We’re looking forward to introducing you to Brielle Yuke Li. Check out our conversation below.
Brielle Yuke, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
It’s exactly my profession: being a producer. As a producer, I am called to lead, unite, create, and execute — one of the most essential roles on a creative team that demands vision, collaboration, resolution, determination and confidence. Early in my career, these required qualities felt daunting and distant from my grasps due to my naturally introverted personality and more so, the insecurities that accompanied it.
Stepping into the role of a producer challenged me to overcome self-doubt and embrace accountabilities yet with a mature balance that pushed me far beyond my comfort zone. Producing has elevated me to grow as a leader with certainty yet compassion, communicate effectively with diverse stakeholders, and make bold creative decisions that shape the artistic and cultural landscape of a project.
This journey has been transformative, not only solidifying my commitment to pursue producing and filmmaking professionally, but most significantly and almost surprisingly, helping me grow and shine out of my long-last insecurities into the best version of myself. By navigating this career and self-improvement journey, I have honed a unique ability to bridge creative vision with practical execution, contributing to projects that resonate across culture, earn critical recognition and are welcomed by the audiences. This evolution underscores my dedication to advancing the arts with a business touch, a pursuit I continue to drive with passion and innovation in this country.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Brielle Yuke Li, a Los Angeles-based producer originally from China, dedicated to crafting thought-provoking, culturally significant stories that challenge conventions and resonate globally. My work spans feature films, shorts, documentaries, and commercials. My projects have earned acclaim at prestigious festivals such as Venice Film Festival, Tribeca, Urbanworld, and Cinequest, with notable works like De Closin Night winning Best Short Film at Topaz Film Festival and The Fetus being covered by The Hollywood Reporter. I’ve collaborated with esteemed organizations like Disney+, Duplass Brothers Productions, Film Independent, and CAPE, and served as Development Executive and Head of Productions at BarBHouse Productions. I have also recently been involved in pioneering vertical series with platforms like ReelShort and DramaBox, including The Double Life of My Billionaire Husband, which has garnered over 300 million views
What sets my approach apart is my ability to blend strategic vision with a collaborative, empathetic leadership style, creating environments where creative teams thrive with authentic passion for the pursuit of art and cinema with souls. I enjoy working on stories that are artistically bold yet accessible and emotionally relatable, often using innovative, lean production methods to reimagine filmmaking in today’s fast-evolving industry and altering economy. I hold my prospect as a producer in building ecosystems where creativity, business acumen and strategy, and human connection and compassion converge, ultimately leaving positive impact on the audiences.
Recently, I have been keen on exploring new narratives in the realm of new media, such as VR and vertical storytelling that push boundaries in how meta-modern generations perceive and approach art, emotions and media language. I hope my endeavors in such field would eventually cater to promoting diverse voices and narratives in the business and beyond.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
My insecurities. I recently turned 30 and it felt like flipping a switch for me. I now entered a new venue of rethinking my journey through my 20s – a wild, messy ride where I was figuring out who I am as a producer and, again, as a person on all aspects of life. The baggage that I was carrying through this era – insecurities, childhood traumas, this nagging self-doubt that whispered I wasn’t enough – was quite heavy and holding me back from a lot of attempts.
The many life lessons I learnt through the projects I took on during my 20s, served the purpose of forcing me to face all my baggage head-on, to grow through the discomfort. Now, I’m proudly transformed into a professionally established producer, and a more confident, comprehensive and mature human being who take accountability maturely and am eager to contribute my values to the world and others. This is one of the most liberating feelings. Now, I’m ready to leave all this behind in peace.
When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
I always remember that conversation I had with a friend of mine in my graduate school around midnight in her car in Malibu. I was telling her the pain that I was hiding since we met, how I grew up always feeling like an outsider: relocating to a completely different province, transferring to different schools, being the only person in my circle who didn’t know how to speak the local dialect, feeling abandoned when I had to walk home alone when everybody else stayed in the dorm during high school, and to then being the only international student in the class. I opened up with honesty and vulnerability, enveloped by the bitter resignation. I believe that bitterness was rooted in the desire to be validated, accepted and feeling belonged and the frustration that I hadn’t been able to achieve so. However, in the meantime, I kept feeling confused by the pulling force of the opposite side of me: I want to stand out from the crowd so badly; I do not have to lead a life where I am like anybody else.
This struggle had been real for a long time, until when my friend in the car with me enlightened me with a fresh yet so obvious perspective that never occurred to me: But I think you being an outsider is so cool!
Right, “cool.” Why did I never approach this debate from this angle? Her approach at that moment was a turning moment that starts to liberate me from the shackles that I had put myself in since a young age. I realized that it can be so simple to switch positions and view the prism completely with a new light.
Since then, I’ve been consciously regarding my “outsider” feeling as a special way of experiencing life, which then started to unlock my power in confronting my deepest desire, fears, truths, and eventually, that becomes and always will be where true passion for art, life and creation comes from.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
I would assume the below list: authenticity, accountability, and compassion. They all sound easy, fundamental, yet they are all almost the most difficult qualities to uphold to. But I really believe that they are the traits that build interpersonal trust, emotional bonds, and that provoke profound perceptions, proven basis for the works and arts that a filmmaker dedicates to.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
There is real power and strength in compassion, understanding, bonding, and softness. In our current political climate and a carnival of consumerism, it’s so rare to cut through the noises to showcase how beautiful and powerful some despised qualifies that are deemed weak actually are. Everything in this society is about people, and when it comes to people, what cuts deep and what actually matters to someone when we’re on our death bed, is probably never going to be toughness, power, the wins and loses. But they’re more about the soft moments of what defines us as humans, and our interpersonal relationships in all aspects. I really hope my works can champion such a thrive and wish.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brielleloving/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuke-li-13500789/
