Today we’d like to introduce you to Edith Mendoza
Hi Edith, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I moved to LA in 2011 and just like anyone else moving to a big city can be intimidating. Although I was born in Los Angeles (South Central to be exact), I was raised in Northern CA in Sacramento, which is significantly different.
A week after I graduated college, I packed my car up and was on my way to Los Angeles. Honestly, I had no idea what I was going to accomplish, but I knew I wanted to be in the world of entertainment.
While I was in college I was working for US Bank as a personal banker, and lucky for me I was able to transfer my job to LA. I ended up landing a gig in Santa Monica and continued my pursuit into show business! I graduated with a degree in Journalism, so naturally I wanted to write. Six months after being in LA, I ended up getting hired to do gossip writing for Perez Hilton.
I wrote gossip for 1 year, but then grew tired of talking mess about people. I think blogs started to die anyway. I ended up leaving Perez Hilton and found a social media marketing gig at a Fitness Production company. Honestly I have no idea how I got that job as I had never done social media marketing, but I think it had everything to do with my weight loss story. I went through a time where I gained 30 pounds. I am now stepping into a side story, but I ended up losing 30 pounds with workout videos and this is what this company produced. I told the owner my story and showed him photos, and I do believe that is part of a main reason why I was hired.
So now I am in the world of fitness production and on set which was unreal to me. I was not only doing social media marketing, but I was also helping the producer produce the shoots. A whole different feeling came over me when I was producing. It was like I was finally flying. And even though I was not the main producer, heck I was a PA, it just felt nice being involved.
Funny enough, the producer ended up leaving months later, and you wouldn’t believe what happened. I stepped in as producer! Unfortunately the company went out of business, but I wanted to continue to follow my new found passion. The road was tough. I was networking, doing things for free, driving to odd places just to be involved in production but nothing seemed to stick. And also, let’s not forget I am a Latina in 2013 where the production world was not diverse at all. Saying it was rough was an understatement!
Years went by and I just kept trying. I felt like 50 cent. I’m going to get rich or die trying. LOL I went years of not being able to get a job. With my finances dwindling, I felt completely lost. I was in DEBT. Like debt debt. From paying my rent and needing food. You know the bare necessities. I had a bit of liquid funds saved, but I tried to hold onto that as much as I could.
In late 2015, I was at a loss. I could not get a job. The industry did not want me. I felt like such a loser. I wasn’t a loser though. The industry was / is hard! I ended up leaving LA for a bit. I needed money and I needed it fast. I moved to Phoenix for about four months because I got a job there. My ex best friend lived in Phoenix and said just come here, I bet you could get a job, and I did get a job, but I hated the job. It was boring, it wasn’t LA, it wasn’t exciting, but it was a job and I finally had a bit of money, but I still had A LOT of debt and I wasn’t happy.
I couldn’t do this job anymore and I couldn’t do the desert either. I ended up asking THAT job if I could leave and WFH in Los Angeles. They actually agreed to it! I moved back to LA, but I had nowhere to live. Why did I go back to LA without a home? I have no clue. I just wanted to be here. The energy is captivating. I couch surfed for a while, but it was horrifying. I ended up on my ex bf’s mom’s doorstep. Yep! I sure did. LOL She let me stay with her for a while until I figured it out. Rent was high. I could not afford LA, so I ended up renting a place in Long Beach. Why LBC? IDK! IDK! I had never even been there, but I fell in love with the apartment and it was the only thing I could afford.
So now I’m in my Long Beach era working this job I got in Phoenix. GIRL WHAT?! In that moment I was still trying to get a producer job while I started to work on another idea. Now, I lose my Phoenix job (they had layoffs), and I can’t find a producer job to save my life. You wouldn’t believe the next idea. My ex best friend and I thought it would be fun to start a food truck. Yes, a food truck. Guess what, we did start that food truck. I took my liquid funds and got into more debt to start the food truck. We ran the food truck for about 6 months and burnt out. It was hard. VERY HARD. I would never do it again, but I gained so much character, and if anyone now tells me I cannot produce anything, well I produced a whole business with no money. So how about that?!
Six months later I have no truck, more debt, and no money. What now? You know what happens next? My landlord is kicking me out of my LBC apt. Why? I broke my lease. MY ex BFF who moved from Phoenix to start the truck with me moved into the apt and my nosey ass neighbor told on me. The struggle was real. So she moves back to PHX and if I am not mistaken lived in her car for sometime. I am in a frenzy to find my next place. I find this cheap apt in Miracle Mile with all utilities included and down the street from LACMA. The apt was kind of sketchy, but it was like trendy sketchy and in an amazing neighborhood. It was being ran by slumlords and I thought my deposit that my mom let me borrow was going to get stolen. Luckily for me it did not and I moved in. Now how was I going to pay rent in a month?
