The MOOD Podcast

Breaking Barriers: A Filmmaker's Path in a Male-Dominated Industry; Julie Valentina, E061

• Matt Jacob

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In this week's episode, Julie Valentina, a young Videographer and Creative Director, shares her remarkable journey through the filmmaking industry. Julie discusses how her experiences as a female filmmaker have shaped her unique perspective and the challenges she has overcome.

We also talk about her transition from modelling to filmmaking, the role of Colder Creative’s contests in her career and the importance of integrating mental wellness practices into her demanding routine.

What we cover:

  • Julie's journey in a male-dominated industry
  • Julie’s evolution from working with big clients to starting her own agency
  • The importance of building your own community
  • How to stay true to oneself amid social media pressure
  • The role of self development and well-being in the creative industry.

Find Julie's work here:
Instagram: @julievalentina
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Julie Valentina:

Female filmmakers. That's like a thing that's pretty rare nowadays, Still, unfortunately. That's crazy. What is this girl doing here? She's not supposed to be on a film set.

Matt Jacob:

Being a female in a male-predominant industry. Tell me a little bit about what that's like and how you see things moving forward within that space.

Julie Valentina:

Oh God.

Matt Jacob:

What does creativity mean to you?

Julie Valentina:

It's pretty much dedicating yourself fully to the craft you're fully passionate about.

Matt Jacob:

How do we be unique?

Julie Valentina:

That's a really good question.

Matt Jacob:

Welcome to the Mood Podcast where, each week, we bring you inspiring conversations with top artists and creative minds from various fields. Bring you inspiring conversations with top artists and creative minds from various fields, exploring their personalities, purposes, processes and philosophies. Whether you're a seasoned photographer, an aspiring artist or simply someone who loves to learn and be inspired, this podcast is certainly for you. I'm your host, matt Jacob, and thank you for joining me. In today's conversation, we're joined by a remarkable young filmmaker, julie Valentina. At just 22 years old, julie has already carved out an impressive name for herself in the industry. After dropping out of university, she took a leap of faith, learned the skills of photography and filmmaking, packed her bags and started to travel, where she immersed herself in a valuable community of filmmakers. This bold move paid off when she won two major contests in the Colder Creative course, gaining her recognition and opening an array of doors to collaborations with big-name clients like Beautiful Destinations and Turkish Airlines. Now Julie is shifting gears a little bit to focus on personal branding, building an agency and exploring new business ventures.

Matt Jacob:

In my conversation with her, julie opens up about her experiences as a female filmmaker in a male-dominated industry, the unique challenges she has faced and how she has turned those challenges into opportunities. We discuss the importance of community in her journey, the role of self-development in her creative process and the paradox of being versus becoming, as she strives to stay present while continuing to grow. We discuss the most surprising and unsettling realizations she's had about the concept of success in the filmmaking industry and we touch upon her creative process, uncovering how she defines creativity and how it shaped both her work and her identity as an artist. Julie also shares her thoughts on maintaining authenticity in an industry driven by trends and social media, and how she balances commercial success with staying true to her artistic vision. So now I bring you Julie Valentina. Julie Valentina, welcome to the Mood Podcast.

Julie Valentina:

Thanks for having me.

Matt Jacob:

Yeah, it's great to have you here, nice to see a young, smiling, bright face in the studio. Thanks for having me and industry, I guess. Tell me a little bit about what that's like and kind of how you see things moving forward within that, that space so I I can only agree like female filmmakers.

Julie Valentina:

That's like a thing that's pretty rare nowadays still, unfortunately. But um, to be honest, for me personally it was never a problem to be a female in the industry. I think one of the main reasons why there's not as many females might be because there's not as many bigger role models. So, for example, in the travel filmmaking space, sam Colder has been a big inspiration for a lot of people, also for me. But I think you naturally associate yourself with people from the same gender, so I think that might be a reason for it. But overall it's never really been a problem. I never felt like I'm not equal just because I'm a female. I'd rather see it as like a benefit for myself, because you stand out way more than yeah.

Matt Jacob:

Why do you think? Do you think it's purely because there's a lack of role models? And is that something that you want to be for other females in that, in that area?

Julie Valentina:

I surely think that the lack of role models might be one of the reasons, of many, for sure. I mean, I think the number is growing nowadays and I'm happy that I get a lot of messages from people who are like telling me hey, it's super cool that I finally found someone who's also female in the industry who I can see as a role model. So, partially yes, but of course that's not the main reason why I'm like doing filmmaking. I'm truly passionate about it. I think one of the other reasons might be because it's still like really technical, especially filming, but to be honest, it's not really that much difference to photography.

Matt Jacob:

Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to figure out. I've been thinking about this for a long, long time, actually, since Julia, our friend Julia brought it up to me when I had her on the podcast because I wasn't quite aware of the discrepancy. But I'm also very concerned about not kind of making equal outcomes the agenda, but more equal opportunities right. So it got me thinking why I mean role models is definitely a thing in many industries. Females might feel intimidated.

Matt Jacob:

I guess that it's a male-dominated thing and, like you said, like for like, often you see role models as the same sex Often not, of course, every time dominated thing and, like you said, like for like, often you see role models as the same sex, often not not, of course, every time. But then you think about the technical aspect as well, where men's brains are slightly different than women's brains in that aspect. In terms of genetics, we're kind of more drawn to, you know, boys with toys, right, it's gadgets and cameras and stuff like that. But then women tend to be a lot more creative and tend to be a lot better with expression and emotions and stuff which, in you know, more collaborative, which in my mind makes them a much, much better candidate, shall we say, for a filmmaker or creative in in that space.

