Leighanna Cina

I think that I am very motivated and driven and have a high bar for success for myself. I'm always kind of chasing more, wanting more, furthering my education. So I think that has a big part to do with it. I'm also cautious because a lot of times as women, I feel like we place our success outside of ourselves, and we don't give ourselves credit for the work that we did to get us here. So I do like to acknowledge the fact that a lot of it is just who I am, it's how I'm built. My drive and my motivation are probably the two biggest reasons for my success. I'd also add resiliency, because I've had a lot of failures too. It hasn't all been easy and I think the ability to bounce back after those failures is paramount.

I don't know that I received it, but I think I learned it on my own. A lot of people will try to change you. A lot of people will tell you what you should do or don't do. But I think ultimately the best advice for myself has been to be authentic. Show up as who you are. I don't believe that there has to be a different version of who you are at work and who you are at home. I think there is a place for everyone where they can work and show up and be truly authentically themselves.

There are a lot of opportunities to get your feet wet. You can start with non-profits, you can volunteer, you can do internships. You can get great internship opportunities that get big brands and big names on your resume. To get your foot in the door, you can do jobs like production assistants. If you don't want to be in production, there's the actual video side of it. Start it, like not being afraid to just try it out, try different things, see what works. Raise your hand if you already have a job at work and say I'm really interested in video, can I attend that shoot. If it's in your means, courses as well. That's a really great way to immerse yourself.

I think some of the biggest challenges are AI. It is something that is a challenge because we have to find ways to ethically involve it in our workload, while also potentially not making our jobs obsolete. It's also an opportunity though because it's an area where we can potentially optimize workflows or reduce the amount of hours we have to work. Other opportunities in this field in particular are diversity and inclusion, so on sets making sure that you're creating an authentic space for everyone. Those that are leaders in production have the power to to more evenly distribute opportunities.

Authenticity is one. You know being able to show up as who I want to be, not who people think I should be. That's a really important value. Kindness. Being supportive of my team, my friends, my family whether that's at work or at home. A lot of times on my team it's like if I can do that myself I'm not going to ask someone else to do it. Sharing the load with my team is certainly a value. Just being friendly, approachable, warm and authentic. Those are probably the immediate ones that come to mind.