An Inspired Chat with Yara Estrada Lowe of Hollywood

We recently had the chance to connect with Yara Estrada Lowe and have shared our conversation below.

Yara , it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What do you think is misunderstood about your business? 
People think that you just need talent and luck. Talent and luck are important, but as corny as this sounds, years and years of hard work, usually with little or no pay is actually what it takes. Before I wrote produced and directed DEMISE, I had worked behind the scenes on many independent film sets. My film school was actually producing and/or directing over 150 episodes of an internet soap opera, which was actually pretty crazy in retrospect.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Yara Estrada Lowe, I am a filmmaker. I grew up in San Jose California. I’ve always known that I wanted to be in the entertainment industry. As a young child, I performed in many school plays, and I would get my friends and family members to create skits and dances with me.

I would also watch a lot of TV shows and movies. Whether it was a film or tv show, I was quickly drawn to strong female characters.

I started using my uncles camcorder at the age of 11 to film family events and skits that I would create. Finally, I went to San Jose City College for Theater in 2001, and eventually moved to LA to become an actress in 2008. In LA, I studied acting at Play House West. During the time I was there, I got to be in a play with Jeff Goldblum. However, after obtaining my SAG card and working as a background actor in many films, I turned my attention to screenwriting and producing. It was then that I began working behind the scenes in virtually every imaginable position on a film set, including script supervisor, assistant director, producer, and director. This was my film school.

As a screenwriter, I’m rather passionate about creating lead female characters that are strong-willed, and three dimensional. For example, I produced and acted in a trailer for my first screenplay called Epic Love, which everyone adored and it revolved around a strong female character. However, I could not get that film green-lit. Finally in 2022, I got my film DEMISE green-lit. After 17 days of filming, and nine month of post production, including working with a composer and finding over thirty songs to license for the film, we submitted our film to multiple distributors. We had multiple offers, but decided to go with Gravitas Ventures. DEMISE is a noir thriller, it was released in 2024. You can watch it on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Tubi and more. In 2025, DEMISE was released in the UK, by distributor Miracle Media, and it was nominated for best Indie Film, at the National Film Awards in London. We even had a review in The Guardian. The film was recently released in Japan. As of late, I’m working on a Holiday Rom-com entitled Merrily We Go.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
I was in elementary school, and it was during recess break. I remember lining up ten of my peers to hand out character roles from the 80’s cartoons He-Man and She-Ra. Of course gave myself the role of She-Ra, (I’m laughing as I’m writing this). I proudly announced that I would be playing She-Ra (who was the lead character, the princess of power), as the rest of the kids patiently waited for the role they would be “cast.”

This of course was a pretend game at the playground. After everyone knew who they were playing, I lead the pack down each slide on the playground, and with each slide we slid down, we were transported into a different world.

It was all fun and games, but it was then that I first felt powerful. Mostly because I was often shy in my early years, but not when it came to creating and acting out an imaginary world.

Is there something you miss that no one else knows about?
I miss life before everything was dominated by technology. I miss the carefree times when we weren’t all tied down to our phones. What was once a tool -used to connect us all – like social media, has now imploded on itself. We are over saturated with information, mis-information, and the list goes on. Every store you shop at, and just about every thing you do requires you to download an app. If you look around at people walking around town, most of them are walking while looking down at their phones.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
My family, my husband and my kitty cat are the most important things to me in the world. As for my values, I really believe in honesty, integrity, and loyalty. My husband and I live our life in accordance with these values. I’m also very spiritual and believe in God. We are not the type of people who believe the ends justify the means, or that money is the be all and end all of existence. I believe in living each day to the fullest and living life passionately. I won’t do business with people who are disrespectful or who have negative attitudes.

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What will you regret not doing? 
Travel. I have yet to travel. I know I’m late to the game, but I’m eager to start. There are definitely a few countries that are on my bucket list. Part of the reason why I haven’t traveled, is because I’m a nervous flyer. The thought of being on a plane for ten hours makes me highly anxious. I’m mentally preparing myself to take a trip this year, wish me luck.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.yaraestradalowe.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yaraestrada_lowe/?hl=en