Matt Jacob:

I don't know where my question is coming from here, but let me know your thoughts on that. Is that something you actually see? I'm more interested in kind of your daily experience, especially doing jobs, going, traveling. What your experience as a female is like, do you? I mean, is it difficult to integrate, especially if you're with a team?

Julie Valentina:

I would say it depends on the country a lot like. I mean, I'm working in a lot of different countries and there are some countries that see men and women not equally. Yet, especially last year, I've been in one country like more frequently and one experience really sticked in my head. It was like a local production team at the shooting place walking past us and they were like what is this girl doing here? She's not supposed to be on a film set or on a video set. And I was like wow, that's actually that's like crazy. Or on a video set. And I was like, wow, that's actually that's like crazy. But, um, I think that's like about yeah, I mean having the confidence and and knowing why you're there. Obviously the production team wouldn't have to fly you out there if the team there would be competent enough you know, yeah, um, but yeah, overall, like this is just like small experiences.

Julie Valentina:

Overall, I would say like I still have like a lot of really good experiences. Last year, I directed a campaign in Panama and it was pretty crazy. I was 21 years old and I was the youngest person of the whole production team and the rest of the people were all 30 and mostly guys, and that's been like everyone was super respectful, everyone was like took me seriously, and that was an experience I learned a lot from, for sure.

Matt Jacob:

I'm sure you had. You had the thing of being young, which many whatever sex you are people think well, you don't know what you're doing because you're so young and you had the female aspect. It is talk about a challenge, but it sounds like it was a if you can reframe it as like a purely learning experience. Um, whether you've been doing it for one year or 20 years, right, always learning. But why for you? Filmmaking? What was it about filmmaking? Cameras, photography, creativity, what was it about that?

Julie Valentina:

that that kind of drew you in it's kind of funny because I started being more in front of the camera than behind the camera, so like modeling in Germany, and then I got super interested in taking photos just for myself for my own Instagram. I collaborated with lots of photographers and then I wanted to learn about like photo editing and in Germany I got like a lot of new friends who are also doing photography and filmmaking through that and at some point I just got bored by just still images. I wanted to create like actual stories. And actually one friend of mine who was already a successful filmmaker, he did like jobs for like bigger brands in Germany and I was like, wow, this is actually possible. And he studied, uh, media conception production it's called media conception production and I got super interested about the whole studies and what is it?

Julie Valentina:

it's like it's it's at university, it's like a course um studies. How do you say it? Studies, study, course, course, studies. It's like a whole, whole study and, um, yeah, you learn everything about post-production, about production, storytelling, and I started to study that and that was like the start of my filmmaking career, kind of how was the formal education experience in?

Matt Jacob:

in creativity, essentially, or production?

Julie Valentina:

so I quit after three semesters, but I would say it's been very beneficial for the network. So you're surrounded by a lot of people who are interested in the same thing and you also learn everything in location. So you're like you're kind of forced to to stick to it. But on the other hand also, like university has a lot of limitations and, for example, I've always been interested in travel filmmaking and of course, in university you don't learn anything about travel filmmaking, more about, like, productions in place and all the technicalities. But I did the course from sam colder um and that's been super beneficial for me, like additionally to the studies. That also allowed me to quit my studies because I got all the knowledge from there so you gained more knowledge from kind of non-formal education in terms of online courses.

Matt Jacob:

Youtube, I guess, played a big part in the self-learning process crazy, like I mean.

Julie Valentina:

Nowadays all the information are on YouTube, like there's nothing you can. If you want to learn drop, if you want to learn dropshipping, if you want to learn how to build an agency, a business, everything's on YouTube nowadays, which is super powerful and sometimes, I guess, also overwhelming because there are so many possibilities.

Matt Jacob:

Yeah, does that make it more difficult to stand out? I mean, if you're learning from the way other people do it or the way they teach right and therefore probably becomes more accessible to people? You know, more people have cameras these days, more people have the accessibility to YouTube. It's free, essentially, if you can deal with ads, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Have you sensed that you as a, as a young female coming through that process, have you sensed, like, oh my goodness, what the overwhelming part is, learning it, but also the competition and the industry. How do I make myself stand out? How do I make myself different? Is that a battle that you've had or is, if you just kind of shut out the noise and found your own way through it?

Julie Valentina:

I think I started pretty early stage when all this travel content creators started to come up. That was like two and a half years ago or even four years ago, but like more frequently two years ago, I feel like over the last couple of years it's been an insane growth in content creators, especially in the travel space, and in the beginning I was, for sure, struggling, but I think the biggest chance for me was Colder Creative, because I did some of their contests and that gave me a lot of recognition in like the travel filmmaking space. That's been amazing, and also like networking, like I feel, like the personal relationship with the people who are already successful in what they're doing. That's what helped me the most actually.

Matt Jacob:

Yeah, interesting to people who are already successful in what they're doing. That's what helped me the most actually. Yeah, interesting, colder creative as in sam colder's online platform. Tell us a bit more about that because that's interesting.

Julie Valentina:

A lot of people go through that. So it's basically an online learning platform and they also give you the opportunity to do like contests where, for example, every year they host a my year contest. You can do like a recap of your year. The first place gets to go on a trip with him, second place gets a cash credit. And then other contests like the. We did a one plus contest where we got sent to different locations, like one team was in tokyo, the other team in costa rica and the third team in I forgot the third location, but yeah, pretty much like super cool challenges where they allow you to put your name out there and they have a big platform, they work with big clients. So it's amazing.

Matt Jacob:

And was that competition part of it, the point where you've realized, oh, I can do this or I've got something here? Do you feel like that was a recognition point in your life For?

