by Sherif Awad
-I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. My great grandmother immigrated to New York from Puerto Rico. I grew up with my mother and father who also had both Puerto Rican heritage; They raised me as a Catholic as I went to church with my grandmother every Sunday. I used to visit Puerto Rico every summer as a child, where I was watching the Puerto Rican day parade.My favorite actors and movies from my childhood and teen years include Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic and Jennifer Beals in Flashdance.
-When YouTube first came out, I created funny comical videos which earned me over 50,000 subscribers. It was only until then, when my YouTube channel was hacked and shut down.. I do not know what closed it to this day– but during the same period, I was also going to college as a division one-track athlete, which may have caused my YouTubechannel to be compromised in the freshman’s year. That is when I decided to change my major from athletic training to Film and TV production, entering sophomore year. I was also terrible at Science and got miserable grades in Chemistry and Biology during my freshman year, haha.
After graduating with a Bachelors of Arts in Film and TV production, that is when I first fell in love with being behind the scenes and took my career to the next step. It was a while before I decided to change my ideals into becoming an actress.
With my behind the scenes career, I began as a freelance assistant camera operator. I did many gigs for indie films , to special YouTube channel series. I then moved into a more corporate side after having my son Atticus in 2013. I began working as a production assistant in NBC Sports in Stamford, Connecticut. After that I worked for a third party corporate company called NewsCast Creative, where I created content for many current leading Fortune 500 brands such as Delta, ASPCA, BMW and more. I had numerous credits such as photography, editing, producing and camera operating.
I then moved to MLB Network where I was a producer and editor for the MLB.com website, creating original content in both English and Spanish. Lastly, ending my corporate career at Microsoft working as a Lighting Director in eSports. I have gained total new confidence in my arts and creativity and inspired others being a hard working mother.
But unfortunately, these jobs were never too permanent enough for me to keep. As I continued my career in track and field, I needed to find a new edge with my study and experience from the film and TV industry. My new goal was to become a successful actress and earn proper sponsors from my track and field career.
Today, I currently have 3 partners/sponsors that I work with on a social media basis, which are, OS1st, the Right Stuff and Neptune Ice. Because of my consistent drive to survive in NYC, I had earned my first big acting role by getting a principal spot in a SuperBowl Commercial next to Sylvester Stallone and Chris Rock.
-Being a creator should never stop you from growing; it should give you the key to constantly find the new edge to survive. I want to earn the proper respect of training hard in the track and field world, to properly translate in the acting world, for a long lasting relationship in acting roles. It would only be as satisfying as successful and income positive, if I can stop worrying about debt.
-Perhaps when I worked in the film and tv industry as a behind the scenes person, they may have been unfair disadvantages being a woman growing up in a non-union setting but I think as humans we all have to prove ourselves.
-Creativity is at a crazy high right now, with various platforms such as Tiktok, Instagram and YouTube. I think as long as you are honest with yourself and the crafts you love to do, people will like that and follow your journey. Through modesty and prioritizing; If it’s worth my time because I can get extremely busy training as an elite athlete. Although I am not officially in any type of stuntwoman association right now, I still do take stunt classes and what I’ve been taught is this; there is no rule book and only you can be your own judge if you feel comfortable and safe enough to perform stunts of any caliber. You need to always be protected and ensure the stunt coordinator is on your side. And lastly, be early not on time! Yes there are sacrifices you always need to make, but family is always first. I always consider that before I choose to do anything, especially as a mother.
-Funny enough, I am actually doing a short during the coronavirus pandemic, all in the privacy of my house. I can’t say what it is but it’s amazing to still get work even during these times. The future is being written as we speak.
