Rising Stars: Meet Jelena Jemi Miladinovic of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jelena Jemi Miladinovic

Hi Jelena Jemi, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was born and raised in Belgrade, Serbia. Back in the day that was a capital of the country called Yugoslavia (country that was a unity of Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, North Macedonia, Slovenia and Montenegro). I had to change my documents every time the country would change it’s name. Growing up there was beautiful, but difficult from time to time because of the wars. I wasn’t afraid of the war I was in; I knew I will be ok and I remained happy. I was 8 years old back then.

My life changed when I became an athlete. I was a rower for the Serbian National Team and then I gained a full athletic scholarship at USC for rowing. I moved to Los Angeles by myself at the age of 18 for college and sports. People here accepted me phenomenally and I gained a lot of friends from all over the world who were athletes as well. Since I mostly knew English from American movies I watched back in Serbia, it took some time to speak fluently; but it was a very fun journey and a lot of laughter came from it when my friends and I tried to explain things to each other… with gestures and noices.
After college, I had a difficult decision to make weather to go back to Serbia and train for the Olympics, or to remain in the US and find a job and focus on the cereer. I made a decision to stay here and focus on the career.

Since I was a psychology major, and I liked many branches of psychology, in particular sport and criminal psychology, I started working in the safe house where I rescued and helped recovery of human and sex trafficked children. This job was very demanding, but I loved doing it and I had no negative thoughts while rescues; I had no doubts in myself. This mindset helped me a lot because all of my rescues were succesful.

This safe house closed and I had to find a new career path, so I decided to go into the private aviation. I was teaching pilots of private jets how to use the software that helps them make the most cost efficient trip. Going into the prvate aviation was hard in the beginning because I had to learn a lot of new terms and to learn the software. Eventually, this job became much easier and I was speaking with a lot of pilots, owner of the jets and people associated with private aviation in general.
After 4 years being in aviation, I decided to join the film industry and start acting and modeling. I used to model as a hobby, but now I stepped into the industry more seriously.

I took acting classes in Hollywood and started doing commercials. I didn’t go to the Olympic games, but I did film a Snapchat commercial for the Olympic games 2024 in Paris. I also filmed a commercial for Volkswagen and I supposed to be just one of the marathon runners; however, the production team saw me and asked me to do a solo shoot with the new electrical van. I was thrilled and gladly did it. It was such a wonderful experience. I met so many wonderful and hard working people along the way. One of the working actors I met on the Volkswagen set is now my gymnastics coach. His idea is that I should practice movie kicks and thumbling, so I can do my own stunts in the future.

Alright, 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?
The challenges along the way were only when I had to make a decision. Once a decision is made and I know what path to take, it became easier. For example, it was difficult to make a decision weather I will go to Serbia and train for the Olympics or stay in the US and develop different career. Once I cut and decided to stay in the US, it was clear to me that it won’t be a smooth road, but at least I know the direction I’m going.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I used to work for the organization where I rescued and helped recover of human and sex trafficked children. After this organization stopped operating, I had to change my career path and I decided to go into private aviation. Since I was in private aviation for years, and I was doing modeling as a hoby, I decided to step more seriously into the industry and also do acting. I am new in film industry, but I love my begining. Since modeling was inspiring me to stay active after retiring from being an athlete, acting is allowing me to go deeper into reading and story telling which is another passion of mine. Being creative, reading scripts, getting familiar with characters is a wonderful and interesting addition to a professional life and sort of an outlet when the days at work get stressful. As a biginning, I act in the commercials and a few other projects.

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Yes, I read the book called ‘Power of the actor’ and it descriptively shows the steps of how to get into the character. The book teaches you how to bring the emotions in front of the camera and it makes you think a lot about your own life and the experiences you went through.
Aviation wise, I like to read about airplanes online. There are so many interesting facts about airplanes and it’s fascinating how the industry develops.
In the past, we as a rowing team had to go to a sport psychologist for a semester. This was benefitial not only for our athletic performance, but also for my life later on. The video that the psychologist showed us was the race of two top performing boats where the better boat lost because the girls were focusing on the competitor instead of themselves. This lesson was benefitial later on because it insured me that I will do the best if I focus on my own craft.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jemzzi/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jelena.miladinovic.100/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jelena-miladinovi%C4%87-066153116/?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@tall.and.tasteful

Image Credits
Raeshib Aggerwhil