Her Story
About Kelsey
I actually started as an actor and still do a lot of acting in my free time. Through some of my acting gigs, I met some really great people and connections, which led to us creating our own company, Moon Era Films, a film production company based in Oklahoma City. We specialize in short films, but we're actually moving on to feature films coming up in 2025. I wear a lot of hats in the company - mainly touching on production and producing roles and responsibilities, which includes the logistics of a film shoot, casting, location scouting, all of that. On the fashion side, I've always been a project manager in the digital marketing agency world, and I was lucky enough to get an interview with Saks Fifth Avenue Neiman Marcus. They're now one company, and I project manage a lot of the creative assets for these brands on social, emails, their site, paid social, and I manage a couple brands for them as well. It's a lot of logistics, timelines, and making sure you have all the pieces right to execute a project. The fashion kind of fell into my lap with my previous experience, but the film is more of my passion-driven work for sure, though it still translates very well to the fashion world as well.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kelsey
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say two major things: really finding your community and trusting them with your work. Find like-minded people that you trust and who are creatively the same as you, who can see your vision, because you can't do this without other people. And then, just kind of trusting your gut, trusting yourself, and believing that you can do this, even if you've never done it before. That's what I struggled with - I had never written and directed a short film before, and it was nerve-wracking and challenging, but you have to do things that scare you. You have to challenge yourself and trust yourself. You live and you learn. My short film is not perfect - there were things in it afterwards that I was like, I wish I would have changed that, you know? But it's something that you just kind of have to keep positive about and trust yourself. You live and you learn, move on to the next project, and you'll be better for it.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I would say the biggest challenge for us at Moon Era Films is just finding the finances. We self-funded most of our projects so far. Thankfully, the last couple, we have had donations and investors, but that's the biggest thing. You have to get people who can see the vision of your project and want to financially contribute so that you can hire a bigger crew, hire maybe some more notable actors. It all costs so much money, so I would say that's the biggest challenge - where's the money coming from? Who can we get involved in this that can help us make these concepts a reality?
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think it's powerful for women to be proud of what they've accomplished, and I'm very proud of that. I do think it's important to have that recognition. You need to believe in yourself, you need to believe in your project and your concepts and your brand. I think you need to be strong in that and believe in what you're doing - I think that's so important. You need to have heart behind what you do. I would say that is probably the most important to start, because if you don't have that, I don't believe the other things would help you. You kind of need to believe in yourself first.
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