Meet Brea Nicole Hammonds of FAMILIA(R)

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brea Nicole Hammonds.

Brea Nicole, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
After a diverse cultural and economic upbringing in Oakland, CA I moved to Los Angeles and received my B.A. in both Communication Studies and Theatre Arts from Loyola Marymount University. I come from a long line of entertainers on my father’s side, and a family filled with the spirit of entrepreneurship on my mother’s side. When I take a step back, I can see clearly: I was being led to exactly where I am all along.

Great, 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?
Smooth is definitely not the word I would use to describe my path. There have absolutely been highs and lows, but as a collective they have all worked together for my good. The path of both a creative and entrepreneur is anything BUT linear. There is no one equation that leads to definite success, or even a series of predetermined benchmarkers you can use to track your success. Thriving in this state of uncertainty has been one of my greatest challenges. It is not easy to put your all into a new business, a concept for a show, or even pitching yourself to an agency when there is no way to guarantee it will yield the positive outcome you hope for.

Thankfully, I came to the realization that tangible validation that I was succeeding was my idea of success. I wanted every casting director I auditioned for to love me, and every brand or sponsor I pitched an event concept to enthusiastically buy in. This was my way of trying to find certainty in the unknown. I realized quickly that was not possible; you are not going to get a gold star every step of the way, and you cannot let the times that things don’t go the way you imagined deter you.

I decided to begin to work towards progression not perfection. Everything I do is to taking one progressive step towards the call God has placed over my life, whether I “succeed” or “fail” is irrelevant. Each step is bringing me closer to the overall goal, and I am becoming better because of it. By reframing my mindset, I watched one of my greatest challenges crumble. I began to celebrate each and every one of my “wins”, no matter how big or small. We are all keen to holding onto the losses, being our own worst critic. However, if you shift to an objective perspective to learn the lesson the “loss” taught you while also celebrate all the wins, you will begin to see an abundance of confirmation that you are on the right path.

What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
In my generation, especially in LA, I am honored to see my peers walk fully in their purposes. Seeing others maximize the fullness of their talents and not limit themselves to one traditional career path liberated me to do the same. I am an actor, model, creative producer, and event curator. At the root of everything I do is storytelling. A call that was placed on my life to give a voice to the underdog and to show the humanity in marginalized groups. I use my talents to fulfill this call in whatever way best serves the mission at the time.

Much of what I do as an actor is finding ways to let down the walls life has taught me to put up so I may become an open canvas for new characters. There is an art to remaining true to my life experiences and marrying that with the given circumstances of a character. That is where true storytelling comes to life and is where I work to remain as an actor.

Two things I am truly proud of in regard to acting are: 1) my commitment to forever being a student of the craft, and 2) if there is not yet a lane for me I will create one for myself. Upon graduating from LMU, I immediately began to seek the next level of training. I found myself at Baron Brown Studios in Santa Monica, where I completed an intense 2-year Meisner training that took me to a new level in my acting. I have now found my training home at the Identity School of Acting Los Angeles, a collective of actors and teachers where iron is literally sharpening iron. I am also an unrepresented actor, therefore I have become innovative in the way I share my talents with the world. This has encouraged me to take the wealth of knowledge I learned in the three years I spent working in production at Flavor Unit Entertainment, Queen Latifah’s production company and directly apply it into creating content for myself and the actors in my network. Since doing so, I have also partnered with other creatives as a consultant, taking their concepts for a tv show or film and developing them into a full package that can be pitched to networks and streaming services. I have recently finished developing the pitch package for my own scripted television series entitled American Dogma. Inspired by the infamous Lynch Letter, American Dogma is a trans-generational family drama that explores the cultural residue of slave-era ideology in contemporary America through the lens of a modern American Black family.

FAMILIA(R) – what should we know?
I am the co-founder of FAMILIA(R), an event curation company that cultivates a space for the young creative professional to thrive. My co-founder Taylor Kay, and I noticed crucial missing elements in the spaces that were being created for our demographic. Many events either fell into the buttoned up boring professional mixer category or were based in the fast-paced leisure side of Los Angeles. We decided to merge both worlds and create a way for like-minded individuals to have fun while creating necessary relationships to take them to their next level of purpose. We have built an undeniable presence with millennial and generation z, ranging from ages 20-35. By establishing ourselves as a pillar within this age group, we specialize in connecting budding and established brands to our demographic by way of experiential marketing. Most recently, we partnered with the iconic Cross Colours brand to curate an evening featuring male entrepreneurs in fashion at the California African American Museum.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment of my career was a decision I made internally that began to permeate throughout my life. I am still in the early stages of my career, but at the very beginning I struggled with balancing being both an artist and an entrepreneur. I used to see it as a burden to know that I was called to fulfill my life’s purpose in multiple ways. Then one day, I shifted this thought process with the realization that it is an honor to be blessed with a multitude of talents and lanes from which I can walk in my purpose. Once I accepted that everything changed.

Contact Info:

• Website: thefamiliarco.com
• Email: For all things Acting, Modeling, and Creative Producing/Consulting: [email protected]
  For all things Event Curation and FAMILIA(R) [email protected]
• Instagram: @breanhammonds and @thefamiliarco

Image Credit:
Adam Simms, Garret Porchia, Karim Saafir, and Anthony Hester

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