Julie Valentina:

sure. So I think when I came to Bali for the first time two years ago, it's been super changing for me, like just the perspectives, what people are doing, like people are able to live out here, to create content and, yeah, just have a lot of freedom, which was incredible, and that was the first stage. And then, when I came back, I got the opportunity to go on tour with DJ freedom, which was incredible, and that was the first stage. And then, when I came back, I got the opportunity to go on tour with DJs, which was also crazy, was like the next step, I would say. And also, when I came to Bali, I got to know a friend of mine who was working for Beautiful Destinations and I didn't even know that it's like an agency that flies you out and shoot for tourism boards, and then that was like the next goal and I intentionally took part in the Mayur contest to win it, to become part of Beautiful Destinations, because I knew this opportunity was there.

Matt Jacob:

Right, okay, and was that where your travel bug started? Or you'd always, always been interested in travel, and if so, why?

Julie Valentina:

I've always been traveling. I always loved to travel, like ever since I was at in school, even like with parents on vacation and then when I was studying, and yeah, always I love traveling do you do much personal work on the side, or is it a lot of just client brand stuff that takes you to these places?

Julie Valentina:

over the past year it's been mainly client brand stuff. Actually I didn't do a lot of personal travel at all, but now I'm kind of working on different ways to have a little bit more freedom and not like just be dependent on the on the client shoots to go to places yeah, how do you manage the travel side of it?

Matt Jacob:

I mean, from someone who's getting old, uh, and who's been traveling most of my life as well, I'm just so tired of it, as maybe someone who's got age on their side. But do you find, do you find, different strategies that work with the travel side of it? Because I mean, for those that don't know, travel filmmaking, travel, photography, they are fucking long days it's. It's tough, tough work. You've got to be really like up for it. How do you manage that? Do you have some kind of routines or strategies that you take with you?

Julie Valentina:

So, to be honest, over the last year I didn't have any routine, which was insanely bad for my health, and it feels like every new place you're going to you're a new person, because every new surrounding changes you in a certain way and all the people you're surrounding yourself with. But for me, journaling was really beneficial, and meditating it's like the mental peace you get every single day for like 15 minutes. Do you journal or meditate? Both? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Matt Jacob:

I only found them in the last. I've been meditating on and off about five years, last couple of years, like it's been a big part of my life. Journaling was introduced to me about yeah, about two years ago as well. Um, I don't, I, I, I don't mind it, I don't really use it as a diary. Maybe I think that's more of a cathartic experience if you use it more like a diary. I don't know, you can tell me, but uh, it's definitely helped my mindset for sure yeah, what do you write down like daily recap?

Matt Jacob:

I actually have a. I have two journals one we bought, my wife has the same. We have um, what's it called five year? It's a five year one where we log a day every day, like a. You know four or five lines, what happened today or what's gonna happen.

Matt Jacob:

What are you looking forward to today? Whatever comes into your mind? Just a little sentence every day of the year and it's got five years for it, so hopefully we look back in five years and just interesting to see. It's kind of a long journey, but the the other ones the one I'm using at the moment is manifestation journey, that journal, just because, um, I don't know, I'm interested to see how powerful that can be, but it's difficult because it kind of guides you every day rather than just I.

Matt Jacob:

I do have a third journal, which I use less, which is basically just a notepad wow three journals, but that's more of like an inspiration book rather than a journal, like something ideas come up, or if I want to write something I'll write in there, rather than a guided question by question type thing okay, you know, and there you go, the manifestation in the sense of you've already accomplished it, so you write it down no, the other way, kind of what, what do you what?

Matt Jacob:

what do you want to visualize, what's going to help you get towards your goal? Just to reinforce what your goals are, splitting them, them down into day by day. And then the journal asks you different questions every day. So it's just the best bit about that is you get asked questions that you didn't think about before. So it makes you think. But I don't love it that much. I'm going to go back to more of a gratitude journal, I guess after that one's finished.

Matt Jacob:

I'm just experimenting, I guess Meditation on the other other hand is life-changing. It is, yeah, it is yeah, I feel like journaling is just like a little tool. Meditation is more of a you know lifestyle change and um, yeah, that's been really really powerful what kind of meditations do you do?

Matt Jacob:

um for Pasana. So I focus on mostly breathing. Every day I throw in some breathing exercises, uh, before, before I kind of settle down. It helps me get a lot more clarity. I'll either do unguided or guided, depending on how I feel that morning. If I do guided, I listen to Sam Harris' Waking Up app, which is super cool. Purely mindfulness, nothing too spiritual, nothing um esoteric, just being conscious of everything that's going on at that time. So, um, which is which is actually going to lead me on to my next question. For you, it's really um, really highlights the difficulty of being versus becoming. I being present, enjoying where you are in life or in that day and in that moment, but also having goals, having something you want to become towards or go towards it. You know you have the whole life in front of you, essentially in an exciting career that you're doing really well in, and probably the sky's the limit. Do you get distracted by that? Is it difficult for you to kind of just okay, I'm here, let's just enjoy what's coming up at the moment?

Julie Valentina:

Embrace the moment. Yeah, it's really hard for me. I have big goals and it's really hard for me to not work on them, because I've already seen the potential in so many things Like, for example, filmmaking was such a big dream for me to not work on them, because I've already seen the potential in so many things like, for example, filmmaking was such a big dream for me. For me, and over the last years, everything has changed and like I've grown in so many ways and now like seeing more opportunities and challenges, especially with, like the whole YouTube inspiration, like so many entrepreneurs are sharing their life online and it's super inspiring for me. So I kind of have these big goals which are constantly adapting and it's hard for me to to not not work on them and just focus on. I'm grateful to be here right now because I just see how much potential is still out there yeah, it's really difficult.

