TV and Content Producer, Tamala Baldwin, Inspires Others
People say that tapping into certain industries are hard, which is true to a certain extent. However, anything is achievable when you have the set business principles, have faith and know the right people. This is what TV and content producer, Tamala Baldwin has been teaching others.
Tamala Baldwin is extremely multi-talented with a mission to use ALL of what God has given her to add more goodness and light to those that she is called to serve.
In addition to be a bad-ass performance artist and story-teller, she loves to teach people that whatever dream they have can be made REAL through the power of belief and the implementation of sound business principles.
Like most people, her life has been a windy road and everything has led her to this moment. She is an entrepreneur armed with an MBA, a college professor, and love preacher. I had the pleasure of interviewing this dynamic woman. Read the interview below.
Can you tell myself and the readers about yourself?
This stumped me because there are so many different ways to answer this question. I could talk about my profession and degrees, but that doesn’t quite capture who I really am. My name is Tamala and I am a servant of Love. I believe Love is the key to transforming ourselves and the world around us. The power of Love can heal and breathe life into anything. The Love I’m talking about is unconditional that exists just because YOU ARE. I am no expert in this area, but I tapped into something within my heart that is so beautiful and delicious that everyone needs to experience it for themselves. Some people help others discover this fountain of everlasting Love through preaching the Gospel, yoga or through therapy. One of the ways I aim to help discover this beautiful nectar of Divine Love is through storytelling and filmmaking.
Growing up and still to this day who are your inspirations? How did they impact your life?
I am inspired by the everyday hero because you don’t have to be famous to touch lives. Yet, I am always left in awe when I think about Oprah Winfrey and all that she’s manifested despite her childhood trauma. She is a great example of what it means to create your reality no matter what you’ve experienced in the past. Oprah was mute for crying out loud after being raped and is now regarded as one of the most prolific speakers of our time. We all know pain. Unfortunately, too many of us know what it is like to be abused, whether physically, mentally emotionally or sexually. Still, with all that happened in her formidable years, she created the reality of her dreams. To me, that is inspiring.
When did you realize you had a passion for acting and screenwriting?
Writing was my first love. I used to write my own episodes to the Cosby Show in these five subject notebooks when I was a little girl. Nevertheless, one of my favorite things to write as a little girl, were these outrageous sex stories. I remember sharing these R-rated stories with my 6th grade teacher (because I surely couldn’t share them with my mama) and she encouraged me. Every single day for months, I would write out these fantasies and show them to her. She never judged me or told me to write about other things. At that age, I knew nothing about sex. I never even kissed a boy, but I had no problem writing these mature short stories, which in all honesty, felt pretty natural. Those are two of my earliest experiences with writing and it continued throughout my childhood so much that my high school English teacher gave me an application to the junior screenwriting program at NYU. He would read all of my scripts and begged me to apply. He said, if I completed this program, I would most likely get accepted into the film program at NYU when I graduated high school. Despite my love and passion for writing, I never applied to the junior screenwriting program at NYU. For some reason, I was afraid, and I went on to major in Business and Communications. But LO and BEHOLD, God always has a final say, because look! I’m writing again… A LOT! Acting naturally followed writing… I mean, someone had to act out all the parts to my Cosby and Different World episodes. HA!
What was your first job in the television industry? How did that job help grow your enthusiasm and lead you on this path?
As a child, I was very much involved in the arts and booked paid professional work. Yet, I stopped during college out of fear. Once I decided to give fear the middle finger (two Business degrees later) I left Corporate America to pursue a career in theater. Theater is so much fun, but after my mom passed in 2016, I had to refocus because I wanted to be closer to my family. Two of my first gigs were Curvy Girls Rock and Asunder The Series – both directed and written by women. I was SO INSPIRED by their tenacity and courage that I decided to take my own leap of faith to produce my own work. I thank both of these ladies so much for giving me the opportunity to not only act in their projects, but to find the gumption to produce my own.
How did you come up with the pilot for the series? What is the premise of the show?
After my mom passed, everything around me felt dim. Theater and my work didn’t feel as fulfilling, so I prayed to God to charge me with purpose. After a year, that prayer was answered while stuck in traffic. Love Galore by SZA was on the radio and in that moment, the story for Bubbly Brown Sugar downloaded into my spirit. I could see the ENTIRE concept in my head and I couldn’t get it out fast enough. I wrote the entire script in 10 days. It would have been less if I didn’t have to do things like sleep, eat and go to work. LOL
Bubbly Brown Sugar is about two soulmates meeting in their dreams and how they try to find each other when they wake up.
How much money have you raised for the project? What’s the next event you have planned to raise funds?
Oh, the joy of raising funds for independent projects! LOL! We raised about $12,000 from a crowdfunding campaign and about $10,000 from sponsors. Only about a $3,000 of the sponsorship money came in for production, so my hope is that the remaining funds come in for post, because that is just as expensive. If that comes in, we should be set for post-production costs. However, we have a contingency plan, which includes a networking mixer in February. If 100 people attend, we will raise $2,000, which will go a long way. We also plan on having a red-carpet event for the first two episodes, which will hopefully give us the additional funds to complete the project. On top of that, we are also going to do another crowdfunding campaign, just to cover all of our bases. In our ideal world, we hope this will give us what we need to complete the project.
Are there any special premieres that will be happening? What is the set release date of the series?
YES! We are having a red carpet in NYC and in ATL for sure in May, where we will release two of the episodes. After we have this initial premier, the remaining episodes will come shortly after. There are no set dates at this time, so please follow us on IG to stay updated.
Is there any words of wisdom or advice you would like to share with fellow screenwriters and entrepreneurs?
Fear can be good. It can alert us to danger and when we are heading in the wrong direction. Yet, when it comes to your dreams, do not allow fear to paralyze you from moving toward that which makes your soul sing. I encourage everyone reading to develop a mindset of abundance and faith. Trust that you are here for a purpose and your dreams are the key making that purpose manifest. Even if you take baby steps, continue to build, no matter what… no matter how much money you have, or the naysayers (especially your own negative thoughts) and keep going. Life is too short not to fill it with work that you love.
