Today we’d like to introduce you to Teresa Evans.
Teresa, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’m from Hickory, NC which is a small town about an hour away from Charlotte. My greatest passions have always been to pursue a career in the film/tv and/or the music industries so I jumped at the chance in 2001 when I moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles to join the operational team for Soulife Records, which is a label some friends founded which had such artists as Sunshine Anderson and Anthony Hamilton. After my brief stint with the record label I went back to corporate America and utilized my degree in Accounting before getting an opportunity to join the management team with long-time friends who represented artists and producers such as 9th Wonder, Anthony Hamilton, Sunshine Anderson, and VanJess.
After working several years with the management company I also began a career as a club DJ in which I worked for the biggest promoters in the LGBTQ community and also expanded into corporate and special events. Being a DJ gave me the opportunity to meet many interesting people and also opened my eyes to communities that were unknown to anyone outside of them. So in 2018, my creative muse started working overtime as my passion for film making resurfaced and I began carving out ideas about interesting stories that have never been told. In this process, FemsLA, a reality TV show, was born and I began to tell the stories of a group of lesbian women of color who are known as “Fems” in their communities. The word “Fem” originates from the Urban Dictionary and defines them as “a woman who adopts the feminine role in a lesbian relationship.” After doing a little research I realized that many of the mainstream shows such as; the popular 2004 hit the L Word and also the reality show The Real L Word and many others like it, there were little to no representation of the lives of lesbian women of color.
The culture, experiences and issues that they face are different from their counterparts in the LGBTQ community and I felt it was time for their stories to be told and their voices to be heard. FemsLA is currently in pre-production and will be released in 2019. I have also created my own production company called Real Films in which I plan to release two short films and a docu-series before the end of this year. At this time in my life I feel like I have finally found my true passion in film making and telling stories that have never been told and I am excited about the future and my new phase in life.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has definitely been some struggles especially in regards to the career path that I have chosen in music, film and tv. One thing I can say that anyone pursuing this career path has to be strong and be able to ride the wave of the ups and downs. Being a woman I also face my own set of challenges trying to break into a male-dominated industry in which you have to work harder than your male counterparts to be recognized. I also think with anything out of the norm and because the rewards are so great it will not come easy and it develops you and makes your strong. Even though the process is hard I believe that the person you become on the other side of it makes you equipped to handle the challenges of being in that position.
My struggles consist of working in and out of the music industry for years and it not affording me the long term career that I hoped due to internal things that were out of my control. When working with artists you have to rely on their success which not all the time happens. By going through these different struggles in my career made me realize that I have to re-think my strategy on how to break into these industries which has lead me to where I am today.
FemsLA – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I am a filmmaker, director and creator of the show FemsLA and also the owner of Real Films. What I’m most proud of in regards to my company is that our mission is to be a spotlight on stories of real people, places and things that have never been told and to be a voice for the voiceless. I believe this is also what sets us apart from others because in doing so we will be creating a niche market for ourselves.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I personally define success as setting a goal and seeing it through from beginning to end. In regards to my own success and criteria and markers that I look out for is that whatever goal I set to achieve that I must be super focused on it and work on it daily to achieve that particular thing. The things that I am currently working on I want to eventually have as a full-time career so I believe I take it a little more serious than most of my counterparts because this is my livelihood and I also want to leave a legacy for my family. So as I work on the particular goal I look for things that will happen on a daily basis to push it forward to achieving that success like for example in regards to FemsLA I use social media as a gauge to see how many new people we have made aware of the show through social media and word of mouth.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 818-632-1822
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/?lang=en
Image Credit:
Individual photograph – Teresa Evans, Group photograph – The Cast of FemsLA
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