Matt Jacob:

Um, it doesn't go away. It's just kind of compartmentalizing both, I guess.

Julie Valentina:

I know, I know tell us a bit about your goals, what you know, without giving too much away, but tell us kind of what, what your goals look like over the next few years and beyond so over these past couple of months my goals actually changed a lot, because the last year my biggest goals were always like work with bigger clients, get more travel, jobs and be able to sustain a living, and I feel like I never set a goal for what comes after. So like once you achieve that, I just got to keep going, do more jobs, keep traveling, or like what's the goal after, and I feel like I kind of accomplished this like the goal I set for myself, like a year ago.

Julie Valentina:

And now it's more about like giving it back, so like starting to build a community, have some more freedom and what I do and like where I go to travel, and we also just started an agency. So it's about like scaling that, having a bit more operational side of things, giving other people the opportunity to do the same thing and, yeah, awesome, yeah, it's uh.

Matt Jacob:

When you talk about goals, there, it's um. It's very difficult to always be focused on desire. Desire is often the cause of many people's suffering. Right, you always want something, want something, and then you get it. You know it. It's like the Olympic. We just had the Olympics. A lot of these gold medal athletes will be like, will be falling in, sad to say, but some will fall into depression over the next year Because it's like what, what do I do next? Like I've achieved my life's goal, now what? Right, it's start again, or do something different, or pivot. Pivot always have being that purpose, I guess, which is which is difficult to kind of have clarity over. Tell us a little bit more about if you have. You feel like your purpose is now to give back a little bit and balance the two, so you'll continue kind of chasing the dream in terms of the jobs, but also agencies and other stuff on the side. Is that correct?

Julie Valentina:

for sure. I think the the big end goal is always going to be freedom. So in whatever you do like, for example, the travel jobs are super nice and for me when I was like going to university, that was my imagination of what freedom looks like. But now I've I've done that for a year and now my way of freedom looks a little bit different. So, like, for example, I define where I'm going to be and I'm getting more selective with the jobs I'm kind of doing, because before my only income stream was these like kind of travel jobs I had to do and I had to travel. But now I don't want to have to travel.

Matt Jacob:

Is that English? Yeah, it's good.

Julie Valentina:

But I want to choose if I want to travel.

Matt Jacob:

Not because I have to. What a great position to be in. I'm trying. How did you get there? Tell everyone.

Julie Valentina:

I think it's just a process of everything, but my life changed so much over these last two years and me sitting here saying this right now is actually still. It's very crazy to me that's awesome, congratulations.

Matt Jacob:

I'm super happy for you. Tell us a little bit about what else kind of was in the equation, what else was in the formula for you to get to this point and I'm thinking more inspirations so you mentioned sam cold or anyone else in the space that you really kind of leveraged your skills off.

Julie Valentina:

I think it's a mixture of everyone I spend my time with, because every single creative has different sides of seeing things and learnings they can give you. So I think it was about people that already accomplished what I wanted to accomplish and then people who were motivated to achieve the same thing, and these two things kind of pushed me to achieve that kind of goal, but I can't tell you exact names. It was just a mixture of everyone, and I started reaching out to people on Instagram who inspired me and ask them what they were doing, if they could bring me on a job, and I feel like that's such a powerful way to attract these kind of things, just like reach out, because I feel like everyone in the space is super supportive and if you're really interested in learning and are talented and eager, then I think nothing can stop you.

Matt Jacob:

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Matt Jacob:

What I love most about Artlist, though, is how easy it makes finding the perfect asset. I'm super lazy, and their platform is super user-friendly, and the quality of their music and footage is just top-notch. It doesn't matter if you're working on a big project or just something small. Artlist certainly has the range and the quality to make your work really stand out. Plus, everything is royalty-free, so you can use it however you like without worrying about the legal stuff. And because I believe in sharing the good stuff, here's a little perk for you Use the link in the description to sign up for an annual plan and you'll get two extra months free. It's a great deal to keep your creative juices flowing even longer. All right, let's get back to the episode. It's amazing how many people that you perceive as your heroes or that you're inspired by will reply to you and we'll take the time to chat. Oh yeah, they're actually just human beings at the end of the day for sure they want to give back as well.

Matt Jacob:

Most of these great, like you said, it's, once you kind of dive into those layers, you find that everyone is super supportive yeah, and they're just humans as well but they're just, yeah, they're just people, yeah, still with the same battle, still fighting the same goals and desires and, and, uh, doubts and fears.

Matt Jacob:

Um, so, yeah, if anyone hesitates, I would suggest they don't. And for you, I mean, um, I'm sure you get loads of messages from people and can you pinpoint something that is um most common that you get asked in terms of your audience?

Julie Valentina:

I think I get a lot of questions about bali because I've spent quite a lot of time here. So like, just like, casual travel tips okay and um, I actually I I got the question a lot if people can intern with me, okay, and I actually have an intern from October, which is going to be cool, yeah, and then just to travel together, which is also a big thing, awesome, traveling together.

Matt Jacob:

People want to come and travel with you.

Julie Valentina:

Yeah.

Matt Jacob:

Yeah, that's great when you talk about inspirations, or at least the way you learned was there. I know this is a lot of questions I get, but maybe you get these types of questions as well. Was there a conscious decision to create a specific style or theme to your work in terms of the technical side of it? Or did you not worry too much about that, Because most of the time when you're doing jobs, it's about the person, not always about the aesthetics or the the technical side?

