Meet Kayla Rodgers of KSK Productions in Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayla Rodgers.

Kayla, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My passion for entertainment started as a child. I love telling stories and reading them. I got my first role on stage in the play, “The Wizard of Oz,” and from there my career took off! A few years later, I found myself rehearsing with actress Dakota Fanning to play a small role in the Oscar-nominated film – “I Am Sam.”

Fast forward to college, where I decided to major in something I loved-journalism. My passion is writing and speaking with people/analyzing them and their daily lives. I guess you could say that’s where my passion for media and entertainment derived. People. I am a people person. People make the world go ‘round.

Every story is different and when you combine stories and writing I am not far away. I have vast experiences in many facets of the industry, but primarily in producing and journalism. ABC 7 gave me my first opportunity for their syndicated series “On the Red Carpet,” where I was a field producer and entertainment reporting intern. This was still one of my favorite jobs because they believed in trial by fire! I was free to travel to several red carpet events solo with a photographer all over Southern California to report the news. This was a thrill of a lifetime!

My passion for storytelling leads me to write and produce for companies that include CNN and CBS daytime talk. But, my passion to tell more in-depth stories has risen and my passion for TV and film never died. Film and television allow you to tell stories and impact the world by tackling many topics with timeless characters -a dream world to me.

In 2014 I decided to get a business license for my production company that was officially established as KSK Productions, LLC in 2018! Along this journey, while still working at CNN in 2017, I started my website 4everKayla.com which in the first 3-months had visitors of over 20,000 people from around the world. I started the website/blog to share my journey in the entertainment/media industry and the voices of others after seeing how many stories in my industry go untold and how many topics are skipped due to possible controversy. In 2018, I decided to take things to the next level and birthed my first talk show series, The 4everKayla Show.

This brings me to where I am today! On the verge of releasing season 2 and currently producing other projects!

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?
This has been a VERY rough road and is not for the faint of heart.

For example, just months before my position at CNN, I was working at The Honda Center as a person who brought people their food for the hockey games, swept floors and even took out trash for this arena.

I was laid off and told I am not good enough, I was told that I would not be successful because of my refusal to submit to the wrong-doings of authority.

Money comes and goes, people who support you come and go, but the one thing that is consistent is my faith in God, and He has never left me but leads me always to even better opportunities. That faith is what keeps me going and the understanding that entertainment and media is my purpose.

No one ever said the road to goals or success would be easy, it takes time and patience and a lot of ambition! Especially as a young, African-American woman in the industry where doors are few, and being paid your worth is extremely uncommon which is unfortunate.

This is more of a reason I continuously find peace in knowing that I own a company that is slowly beginning to not only open doors for myself, but for others!

Please tell us about KSK Productions.
KSK Productions, LLC is a production company. We house and produce multiple projects per year. I am proud to say 2019 was the first year that more projects than the known 4everKayla brand have been housed. I am a young executive producer and upcoming showrunner. The production company specializes in getting funding for projects and finding homes aka networks, digital platforms, etc. for them to live and the audience to enjoy!

I am proud to be a company whose goal is to always tell/produce stories, motivate, encourage, and inspire individuals internationally. My team who has been working with me and the 4everKayla brand represent many cultures and backgrounds and gender and that makes me happy! To be a company that holds the tradition of Classic Hollywood and performs that quality of work, while still being innovative and pioneering in ideas.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I have many memories from my childhood and I have to thank my parents for that wonderful gift of love. But, one of my favorite memories from my childhood is every Saturday was family day. Most of those days my parents would take my sister’s and I on what they would call an adventure. The adventure would be different places/regions to open our eyes and make us aware of opportunities, possibilities, but also show us what could happen as a result of being irresponsible with the opportunities we were blessed with.

We’d take a day trip for example up the coast to Malibu on PCH to simply hang on the beach and grab ice cream and integrate with the culture or some days we’d go to a nice neighborhood in Bel Air and simply look at the mansions and possibilities or we would visit a college and have lunch on campus. Sometimes, the “adventure” would take us to a more urban area with higher crime and we’d see bodies in a bag or people who we refer to in our family as “zombies” (people not living their full potential in life due to drug abuse). I’m grateful for this memory, because it built a strong family bond, but exposed me to different cultures and social class early on.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.4everkayla.com
• Email: info@4everkayla.com
• Instagram: iam4everKayla

Image Credit:
Envision Artistry, LLC; Chris Webb; Damon Peebles

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