Emily Fernandez

I attribute my success to my family and my discipline. I did martial arts from a young age until I was older, and throughout my time doing martial arts, I developed discipline. So whatever I get into, I'm very motivated and disciplined in whatever I do, and I just keep going. My family is also a big factor because I grew up in a setting where my parents both worked 9-to-5 jobs, and I'm the oldest child, so I would have to take care of my siblings a lot. I feel like I want to break generational cycles, and for me personally, I wouldn't want a 9-to-5 lifestyle - I want something different for myself, and I'm working towards that.

I have two pieces of advice that really stand out. First, my manager from Blumhouse told me, 'Don't be afraid to ask the hard questions.' When I first started my internship, I was very shy and too scared to ask questions. My manager noticed that about me, so we had a talk, and she encouraged me not to be afraid to ask the hard questions because that's what I was there for - to get experience. I think that's really good advice because by the time I had my internship at Illumination, I felt like I was better at communicating my questions and not being afraid to reach out for help. The second piece of advice is don't compare your journey to others. Especially at my age and in my college career, a lot of people tend to compare themselves to their peers, like 'Oh, this person got an internship, why didn't I get an internship?' So I feel like it's important not to compare yourself to others.

I would say know your worth. I'm a big believer in this, especially in the entertainment industry. I don't believe in unpaid internships. I've done two unpaid internships, and I feel like I put so much work in what I do that I deserved compensation for my work, but never received it because I just wanted experience on my resume. So I would say just know what you're worth, and look for the companies that you're passionate about. Whatever company tells you yes, just go for it, especially if it's a company that you like.

I would say the biggest challenge in the entertainment industry overall is the advancement of AI. It's kind of scary because I feel like in the future, it might take over certain jobs in the industry, like editing jobs and maybe even marketing jobs. AI can come up with campaigns, and it's a little scary. During my time at Blumhouse, I was very much encouraged to use AI for developing my ideas, and I do use AI every day. But I feel like we should also use our creativity, our own creativity, instead of having AI come up with ideas. I actually wrote a whole paper about AI in the industry. It's a real concern, but I also understand that AI will always need that human element with it in most positions, so we have to learn to accept it and let it help us so we can move on and do more things and just be smarter.

I value teamwork because in my career, I love team bonding and doing teamwork and brainstorming with my coworkers. I find that very valuable. I also believe in just being kind to others and treating people the way you would want to be treated.