Name: Mykim Dang
Title: Founder and CEO of Mykim Dang productions | Digital Media and Experience Producer, Skateboard Designer.
Contact: Mykimdang.com
Company: Mykim Dang productions
Originally From: New York. Her ethnic background is Vietnamese, her parents migrated to New York right after the Vietnam war.
College: Emerson College
Field of Study: Film
Recommended Books: Essentialism by Greg Mckeown
Listen to the interview:
A Few Notes From the Show:
- Her formal background is in Film production, she has been doing that for other companies, a lot of technology companies for the past 7-8 years. She was also freelancing on the side, putting together a portfolio and learning as much as she could. It’s been a year at the time of this recording since she has started, on her own and has been running her own full stack video production company, doing very similar work to what she was doing for the companies before but now doing it for herself. She is now working anywhere from 6 to 10 projects a month, so her “Day by Day” changes a lot, it varies all the time.
- Sometimes she will be in pre-production for a week or two, then in production with another project and then moving to post-production with another. She has been better at managing the time so things aren’t happening all at once, but it can definitely be a struggle, especially when it’s a small team. She works only with 2 or 3 other freelancers, but for the most part she is doing everything. So the hardest part for her is changing “hats”, from being the person who is having the first initial meetings to having to create concepts, hand-holding with clients, etc.
- Most people in production start as assistants and that’s what she did, she thinks that it’s very valuable for anybody who wants to pursuit this kind of work. That’s where you learn the most, you get exposed to a lot of different areas and that’s the most important thing. She started a very big and traditional place, people who work there tend to stay there for all their careers, and it was only because she mentioned “she was crazy” or not sure, something told her, she had to go follow this new trend that it would change the way to share content. But she thinks it’s really important and valuable to work for someone else, before start working on your own.
- “I’m always open to new ideas and new experiences. Don’t have an ego about your creative work, always be open to learning from other people. For someone who is just starting I think it’s so important to work for someone else, work in someone’s project so you can learn about your creativity.”
- When did you decided that you were creative? “I was an only child until I was 14 and moved around a lot, so I had to be creative, I never labeled myself as a creative person until other people did it, and it was something I did because I felt the need to”.
- What do you wish you were told when you were starting your career? “I wish there were other people available out there to talk to, to know it was ok to be vulnerable about the things I was going through. Perhaps knowing that there are active communities and other people trying to build their own visions, their own stories and carriers.”
- What is the unspoken wisdom that you have discovered in your career? “Knowing that this thing actually takes time and that if this is definitely what you want to do, you have to be dedicated to it, be prepare for the ups and downs, accept them because they are inevitable, you have to take it all in as part of the process. You can’t be motivated by the money, the fame or the social pressure, if this is your calling and what you want to do, you do it for that reason alone.”
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