Today we’d like to introduce you to Mel Mendoza.
Hi Mel, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was born in Houston, Texas but was raised in Monterrey, Mexico up until I moved out to LA for college and I’ve stayed out here ever since!
I had originally gone to college for Animation but halfway through I realized it wasn’t really for me and I enjoyed filmmaking a lot more. I ended up switching majors and kept animation as a minor. During my senior year, I fell in love with directing and being on set. Once I graduated college I had an internship with the Television Academy Foundation and my host company was the current company I am working at now – Endemol Shine North America. I started off in the Current Programming department and after 3 months moved over to the development team. It has been a great company to be at as there’s always something happening and every day is different, it keeps things exciting!
On my free time I like to work on my own personal projects and my friends’ projects. I love directing, acting, singing and dancing. I love being on set and I like to help out with production design, wardrobe/styling, hair and makeup and some SFX makeup as well!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road at all! It was an inner conflict when I was first trying to decide if switching majors was the right thing for me or not. There were a lot of people who tried telling me not to but I knew I had to do what felt best for me and what felt right. I don’t regret my decision at all.
After my internship with the Television Academy, I was unemployed and had bills to pay so I ended up juggling three different jobs at one point. I used to work at a pizza parlor, the mall and background acting gigs and I didn’t have a car back then so commuting to some of these places would take two hours there and two hours back. Although I was being able to keep up with work and making ends meet when it came to bills, I was becoming exhausted and reaching burnout. I didn’t have the energy or time to work on my own stuff or be creative since I was so preoccupied with work all the time.
Once I found my way back to Endemol, things started to quickly take a turn. I was able to leave the pizza parlor (thank God) and stopped relying on background acting gigs. I bought myself my first car and felt very fulfilled that I had worked for it all on my own. I still have my job at the mall on the weekends cause rent in LA is insane and I need to keep up with the kind of lifestyle I want somehow, but it is a lot more manageable!
The current struggles I’ve been facing is a lot of self-doubt, imposter syndrome, comparison, and fear of being stuck. Fear of being too much and of course fear of other’s opinions when I no longer want to be a people pleaser. But I keep telling myself only the people who want to keep you feeling small are the people who will have something negative to say about stepping into who you are truly meant to be.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m really proud of my thesis short film for college. Because of the pandemic, when I switched majors, a lot of my classes were over zoom so it was frustrating trying to learn hands-on things through youtube tutorials. When I got to my senior year, we all had to direct our own short film and I had yet to step on set for the first time ever and now I was expected to lead my own shoot; I was terrified and I was one of the first people to shoot their film. I was very lucky and fortunate to have an amazing crew and cast who helped bring my vision to life and helped everything go smoothly for the most part!
From that experience, I fell in love with directing and ever since it’s something I love doing. I’ve also dabbled in acting for other people’s short films and I really enjoy it as well, I just get in my head about my performance and end up in an overthinking loop – just something I need to work on.
I like to see myself as a swiss army knife in the sense that I bring many different skills to the table and I’m not just good at one thing and there is that saying “Jack of all trades, master of none” but most people don’t know the full phrase which is “Jack of all trades, master of none, but often times better than master of one.”
As of lately, I’ve been going to dance classes with some of my friends and I’ve always loved to dance but I’ve never been this serious about it. Music has also been a huge part of my life ever since I was a baby and I love singing, just terrified of doing so in front of an audience but I really want to get over that fear and try and make music for fun even if it goes nowhere. I think it would be a good outlet to express myself in ways I never really saw myself doing before.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
My favorite book of all time is actually a children’s book but it’s messages and themes are definitely for an adult, it’s called The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. It’s a quick read and has really gorgeous illustrations, definitely give it a read, you might be a changed person by the end of it!
I don’t really listen to podcasts that much but I used to listen to the Comfort Affirmations podcast on Spotify before work sometimes when I was feeling anxious.
I’m a huge energy and frequencies person so sometimes I like to listen to 963 Hz in the mornings while I’m getting ready if I wake up feeling a bit anxious or uneasy. Also love to listen to some jazz before work or during work!
I always have my planner on me, I like to make sure I stay organized and I love to plan ahead!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melbelle_m/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Melbelle
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@matchamelbelle
