

In this episode, Julia speaks about her journey finding her identity in a white-majority school, meeting amazing people on the TIFF Nextwave Committee and how everything has translated into her arts. We also chat about some light-hearted topics such as the iMovie experience and the blessing and curse that is online school and events. Hope you enjoy it!!

Guest:

Janet Hamrani is a freshman at the Stevens Institute of Technology who’s been able to use her love of STEM to manifest a passion for multimedia and digital arts. Along with an extensive background as a coder, she is the founder of the magazine Consonancie, connecting youth creatives from all around the world. Consonancie strives to give platforms for aspiring artists to share their work in journalism, photography and visual art forms. They currently have over 100 writers globally and created a 96-page print issue to showcase their work in July 2020. In this episode, we hear about Janet's experiences being involved in both the STEM and Art fields. She speaks about the process of starting her own online platform for artists and writers to share their ideas and opinions regarding social issues, as well as how it became a printed issue. 

Guest:

Brielle is a 17-year-old professional actress and amateur filmmaker and writer who's been in the multimedia industry ever since 9 years old. She has worked on a variety of projects, such as The Silencing (2020), the CBC Series “Endlings” and Netflix Original “Creeped Out”. Some of her personal works include a short film that garnered her the best Canadian short work award at the Whistler Film Festival. In this episode, we hear about her experiences from entering the entertainment industry at a young age. We learn about how she has been able to integrate activism into the arts by establishing her own multimedia company BRYYZ and is aiming to change the world through her films, literature and initiatives. Be sure to check out her amazing work!!

Guest: 

Brielle Robillard (@brielle_robillard)