Today we’d like to introduce you to Nikki Napier.
Hi Nikki, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I started out as society’s child honestly. I was placed in an orphanage called Orangewood, right next to Disneyland. I was taken away from my biological mother because I had been being molested and physically abused by my stepfather since I was five and I was nine at the time when CPS took me. The world calls it molestation maybe because it’s easier to swallow I guess but I was totally being raped and I being beaten by my mom’s husband. I was placed in different foster homes and group homes until the age of 13. Then moved to the Bay Area to live with my father’s side of the family when I was 14. I lived with them in Vallejo until I was 17, then ran away because my aunt was super abusive. I later adopted Paul Bush as my father & Intisar Shareef shareef as my mom. Crazy thing about not really having a family is you get to build your own and thats what I did. I lived with them throughout the years while I traveled back and forth to LA trying to figure things out. Unfortunately my mother Intisar passed from cancer a few yrs ago but my pops is still moving and grooving enjoying his retirement.
For me watching tv was and still is an escape, outlet or whatever you want to call it. I’d spend hours as a kid fantasizing about being part of families on tv. I didn’t care if they were black white or whatever I just remember wanting to live this life I saw other kids living. Be happy and coming home to happy families because I had no clue what that was. In fact, some foster homes got hip and knew how to punish me if you took the tv and music away. I was a complete wreck. So honestly that’s where my love of telling stories and entertainment came from my trauma as a kid.
I remember watching BET and seeing the video with Busta Rhymes & Janet Jackson video ” Gonna Make” video directed by Hype Williams he used the movie concept from an old movie called ” The Abyss” and from there I wanted to be a video director. I took a video editing class at Vallejo High School but I still had no idea how to become a music video director. At the time, there was nothing telling you about these jobs; they didn’t even exist. So I went to Clearfield Job Corps where I met my boyfriend who was from LA and I moved in with him. At the time, his mother was working for Billy Woodruff and she brought home two of his treatments. I remember one was for “Just be a man about it” with Toni Braxton and the other was for a group called Blaque. I remember looking at the treatment saying this is a dam book report basically. So I listened to songs day and night, writing treatments for practice.
I mostly wrote treatments for songs that I didn’t like because I assumed that would have to write treatments for songs I didn’t like versus the songs I enjoyed. I sent my treatment to thousands of production companies but I got no play. So my boyfriend’s little brother at the time played with Norman Nixon Jr, who’s Debbie Allen’s son and I ended up interning with her. She had a dance studio called DADA near Billy Woodruffs office in Culver City off this little road that started with a H I can’t remember the road but that was my first internship. Debbie Allen was AMAZING I loved being in her studio. From there, I worked with Roy Campanella. I worked on Biker Boys while I worked at this herd store called natural health clinic on la brea ave in LA. But, I ended up moving back to the bay area to live for a few years because the struggle was real in LA.
I think I was 28. I had just finished college early childhood education and I had a good job offer on the table with the city of Richmond as a Teacher, but I still wanted to try my hand at working in Hollywood. At the time I was living with Intisar Shareef who I call my mom. I remember her being so mad that I didn’t jump at the job opportunity with Richmond especially since she was the one who had gotten me the job lol but I couldn’t up give up on my dreams. So I reached out to Bill Duke Actor / movie Director to see if I could be his assistant. Bill and I had met years before at a screening in Sacramento, ca for his movie called cover. He and I kept in contact. He’d have me doing assignments and reading books so I caught a flight to LA. I remember catching the bus and walking to the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. I had a nice journal and a pen. We talked for hours and I took notes on key things that he said. Bill was impressed because I beat him there and I was taking notes. So after the meeting with Bill, he offered me the job as his assistant and I moved back to LA this time with a full-time job! Man, I was hella excited my mom was so mad but it paid off later. Now here’s the funny thing I had NO IDEA how to be a dam assistant but I was savvy. I remember never sleeping, lol. But I learned a lot with Mr. Duke and I’ll always be grateful.
After a few years as his assistant I quit but I wasn’t sure what my next move was. I was told if you stay too long as an assistant people won’t respect you and the talent becomes dependent on you. So I quit but had nothing lined up. So while staying at my cousin’s house, she told her client at the time Sonya Marchand about me and I got hired at Jesse Collins Entertainment as a receptionist. I remember at the time Real Husbands of Hollywood was in its first season and Jesse Collins was on the lot of Paramount Studios. Boy! I remember feeling like I had made it the day I drove to Jesse Collin’s Office Honey! The day they gave me my badge lol man driving on to that lot every day goodness that was a dream! The Paramount Pictures lot says I have arrived to anyone that started where I came from and working for Jesse Collins! Remember tv was my escape so that was all I watched in my teens and 20s was the award shows music videos anything BET I was watching so this was HUGE FOR ME! Going into that office every day man you couldn’t tell me nothing honey those were good times for me at JCE on the Paramount lot. From there I worked as a receptionist then moved to a PA for the awards shows. Anything Jesse Collins had, I worked on them. Sonya then made me an intern coordinator at JCE I really loved that job because I felt like I was giving back. While working with JCE, I met Kevin Horiuchi who gave me a job as a receptionist with AEG Productions; they do the Grammys / The Greatest Hits / Latin Grammys so I bounce between JCE and AEG for years, moving up the ladders and learning as much as I could.
