Sareeta Young

I'd been a photographer for years before I ever took a film class, but my dad always told me photography was a hobby and not a career, so for a while I chased something more "practical." That changed when I took film production classes at Berkeley City College, taught by professors who were genuinely badasses in the field, and it opened up my whole world. Around the same time, I met my first mentor, Korise Jubert III, and interned with him as an assistant editor, which put me around people who were actually doing this professionally and made me think maybe I could too.

Studying the media coverage of Hurricane Katrina in college changed something in me, because white people taking supplies to survive were called resourceful while Black people doing the same thing were called looters, and that showed me how much power lives in the way a story gets edited and narrated. My grandmother shaped me too, long before I understood it, handing me one of her cameras so I could run around her yard photographing flowers. When she passed, I inherited that camera and rediscovered her through everything she'd filmed of our family, and it took years for me to realize how much of who I became started right there.

Not even close. I graduated film school in 2020, right when the industry was essentially closed, and since I don't have family in entertainment, there was no one to usher me in, so everything came from building genuine relationships and a reputation from nothing.A year after graduating, I was inspired by my mentor Korise, who had built his own production company TownFuturist Media, to make mine official. Looking back, I’m really grateful I did because we’ve all seen how quickly things can change in this industry.

Getting over the fear of being perceived, honestly, because I used to be quiet, moving through school, work, and home without much noise, but you can't build a creative career that way when people need to know your skill set and your energy before they'll hire you. Putting myself out there also meant absorbing new kinds of attention, from people looking for holes to poke to people genuinely drawn in to people looking to use my talent for themselves, so I had to learn to protect myself while learning to be seen.

Almost everything I've earned has gone back into the business, from cameras and hard drives to lenses and my team's pay, often before my own. Also, I've lived with depression while running a company, and even in a fog you have to keep moving, keep innovating, and keep showing up. I've had stretches where I couldn't get out of bed, and I've had to let myself feel that while still finding my way back to motion.

The Bay feels documentary to me, since I was born and raised here, and the openness of this place keeps expanding how I think, whether I'm looking at the murals, the food banks, or the people, because there's always another story worth telling.

I think people will eventually split into different camps; some will embrace AI, while others will continue to value work that is distinctly human-made. AI definitely has its place, but I don’t think every film is suddenly going to become an AI-generated film. When AI first started gaining traction, I was definitely worried about what it could mean for the industry, but I think we’re going to be all right.

Music grounds me more than almost anything, especially when Beyonce's Renaissance plays start to finish, and so does the toolbox I've built over three years of consistent therapy, which taught me how to set boundaries. Sisterhood matters just as much, and I’m grateful for the Black women in my life who show up for me in ways I didn't know I needed.

I've learned that creating opportunities for yourself is a never-ending game. One experience that particularly stands out happened while I was at UCLA. I had turned down unpaid internship opportunities because they weren't aligned with what I wanted. Instead, I focused on building genuine relationships that actually led to paid projects. That experience taught me the importance of being genuine with people while also being clear about what I want and what I don't want, and it's an approach I still carry with me at BLKReelstoday. I've also learned how important it is to surround yourself with passionate, genuine people. My team keeps me going, especially on the days when I'm running low on steam.

Take it one step at a time and be gentle with yourself, because you'll mess up, and success might take ten years to arrive. But a long time ago, I decided I'm not going to lose, and this is my path, so no matter what happens around me, I come back to that decision.