Maria Aldana

I think the reason I am where I am, aside from the people who have believed in me, is because I just had a mindset of I have no other choice but to make my dream come true. I come from an immigrant background. I was born in Venezuela, I moved here when I was young, and I knew the sacrifices that my parents made for me from a very young age. When your parents come here and sacrifice everything to give you a better life, most of the time they want to see you in a career that's practical, so when you pick something that's a little more artistic, they can get a little concerned. But my mindset was just, all through high school, all through college, in general, I love production, that's my dream, and I'm gonna make it work. I will find a way to make this both something I can make a living out of and have that stability, but at the same time get to live my dream, which is just telling stories.

One of my bosses told me something that has really stuck with me, almost like a slogan I think about when things get a little tough: I may not know everything, but I trust that I will take the time to figure it out. I have really valued that piece of advice, because when you look at people who are getting awards and accomplishing all these things, or at the place you'd want to be at one day, it almost feels like they know everything. Like, how do you know all these things, and how did you get there? And it's like, well, I didn't. But I know that even when I don't know something, I will figure it out. I trust in me. I found that very empowering, so now I'm just kind of applying that to life. It's okay, you don't have to have everything figured out. You don't have to know everything, but you'll get there.

I think that right now we live in a world where YouTube is a very great resource, and a lot of things are just practice. Definitely just take time, go on YouTube, look up tutorials, and just practice it, because this is a field that's ever-growing and ever-evolving, so we never really stop learning new things we can do. Don't think that things are not within your grasp. There's a lot of resources out there that can help you really learn. Not to discredit college in any way, but sometimes not everybody has the resources to go to a traditional school, but that doesn't mean you have to give up on your dream. There's other resources, and if you put in the time and put in the work, you can make those dreams happen. I'm hoping that if someone sees my story and they're also a girl like me who may not have had the opportunity to play sports due to their economic background, it doesn't mean you can't get here. If she can do it, I can do it.

I think the biggest challenge I face is just keeping up with all the new developments, or new styles. This field is very connected to pop culture, so just making sure that we stay fresh and we're editing in ways that are always engaging to the viewer can be a little tricky, but it pushes you out of your comfort zone, for sure, and it only makes you better. Social media is a big part of what we do, because a lot of the things we make are for social media. The struggle sometimes can be, as a brand, copyright and IP is a big thing, so trying to be mindful of that. But definitely just staying current, making sure that your algorithm has things related to your work so that you can see what other people are doing, see what's trending in those spaces. When you are scrolling on social media for fun, it's also a study of what is going on in the world, so that you can make sure that your content is keeping up with what people want to watch.

There's a saying in Spanish that I love: Tell me who you surround yourself with, and I'll tell you who you are. I have ambitions of many things, and when I surround myself with people that I look up to, I feel like that influences you and motivates you to just keep getting better and reaching for the stars. All the people that I look up to currently, professionally, are people that are engaged in the community, people that work at a high level for what they do, are experts, and put in the time, not just at the office, but outside of it, but then are also superstars in their personal lives, like being moms, and being spouses, and being friends. I see them balancing all these different things, because it's not just your career, but it's your life outside of that. Those dreams are connected, so when I surround myself with women who are accomplishing all these things I hope to accomplish one day, I feel like it only motivates me and fuels me and educates me on what to do to move forward. At the end of the day, we want our fans to enjoy what we make, and when it comes to in-arena content, it's always someone's first game, it's always someone's core memory, so we want to make sure that we're creating a show that can build those lasting memories and make people happy regardless of the outcome of the game itself.