Kevin would have me doing binders for all the shows so I learned about budgeting and coding and how to keep my mouth closed about confidential information. I don’t remember what year it was but I remember walking into the office for the Grammys and Kevin gave me my first job as a Production Coordinator for the red carpet with KP as the PM. I remember wanting to fight one of the PA’s because he was late and I called him out on it and he cursed me out! Lord lord I wanted to fight him for years. But Kev gave me my first PC gig and pour into me and mentored me. From there Octavia Harper offered me a job at The Voice as the Talent Manager with Blake Shelton / Adam Levine / Kelly Clarkson / and I think JHud I can’t remember. But I stayed there for a while then went on to AP for Beyonce’s on the Run Tour and AP for a festival with Ranger Rover. I still work with JCE and Kevin all the time too, but as a Production Manager now. So how I got to where I am currently, I’d have to say following my dreams not letting anyone deter me and people like Sonya, Kev and Octavia taking a chance on me. Of course, I’ve skipped so many other jobs but I definitely grinded to get to the place I am now. And I wouldn’t change anything. My childhood trauma made me a fighter and motivated me to never become what society said I should be. I’m proof how you start is not how you have to finish! And I’m just getting warmed up.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
This hasn’t been a smooth road BUT I wouldn’t take any of it back. It’s made me appreciate and respect the process in addition it’s made me pour into people because I know how hard it was for me to get in the game so I love to give opportunities where I can. I was back and forth constantly to LA because it was hard to work internships for free and hold down a full-time job so I got discouraged a lot. In addition, people in LA are super guarded nobody wants to tell you how to get in the game. People are gatekeepers of information in the industry and are praying on your downfall / mistake so they can take your spot lol it’s a little dog eat dog out here sometimes and that makes it hard. BUT when you find your tribe of people where you’re able to ask questions in a safe space with no judgment and people who aren’t afraid to mention your names in rooms or give you an opportunity like Dionne Harmon / Kevin Horiuchi / Octavia Harper / Alex Queen / Sonya Marchand / Ridgeway Wilson / Trishtan Williams / Ron Basile and Anastasia King / Travis Donald & Yass it makes things easier. These people either trusted me and or some saw things in me I didn’t and poured into me mentored me and or gave me jobs where I could shine and for that, I’m forever grateful I wouldn’t be here without them honestly.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Well lol, I do a little bit of everything. I was recently a Stage Manager for Juneteenth which aired on CNN and the OWN network. I work as a Talent Manager & Production Manager for award shows and reality tv and recently stepped into being an Associate Producer for a golf series that’s coming out in August on ESPN. As for what I am known for sheesh I’m not sure you’d have to ask people around me. I get calls for both jobs. I love stage managing & Production Managing, tho I love moving around and interacting with all the departments in the production and I think that’s important. I think what sets me apart from most people is I’m not afraid to get in there and help I’m never above anyone and I treat people with respect plus if you’re up at 2am I’m up with you! Lol, I always want to be the best and do a great job because in this game, you’re only as good as your last gig, ya dig! I am most proud of I am able to pour into others I loved being an intern coordinator and seeing a lot of them go on to be super successful people. In this life, you have to be of service to others. That’s the key to a successful and happy life I think.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Being genuine, I feel is a factor in the game. People smell BS from a mile away so be honest, be you I promise it pays off in the end. Outside of needing thick skin /being able to think outside of the box and knowing how to manage personalities, that’s a BIG ONE! You have to know how to talk to people and to be honest, I wasn’t always good at that but it was a muscle I exercised every day when I was an internship coordinator and at The Voice as a Talent Manager. Another quality I feel a ton of people forget these days is being good at your job having a high standard for yourself! People are so dam focused on titles these days being called a PRODUCER and don’t even know what that dam job entails and didn’t do the work and don’t care to do the work to be good! I won’t say respect the process because since covid a ton of possibilities have been created BUT study your craft, always being willing to learn because you don’t know everything. You have to always remain the student! I remember working at AEG watching and seeing the EP of the show Ron cleaning the bathrooms and washing dishes in the office! Ron could of easily asked me to do it because I was the receptionist that he hired actually but he didn’t something needed to be done and he wasn’t afraid to do it. That experience have always kept me grounded if the EP can wash dishes and clean a bathroom, so can I and I think that’s missing in people these days. The willingness to be good at whatever it is that you’re doing.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: teetee0891