Julie Valentina:

I would say it's just go with the flow, I guess, create whatever feels right of course, depending on the jobs, there's like some requirements, especially like, for example, beautiful destinations. They still want like a lot of this like fast-paced transition, sam colder kind of style. Um, and then some want more like artistic, with more storytelling. So I would say like, when it comes to client shoots, it always depends on the client. When I'm doing personal content, it's always what I'm in the mood for, kind of so, when it comes, I'm more interested in what your personal stuff.

Matt Jacob:

So you sit down and you maybe come up tell us about your process, idea formulation, onto what mood boards or concepts or, you know, just playing around with stuff. How did, how do you go about creating something?

Julie Valentina:

I would say there's always two ways. Way one is just shoot something and figure out after. It's just like out of the mood, because you're kind of feeling inspired in the moment, um. And the other way is I get a lot of inspiration from vimeo. There's a lot of like beautiful commercials with lots of storytelling, and that's like when I plan out actual shoots, um, and yeah, these two ways. So, for example, I use Vimeo, I create a mood board with like ShotDec. Shotdec has like different frames.

Matt Jacob:

That's amazing. Do you know ShotDec, yeah, where they take frames from movies and stuff.

Julie Valentina:

Insane, right. It's such a level up for everything, inspiration lighting, it's crazy yeah.

Matt Jacob:

Yeah, people need to go and check that. I didn't know about it until maybe a few months ago because I was watching movies going. You know, I'll pause the movie go. How do they, you know, how do they like that, you know? Um, yeah, that's a really, really, really good platform. What has been more the? I mean, I'm keen to hear about your expectations before and after. Like before, you know, you had this goal of being a travel filmmaker and then you, then you went and did it. Was there something during that journey that you thought was different to what it might have been?

Julie Valentina:

that's a really good question. Um, in one way, yes, and the other way no. So, of course, you're traveling all the time, you're seeing all these amazing places and you're pretty much getting flown out to be there, and in the beginning this was like absolutely insane. I think one thing I was not expecting is that it's so hard on your body, like the time zone is changing all the time. You don't have a routine. Sometimes you're forced to like. For example, we were in Turkey on a shoot and I'm vegetarian, but we were in South Turkey, southern Turkey, and there's only meat, so I was eating bread for like 10 days. So that's like stuff you cannot.

Matt Jacob:

Yeah, it's funny now, but at the moment yeah.

Julie Valentina:

It wasn't great.

Matt Jacob:

You need a good diet to work well.

Julie Valentina:

So it's finding a balance. I guess, Like having a balanced lifestyle is pretty much impossible when you're on the go 24-7.

Matt Jacob:

How like having a balanced lifestyle is pretty much impossible when you're on the go 24 7. How do you define creativity?

Julie Valentina:

in which way like?

Matt Jacob:

well, I think it's. I only ask because it's a word that gets thrown around a lot and can mean so many different things depending on, I guess, who you are and what you do. Um, what did? Okay, let me rephrase what does creativity mean to you? Flow state have you ever heard about? Yeah?

Julie Valentina:

yeah, it's pretty much dedicating yourself fully to the craft you're fully passionate about and just going all in without having any ego in the back of your mind. That's creativity for me, like raw creativity where does it come from? I feel like a lot from the outer world and emotions experiences. I feel like creativity is a way of expressing our inner world.

Matt Jacob:

As in your inner world, as in who you are as a person. Can you elaborate on how specifically how that applies to you and your work? You elaborate on on how specifically how that applies to you and your work? What, what is, what is, what is? What does you look like in your craft?

Julie Valentina:

so I think it's. I just said it's a reflection of the inner world, but I think you take the inspiration from the outer world, you process it and you reframe it in your own way, kind of that's. That's creativity for me, because every single person has their own experiences in life and unique perspective on things and I think it's just a way of expressing that.

Matt Jacob:

Whatever it is, what a great answer, because creativity is not something that's. I just talk about a difference between originality and uniqueness. You are original because there is no other julie in this world, right, unless it's in a different world we don't know about. So that's original. And then you've got to try and be unique amongst so many other people in what you do. That's the same as other people, right? So many filmmakers around the world.

Matt Jacob:

The less, I think, people worry about that and the less they're able to. Just exactly how you said it, like we're all influenced by many things, whether it's our internalities in terms of neurons firing emotions, thoughts that no one chooses, what they think right, thoughts come up all the time, so that's innate. But you're also influenced by what other people say and their thoughts. So that's innate. But you're also influenced by what other people say and their thoughts. So that's such a great way of putting it. Creativity is kind of sat in the middle of that, right, and it's it's how you, it's how you perceive and create something from that really, um, really interesting. There is no, I guess, checklist for that.

Matt Jacob:

There's no kind of not really go and do this, go do this, but people teach it, people do teach it. People teach creativity, which is weird to me, you know because it feels so natural right isn't the definition of creativity like a natural creation, like if you create something, by definition it's make something from nothing. So to be able to teach ways of being creative is a bit strange, but I think there are ways that can help you be creative. I don't know.

Julie Valentina:

I feel like even just surrounding yourself with people who are creative like you're the average of the five people you spend most of your time at that subconsciously already influences you so much and I feel like once you see how they do it, like in action, and you're surrounded by their energy and their way of thinking, you adapt these ways of thinking, like I'm a different person every time. I'm like in a new place pretty much, and whoever I surround myself with and since I'm mostly surrounded by like creative people, I'm also like creating a lot, and now I'm living with two entrepreneurs and now I'm like focusing more on the entrepreneurship side of things. You know, and it's, it's crazy what your surroundings have an influence like, how, what kind of influence they have on you that is amazing.

Matt Jacob:

Um so, where you talked about your output being an expression of the inner you, what is the inner you? What? What is the inner? Julie? Tell us who you are I think it's constantly changing, depending on but there's got to be some some common denominators in there, surely, or is it just a completely new person?

