Written by Sernila
Being brought up in an Asian household, I faced a lot of struggles finding my path. The community pressure to pursue a conventional degree drove me to spend years doing what others wanted for me. Trying to find a stable career in the scientific field, I found myself struggling to be content. This is where I made the choice to follow my heart and stumbled upon this opportunity with A New Direction. Even though I knew I wanted to be in the creative field, my path wasn’t crisp and clear. All I knew was that I was in the right place to figure it all out.
At first, it was all scary. However, bumping into fellow creatives with big dreams when I first walked through that door with so much optimism was like a green signal from the universe for me. I knew I was doing the right thing for myself. We had a three-day boot camp session where our eyes were opened to the amount of opportunities that were available in the entertainment industry. Jobs I've never even heard of before! A hopeful speech from Dermot O’leary himself was the final push in the right direction.
We were paired up with mentors who have gone through the ups, downs and in betweens to get to where they are right now. I was paired up with Andy Varley, who is the CEO and founder of Insanity, a talent management company. I remember meeting Andy for the first time. His warm hug and reassuring smile made me believe in the impossible.
At the very beginning, I had no sense of direction. I remember telling him I wanted to venture into the art department as well as explore other avenues such as fashion, direction, acting and DOP. My mind was clogged with various ambitions. One day in the midst of this, I got a chance to work in Insanity for a few days helping with their new website. I saw how busy Andy was and how he managed his time to be a CEO, friend, mentor and father.
It humbled me but also fueled my motivation. It made me want to try, so I experimented with all the paths that were available. I did a fashion internship, a photography internship, worked as a runner in the art department and so much more. Through this long-winded path, I have discovered my ultimate passion for working in the technical side of production, such as being a DOP. I have been provided with a bunch of opportunities through Andy to shoot at a few music events, most recently filming Clash Live. They say blessings come at the most unexpected time in your life; it did and I am forever grateful for this opportunity.
I still remember the time when we couldn't meet up in person for one of the sessions due to the train strike so we opted for a zoom meeting. During that time, I expressed my concerns about not being confident enough to create content and Dermot said “ Sernila, every time you open your mouth, it's like stardust. You have nothing to worry about”, for some reason his words made the biggest impact on me, it still gives me chills thinking about that moment. Right after we ended that call, I cried as I was overwhelmed by the compliment, but it was somehow what I needed to hear to keep going at that time. Every time I feel like I am losing that confidence within me, I just rewatch the video and it reminds me to keep going.
While I was busy getting work experiences, Fran, who manages the entirety of this programme, had sent me an opportunity to be part of the Love Supreme festival: lots of Jazz music and networking opportunities. I worked as part of the artist liaison team while joining the academy where we had the chance to meet and interact with people in the industry. I met directors, writers and movement artists etc… Each one of them gave a different insight into the industry. While working in Love Supreme’s Artist Liaison team, I also met Joe Puxley; the backstage photographer who allowed me to assist him with setting up and lighting for the photos. They say you meet lifelong friends in the early stage of your career and might I say that it is very true. The people I met through this programme have become very close to my heart and the best thing is we are there for each other in the “inbetween” stages where it gets really hard.
The last session was held on the 5th of July. We got there a few hours early to get our CVs’ checked and updated to the industry standard, to ensure every step onwards is filled with success. Vic Royce: the head of talent management at Fremantle kindly went over some tips on our CV and cover letter. We also had a chance to have one-to-one advice on our CVs’ and cover letters, which was useful as we were surprised by a runner role that became available for the RAP GAME. I was assigned to Tracy Lee; talent coordinator at Fremantle, she offered to look through my CV after my initial edits and took time out of her day to correct it for me before the submission.
The last few hours of the session were our final one-to-one with our mentors. Me and Andy had a bucket full of updates to tell each other; it was exciting sharing all my achievements with that one person who stood by my side for over 6-months. Though it was emotional thinking it might be our last time, Andy reassured me the bond we made was for life. Honestly, the truth is I found a friend in my mentor. After that, we went around the room hearing updates from the mentors and mentees about their own progress. I was honestly awestruck to see how far we each came from where we started. It was a very proud moment with overwhelming emotions all around.
The session ended with the wonder speaker Marina Mansour: Vice president - Beauty & Wellness and Founding team member at Kyra. As Dermot interviewed her, we got the insights of her career and the journey that she has been through. She shed a lot of light on content creation and social media platforms. She also gave me confidence in creating a YouTube platform which I am working on at the moment. It was inspiring to see someone so young to be so successful. It's a reminder that there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
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