I kept going on interviews and interviews. I finally landed a producer gig for a beauty brand, but the joke was on me as they terminated my position 3 months later. I am jobless again! I turn back to social media marketing. I start writing Facebook and IG captions for a streaming platform. I was making $1800 a month. That’s all I had every month. My rent was $1600. The math was not mathing. Luckily this was a WFH job, so I keep looking for work. I land a FT Production Manager role at a popular Facebook channel. Yes that was a thing. The content they produced was so bad. REALLY BAD. I hated it, but I needed the money. I worked that job and kept doing the social stuff. I felt like I could kinda breathe, but let’s not forget I had garnered even more debt. No lie, I am sitting at almost $50K debt now, but a dream is a dream right?!
I had these jobs in like 2017. I lose both to downsizing. I am jobless yet again. FML. I then meet a startup production company. One thing about me, I don’t give up. They hired me to do a photo shoot! OMG it felt like my first big thing. It was! They then hired me to do reality. Wow, what is happening. Then I start doing some EPK shoots for them for Disney, Freeform, etc. Life seems like it’s getting better, BUT these jobs were so sporadic and I did not have consistent pay, so I was obviously still struggling. I still cannot breathe. I felt like this torture would never end. Then in 2018, I land an amazing job as a Production Manager for an Experiential Event Agency. And while I had been chasing film for years, I never thought to be a producer in the experiential world, but there I was. When I got that job, great things happened. I gained experience, started chipping away at my debt, and finally felt free. I was working with Nike, Jordan Brand, Converse, etc. But just like in the Pursuit of Happyness, peace can only last so long. My contract ended in 2019, but YOU KNOW WHAT?! I now had so much experience that I could take it anywhere. I started to reach out to more experiential agencies and they hired me. I produced so many projects in 2019 and even went on tour with J Balvin. I produced part of his Arcoiris tour. CRAZY!
But now we got close to covid time! HAHAHAHHA We’re now stuck indoors. We’re not working. But you know what, I chipped away at $30K of debt during 2018 – 2019 so I felt so much better.
My covid story is on another level. Because I went viral on TikTok over a stupid video, I ended up starting an import resale business which was quite successful. I saw a hole in the market. People were at home doing nothing, and needed to WORKOUT! I imported spin bikes and roller skates from China and sold them. Yes, this is real. It was so great. I got debt free!
OK back to work. In 2022 I produced 2 of the biggest commercials I have ever done. I did two commercials for Nordstrom Rack. I also did the biggest experiential event. I produced a YouTube artist lounge at Coachella! After all of this, I started a food blog: @tastinginstyle I did so much work on it, and even though I am not that active anymore, I still hold it close to me.
Now we’re heading into 2023 and the strikes are here. Work is dead, but now I’m smarter, stronger and out of debt. I continued to network, and I happened to meet the sweetest EP. She put me in touch with a wonderful commercial production company which I work at currently full time. What do I do? I create budgets for commercials you’ve all seen!
But crazy things always happen. I now I have a dope job, debt free, and doing things I love, and then my BF of 6 years and I break up. That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever dealt with. Even harder than everything else you’ve read. It’s been a year since my breakup. Has it been easy? Nah. I won’t even sugarcoat it. Those types of things feel like you are getting stabbed. It was painful, but I had to keep on going. I had no choice. I kept working, I kept thriving, I built communities, and I solo vacationed.
Also, funny enough, I recently bought an investment property in Phoenix. What keeps me coming back to Phoenix? I have no clue, but I became a homeowner. I wanted to put my money somewhere to start building generational wealth.
My journey in production or life is NOT over. I am going to become something bigger than I can imagine. The key thing is to not give up. Never give up.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Not at all. Getting to a place of peace requires a ton of work. The only thing we can do is keep on going, keep on moving, and keep on trying.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a Producer in the film and experiential industry. I am proud that I got to the point of life that I am now. A person that comes from where I come from does not usually get to this point. I am proud of me, and I am proud of my struggles.
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters to me most is having peace. Being at ease with myself and others. I like to help people as I believe it’ll come back to me.
I appreciate honesty, empathy, and hard work.
I am FEARLESS.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.edithmendoza.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tastinginstyle/
- Other: edithdoza@gmail.com