Julie Valentina:

you mean like adjectives? Yeah okay, I would say open-minded, very open-minded, creative once we already spoke about it. Um then, I like to that's not certainly an adjective, but I like to try new things and see how these new things have the possibility to change and have an impact on my and other people's lives. I think that's my current main focus. I guess I'm very adventurous, spontaneous and, yeah, I just don't think a lot but I just do things.

Matt Jacob:

Don't overthink things, just get on and do it. That's freedom for you. Yeah, I think the lesson I take from that I'm always trying to kind of listen to what someone says, and how can we learn from this other person? Right? Hugely inspirational words from you, by the way. But I think we can take from that just throw yourself in the right environment, right, just go and, whether it's the community, or whether it's just saying yes to a job, or saying yes to going traveling or this step that will take you, hopefully, towards your goal. And it's easy to say right, because it's scary, it's, it's so many doubts and things go wrong. And as long as we can reframe those into learning lessons, then just move on. And but, yeah, putting yourself in that environment, especially with the community side, I think, I think it's hugely important that's crazy.

Julie Valentina:

I feel like that's also the biggest step, which is giving you the opportunity to go towards your goals, just believing that it's possible for yourself. Because how would you know that you can become a successful entrepreneur or a successful filmmaker or successful teacher when you never know how it actually feels like living that kind of life? You know, or you don't know, how these people actually live from day to day?

Matt Jacob:

it's like, it's crazy, like so what are you doing now on the community side? What are you doing now on the entrepreneurial side? Can you share kind of on the agency side? Can you share more about that?

Julie Valentina:

so first of all, the community side of things. I mean I personally was part of Creative, which has been massive impact for my career, for getting the outreach, but I feel like what I've always been missing personally is like community events and trips and all these kinds of things. And since I get the question so often if people can like travel with me or like get surrounded by these creative things, I'm building kind of a brand for people, um to travel with other creatives and filmmakers and overall we're hosting like events where everyone can like just gather and the first one is in october, which is very exciting.

Matt Jacob:

Um, we already have 150 people signed up yeah, so by the time this goes out it'll'll be too late, so sorry about that.

Julie Valentina:

But yeah, I mean, we're planning future things, probably also in Africa, with a couple of other brands, bigger brands, and we have a lot of visions. I'm not sure where this is going to go, but for now it's going great, so I'm excited for this side of things.

Matt Jacob:

So what do people get if they get into this event or they get into this giveaway, or tell us a little bit about the specifics of of that?

Julie Valentina:

so I think the main thing is the creative community, so it's a lot of value, just like the personal exchange with people. Like social media nowadays is powerful, but personal side of things gets kind of lost, I feel like, and nothing is more worth than your network, like your network is your net worth and it's been the biggest changing point for me in my career and I'm sure it can be a big changing point for a lot of people. And I have this network of people who are already successful and of people who want to start out and I see the perfect matching point where I can come in and help.

Matt Jacob:

That's awesome. Yeah, I think that's needed more than ever, just in my own experience. But you talked about social media there, which we'll just touch on in a minute. It seems to be not as communal as it once was, or not as easy to form an authentic and genuine community as maybe it was. So things like what you're doing and I've seen it firsthand in here in this studio, as well as many other places like it's so powerful and to get inspiration from these types of groups, communities, events, is, I think it can only be a good thing, even though it can be competitive, there can be envy, there can be backstabbing, just like any other industry, just like any other sector, just like any other human nature. But overall, um, I'm excited to see what comes of it.

Matt Jacob:

Yeah, so you talked about kind of um, social media and kind of stepping out into not into a limelight, but at least making yourself stand out a little bit on platforms like instagram. You know, when you've got over 100 million photos and videos posting every day, is that part of your strategy? I mean is, is Instagram platforms, youtube, social media? Is that something that you think about in, in what you do?

Julie Valentina:

Instagram, for sure. I've been definitely thinking about YouTube also, but it's like, for me personally, it's not worth the time invest versus what I get from it, because it takes a lot of time to build it and it wouldn't really make sense at the current position I'm in.

Julie Valentina:

But Instagram is such a powerful way and I feel like nowadays it's more important the quality of followers than the quantity, because I mean, if you have like a hundred super powerful clients following you versus I don't know two thousand people from who have no freaking idea about like what you're even doing, I'd rather choose the 100 people who are yeah, absolutely I value followers how long do you spend on instagram every day?

Julie Valentina:

oh god, you don't want to know how long do you? How long do you? Oh, my god, um, probably I have better times right now seven hours, which is, which is not good yeah.

Matt Jacob:

Not on Instagram.

Julie Valentina:

Screen time.

Matt Jacob:

Screen time? Yeah, I'd say, but I think that's by average, I think just, but yeah, there's still. Yeah, actually that's it. Well, that must be including laptop and stuff, or is it just phone?

Julie Valentina:

I think that might be just the phone, but I work a lot from the phone.

Matt Jacob:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you tell yourself that.

Julie Valentina:

Yeah, maybe. How about you? What's your schedule A?

Matt Jacob:

couple of hours, but when I add in laptops I'm on my laptop a lot of the time during the days it gets up to that seven, eight hour mark, which I'm okay with because you know it's a tool. You're using it for something. Yeah, I can't remember why I asked that question, but I think so many people get so consumed with social media it kind of warps their mind, or at least their mindset. Have you ever had that difficulty of someone being so prevalent on social media? There's a lot, especially if you're doing it yourself, in terms of answering DMs, answering comments, staying active, staying engaged. That's a couple of hours every day, certainly at your level of followers. You've got a lot of story views and then you're trying to engage and you're probably putting out stories where you want people to engage, asking questions, and it becomes an integral part of your day. Is that something for someone who's so mindful and you know practices, great habits during the day? Is that something you worry about as a, as a digital filmmaker, essentially?

