Luisa Novo shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Good morning Luisa, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What is a normal day like for you right now?
Right now a normal day starts with me having breakfast, meditating, making coffee while I get my work station ready, then drinking my coffee at my computer while I go through the to do list of the day! AND get caught up on my late night show favorites and new podcast releases.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a Director and Assistant Director in Film, TV and Commercials. I’ve just shot my segment of the Anthology Feature Through The Blinds in November 2025, and we are now in post production on that. This Anthology has been a long time coming. It’s such a cool project, with Women leading it in all aspects, and telling stories about women. It’s looking so good and I can’t wait to see all the segments ready.
This weekend I’m going to direct a dramedy web series about 5 siblings dealing with the death of their father. Very excited about this one, where I’m collaborating with 5 actors that originated the project. I’m looking to direct more projects in the drama, dramedy, comedy and coming of age genres. If you have one of those, let’s talk!
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
This is an interesting question. I was just at a screening of a film I worked on called Didn’t Die, and the amazing director Meera Menon was talking about how the whole process was built on trust with her collaborators, and that stuck with me. It seems like an obvious thing, of course you need to trust the people you are working with, specially on a creative area where everyone has something to add the the project. But it doesn’t happen all the time. There are too many egos, too much money, too much at stake, that a lot of people don’t trust the person next to them, and are always trying to cover their own behind. So when I read this question, it took me back to what she said. Because trust is the fundamental thing in any relationship: romantic, familial, with friends and co-workers. Once trust is broken, it’s very hard to get it back. And trust works both ways, you need to be trustworthy as well. And trust is different than faith, trust is built and proven through everyday actions.
What can restore a bond after it’s broken by a betrayal? That’s a great question. It takes a lot of work from the party that broke the bond to prove that they are sorry and are worthy of the wronged party’s trust again. We have to believe people can change and be better, and that does require a little bit of faith.
What fear has held you back the most in your life?
I think everybody can relate to the fear of not being good enough. To the famous imposter syndrome. This started for me in my teenage years, when you start comparing yourself to your peers. I still struggle with it, and it does prevent me from taking chances and challenging myself a lot of times. In the entertainment industry, there’s a saying that you are only as good as your last job. So there’s pressure to always perform at the best of you abilities. And that can prevent growing from failure, learning lessons from other people that know more than you, moving to more difficult jobs with more responsibility. And it ties in to the last question: why people lack trust and are always so focused on not messing up themselves. And why when people do mess up they try to not get found out or pin it on other people. None of that is conducive to better work, to building that trust among collaborators, and to good mental health. So I try to be aware of that guiding fear, and try to bypass it.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. How do you differentiate between fads and real foundational shifts?
Real foundational shifts have intention behind them. Fads are started and followed to fit in or cash in, but don’t come from a place of real need, the objective is not empowerment or change. In the entertainment industry there’s so much of this. Once an idea gets some traction and is successful, everyone is motivated to just repeat it instead of betting on more original ideas. Even if the first thing had a good intention, it gets diluted or distorted by the copies that come after it. And we see it behind the scenes as well. We are a very risk averse industry and everyone that challenges the status quo and tries to make it better, more equitable and less abusive, has a huge uphill battle. So intention, objective, and community, are very important in really pushing for that foundational shift that will survive its challengers.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I hope that people say I was sincere and believed in fairness and truth. That for all my faults, I was there for my friends when it was important, that I was reliable and dependable. I do take pride in owning up to my mistakes, telling the truth, believing that there are objective facts. I think as a legacy I want to be recognized as a good person that wanted to do good in the world, more than I want to be recognized for career milestones or a perceived success. The opinions of people that know me rank higher than opinions of people that don’t know me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.luisanovo.com
- Instagram: @luisamnovo
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luisanovo/
Image Credits
Paula Neves
Rebecca Louisell
Fernando Phillipi