Julie Valentina:

for sure. I mean it's, it's super intertwined, because that consumerism and the work part are like super like. They're merged together pretty much like once you go on instagram you answer the dms that are maybe for work, you also answer the dms where some friends send you some funny posts and then you start scrolling and scrolling and it's never ending and like this whole dopamine, it kind of like it catches you and once you have this one reel, you want to see the next one and the next one, and suddenly two hours are over. You were like, oh, I just wanted to answer this client dm.

Matt Jacob:

You know it's, it's not great, um two hours it's hard to set like actual boundaries right, yeah, do you set screen limits?

Julie Valentina:

no, yeah, but I always yeah, just ignore yeah I'm working hardly yeah, yeah, well, there's a problem.

Matt Jacob:

Yeah, I, yeah, okay, well, it's, it's. You know, it's a tool and, um, I, I realized that relatively quickly. I got into Instagram late. I mean, I'm an old granddad, essentially, and I was, so I did photography way before Instagram. So it was Instagram was around when I started photography, but I was so adamant that I wasn't gonna. You know, I just didn't like the whole premise of social media showing off and like putting yourself out there eventually came around to that, to that, and now I spend I spend probably 90% of my social media time on YouTube. Well, podcasts, clips, just hopefully like learning something, and then, obviously, I post the stuff on Instagram and just answering DMs, which I think is really, really important from audience members. Other than that, like, I sometimes find myself scrolling, but I'm usually able to catch it within a couple of minutes. Oh no, danny, that's funny, but I'll watch it later.

Julie Valentina:

It happens naturally right. So many funny videos, that's true, but every single video influences you subconsciously.

Matt Jacob:

Yep. But what I now tell myself is look, do I want this type of content being presented to me next time I open up Instagram? Because now you know how the algorithm works. That's what stops me more than oh, I, you know I shouldn't be on Instagram. It's like when I open Instagram, I want to see incredible photos, incredible video. That's me. I just photos video like cinematic videos, like real filmmaking, real photo, real photography, like professional stuff. That's all I want to see. And then stuff like I like fight, mma fighting. So some of that comes in, and then my wife will send me a funny video someone falling over so of that comes in, and then my wife would send me a funny video of someone falling over. So then that comes in, and then, before you know it, like you said, you know you're just losing your time.

Julie Valentina:

But the algorithm is crazy, right Like it naturally recognizes what you like and what you don't and, within like two days, you can change up everything what's getting shown to you, which is crazy.

Matt Jacob:

That's the scary. That's the scariest thing. Everything what's getting shown to you which is crazy, that's the scary. That's the scariest thing it really is. But also for someone who wants their, for us as visual artists, we want our stuff seen. Yeah, so you know, when you post something, you don't know who's gonna see it. You don't know if none of your or actual genuine audience who want to see things from you, so then then you end up posting twice, like if you have a broadcast channel, I post twice because you post and they go oh, if you didn't see this, most of them go no, I didn't see this, this didn't come up on my feed. So you end up playing this just circus of algorithm chasing, which is even worse than doom scrolling, in my opinion, because you never beat the algorithm. As long as we can, like you said, just stay as authentic as we can do what we do get in our flow state. Let everything else fall into place if we can. Easier said than done, especially when you need social media sometimes to get money to get clients.

Matt Jacob:

So you've got to play it that way as well.

Julie Valentina:

Yeah, it's hard to find the balance and set boundaries for yourself, but I play it that way as well. Yeah, it's hard to find the balance and, like, set boundaries for yourself. But, I feel like it's a constant process.

Matt Jacob:

Now I speak to photographers who teach, some photographers who teach workshops. They actually now include in their workshops how to deal with social media. Right, they recognize it's an integral part of growing as an artist. It has to be especially instagram and maybe in your case, more so, youtube. I mean, I know some filmmakers who just right, I've got to do it, I've got to go into youtube. That's that's what I want to put and, like you said, a lot of work into it's so much work, but hey, frequent post.

Julie Valentina:

I live with a youtuber you know, martin martin schrader he's. He has his own photography course and he's like literally constantly doing new youtube videos all day. New inspiration, new shooting. I see how much work it is. I respect every person who does youtube full time.

Matt Jacob:

Oh, my goodness, so much. It's crazy. There's a lot of shit out there, but still you gotta, you gotta put the time and effort in and then you're still playing with an algorithm. It's a little bit of an easier algorithm, but editing everything yeah, oh, excuse me, anyway, I digress we took yeah um, we talked about your audience and your followers. I I asked this to a lot of people actually, but it but it's an interesting question, hopefully interesting answer. Why do you think your followers follow you?

Julie Valentina:

um one point inspiration why, I think my content is pretty unique, like I have a pretty unique style when it comes to filmmaking. Um, that's one reason. Then potentially some business insights and like things like community events, because I oftentimes like ask if, for example, somebody's available to join a trip, or yeah, for example, the event thing, like I always post about job opportunities. I think that's also one thing. And, yeah, these two are the main, main, main reasons, I guess.

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Matt Jacob:

for for style relating filmmaking for anything for you as a person, you as a filmmaker, you as an entrepreneur, you as a community leader, you as a female in a man's world, whatever it might be. What is it that, that one kind of little secret ingredient that makes Julie tick?

Julie Valentina:

um, I think it is believing that everything is possible once you see it possible for yourself it's amazing.

Matt Jacob:

Yeah, love it. Looking ahead, then, what's what's? I know you've got. You're working on a lot of things. Is something like legacy important to you, or just kind of focusing more on the process? Do you care a lot about what you leave behind? Is that something you've even thought about? Like leaving behind, for example, family, no body of work like in terms of films, in terms of businesses, in terms of something you can step away from saying.

Julie Valentina:

I made that like what I'm proud of producing, um. So I would say I really like the one plus. We did the one plus video we did in in tokyo. That was in tokyo, um I I didn't even do a lot of long-form content over the last couple of months, which is pretty sad. Actually, I would love to do more about it, but most of my client work is actually constantly like reels projects. What I'm really proud of is the turkish aliens project we did in may this year and then I did a show reel which is kind of merging different voices and different languages from different like shots with different locations all across the world. That's something I really am proud of producing. Yeah, that's.

Matt Jacob:

And what about the future? When you look ahead, is there something? Does that play into your creative process or your goal setting? Like, I want to build a body of work. I want to build something like say oh, this is Julie, this is what I made in my filmmaking career. Does that matter to you?

Julie Valentina:

It does matter to a certain extent. I feel like currently my business goals are a little bit different, like they're not mainly focused on like getting more client work. They're more focused on like community building an agency, scaling the agency, these kind of things. But I'm sure it's going to go back to that and then that I want to focus more in the creative process on doing more impressive storytelling and creating bigger projects with bigger clients. But I think that's that's a focus for next year probably okay, what is?

Matt Jacob:

um, as we start to wrap up here, if there was a message that you wanted to give budding filmmakers, or your audience and other people out there, what would that, that message, be?

Julie Valentina:

Network is everything. Once you believe it's possible for yourself, the opportunities are going to open up and consistency is key. These three things.

Matt Jacob:

Networking.

Julie Valentina:

Networking.

Matt Jacob:

Belief, belief.

Julie Valentina:

Consistency and stay unique.

Matt Jacob:

Bonus tip Stay unique Bonus tip. How do you stay unique?

Julie Valentina:

stay unique. Um, I feel like nowadays people are just like reusing the same audios, the same content. I mean, we all know it, like running through the waterfalls and like you know the kind of shots people.

Julie Valentina:

It's like you've seen this real 10 millions of times, Like who's going to hire you over the other person who already has 200,000 followers. You know that also posted that kind of real. It's like the same content on like 10 million accounts, but nobody thinks about like creating something new, something unique that hasn't been out there. That's a massive tip how?

Matt Jacob:

how do they do that? How do we do it? How do we be unique?

Julie Valentina:

be different. I think. Take inspiration from people who are doing something different and merge that together with your own vision yeah, it's difficult to have your own vision, isn't it sometimes?

Matt Jacob:

I mean, some people obviously find it more easy, and we talked about this earlier being creative, some people find it more easy than others. Um, but you know it's easy to say well, you know, merge it with your visions or what. I don't know where to start. You know it's certainly learning a new skill, whatever skill that might be. You know you can get overwhelmed so easily and you know you do a client job and then you do another client job and they're vastly different. And then you do this and that and then you travel and you're exhausted and you come back here and you've got your own space. Like where do I, what do I do now, kind of thing. Where, where is my vision? What do I? How do I kind of curate that? I don't looking at your, your face. I don't think you have that problem.

Julie Valentina:

I generally I do have creative burnout, like seasons, but it's I always get the inspiration back in some way. How doing something different? Always get the inspiration back in some way. How doing something different, like surrounding myself with new people, trying out something completely different, a new style maybe, or a new business. Like when I came here in May, like two months ago, I was really burned out from all the traveling I was.

Julie Valentina:

I came from six weeks of shooting non-stop, like four different jobs, and it was like wow this is too much and I had like four weeks of editing ahead and I was like this needs to change. I need to change something. And since I started thinking differently and surrounding myself with people who have different visions in life, I suddenly got new ideas and they kind of came naturally. And then one thing comes to the other. I feel like, yeah, inspiration comes, comes naturally once you start stepping out of your comfort zone yeah, yeah, easy, easy, just like that easy.

Matt Jacob:

Okay, last question um before I ask the question. Thank you so much for joining me today it it's been so much fun. I hope you haven't been too hot, but we'll get the egg on in a minute.

Julie Valentina:

It's good.

Matt Jacob:

Finishing with one question Tell us something that no one else knows about you.

Julie Valentina:

Oh, wow, spinning out the secrets. Wow, I got to think about this. What no one else knows about me. I think one thing that not many people know. It's nothing crazy secret, but I graduated and I went to university when I was 16 oh, wow yeah, and I went to school when I was four, so I had a pretty early wow, yeah. I'm not telling this high high intellect, high functioning intellect. My parents are teachers. Probably that's where it's coming from.

Matt Jacob:

Got you in through the back door Literally. Did that play a role in you then stepping away from it so soon?

Julie Valentina:

I think so. I mean, I studied three different things at university. I first studied to be a teacher, Then I studied economics different things at university. I first studied to be a teacher, then I studied economics and then media and I think it taught me to become very independent at a very young age, just like moving out at 16, going to junior university um, yeah, that, I think that has been the the biggest impact and like surrounding myself with people who are like three years older than me is if teaching is in your blood.

Matt Jacob:

Do you see yourself going down that path at some point?

Julie Valentina:

not the traditional way of teaching, like schools, no, no, no, no, but just like maybe like an online course or something or like in-person teachings, like I could see myself doing that watch this space yeah until then.

Matt Jacob:

Thank you so much again. It's's been an absolute pleasure.

Julie Valentina:

Thanks for having me. It was so much fun honestly Cool. Thank you, Cheers.

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