(New Post) Andrea Lewis talks “Black Actress” & Working with @IssaRae on @VibeVixen

Hey guys! A few weeks ago I did a fun interview with Vibe Vixen to talk about my upcoming web series, “Black Actress”, being a women of color in entertainment and working with the amazing Issa Rae. Check out the interview below and a big thank you to Vibe Vixen for the feautre!

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If Kerry Washington taught us anything this year, it’s that 2013 is the year of the black actress. Although the plight of brown-skinned thespians is a never-ending story, the emergence of web series like Issa Rae’s Awkward Black Girl not only gives us meaty characters, but it allows for creative freedom. For Canadian industry vet Andrea Lewis (Degrassi, Cadet Kelly), this new media breakthrough makes being a black actress more exciting than ever before. Her upcoming series of the same name will spotlight the quirky everyday life of Cory Bailey, a mildly successful actress struggling to overcome Hollywood roadblocks.

Vixen recently caught up with Lewis to talk about teaming up with Issa Rae, running a successful IndieGogo fundraiser and her craziest audition experience.

VIBE Vixen: Is there camaraderie between you and other Toronto entertainers?
Andrea Lewis: Yeah! Any city or place you come from where there’s multiple people pursuing the same career, you definitely meet everybody and get to know everyone fairly well, whether it be on a professional level or friendship wise. I’ve always been blessed and very fortunate that I’ve lived in different parts of the U.S. and I always have friends there that are from Toronto. So, I’m never far from home [in a sense] which is really good.

Is there one person in particular you count as a close friend?
I’m really close with Melanie Fiona. She’s been my girl for many, many years. Maybe because we’re both Canadian. We both have West Indian background. She’s just a truth teller. Melanie keeps it real all the time. She’s always been my closest friend.

At what point did you realize being a black actress was going to be difficult?
I knew being a black actress was going to be difficult when I was 14. I started in the industry when I was only a toddler and I think if there’s one big thing you learn right away, it’s who you are or what you are in terms of the protocol and list of parts. There was always projects that wanted the token person of color. I was going to auditions that wanted people of color period and not just black girls. Everybody’s there and they’re just trying to fill one role. You learn that very quickly. It’s eye opening. It makes you take a stand, whether you’re going to stick by the stereotype or you say ‘Eff it, I’m going to create my own opportunities.’

Did you feel the same way on Degrassi?
My character a lot of the time was the token girl of color in a scene. She wasn’t necessarily significant. I might’ve been in a ton of episodes. I might’ve been in advertising and all kinds of things, but you didn’t always know things about my character or you didn’t get to hear her speak. I used to ask and talk to them about developing my character a little bit more and giving me a little more shine, but it was always fairly difficult. That’s just the system unfortunately. Luckily, we’re in a time now where the first lady is a black woman and you have TV shows like Scandal. There’s a real sense of turning around to bring in more people of color.

Canada is not like the U.S. in the sense that we don’t have a Canadian BET. We don’t have shows that have a full cast of black people. It is a feat itself to have been on such a recognized show in Canada and the U.S. as a person of color. That is an accomplishment.

Read the rest here

(New Post)Because I’m a Fan and inspired at the same damn time! – Jayz Magna Carta Holy Grail

Damn you Jay Z for endlessly raising the bar to almost untouchable levels and constantly making me overly excited for any project you’re doing!!

I saw this commercial/I’m a better business man than all of you jerks endorsement deal last night and I felt the way I always feel while watching JayZ, “HE’S SO AWESOME, How can I be as awesome as Jay Z?!” Am I the only that feels that way? I hope I’m not full blown crazy but as an artist (which naturally makes me 50-75% crazy) I’m always in awe and so inspired by what Jay Z manages to do as both an artist and a business man. He’s incredible! He always raises the bar visually, musically and as a business man, you just can’t help but be inspired by him! So mark your calendars because I have and July 4th should be a very good day!

P.S The soundbites in this video are all perfect! “We don’t have any rules everyone is trying to figure it out that’s why the internet is the wild wild west” Perfectly said!

http://www.magnacartaholygrail.com/

 

 

(New [Vlog] Video) Filming a new movie and getting my goals done

Hey guys this is just a quick post to let you all know I’m filming a new movie for TV in Parry Sound, Ontario right now. I can’t get into a lot of the details for the film just yet but it has a really great cast and it’ll be out this year so eventually I’ll give you guys the 411 on this new project. But anyway I’m really excited because this was one of the goals on my list so check and check! I’m getting them done slowly but surely! Hope you guys are completing your lists too 🙂 have a great weekend xo

(video) Q&A with A.Lewy answering some of your questions

“I’m making a list and checking it twice!” …ok so that might be a line from a christmas song but I think it somehow applies to my list of goals as well since I do check my list on a daily basis to remind myself of what I’m going to accomplish.

#12 on my list is creating a successful youtube channel. I’m part way there by starting the channel in the first place and now to make it successful in an unconventional “youtuber” kind of way. To kick off this goal I decided a few days ago to put out a message on my instagram, twitter and facebook page asking you guys to ask me whatever you wanted and a lot of you responded with some great questions. I wish I could of gotten to them all but I’m thinking of making this Q&A a regular thing, what do you think?  Check out my Q&A below where I talk about letting go of my fears to start, “Black Actress”, what happened to TGAW. Advice for upcoming singers and how to stay positive! Thanks to all that sent in their questions.

(New Post) New Channel, New Beginnings – Closing One Door to Open Another

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In order to move to the next chapter of your life you have to open the door in front of you and be able to close the one behind you.

I can safely say that the last 2 years of my life have been a slow but steady preparation for me to get the place that I am in right now. Mentally, physically and spiritually ready to close and open the doors in my life.

I started my online journey as a “Wild Girl” and over the last 4 years I learned more than I could of imagined about the power of the internet, how to build a brand, business and friendship and what I truly want for myself. My years as a WILD girl were sometimes actually Wild but the good and the bad were all experiences that I needed and I am happy to have those years to look back on but I’m  more excited for what’s to come.  I saw my friend @LeonaJess tweet something the other night that hit the nail on the head for the stage that I am getting to, “growing into my wings” (and it feels good!)

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I told myself at the end of 2012 that I was no longer going to wait, or doubt myself or get in my head and hold myself back from anything that I wanted to do no matter how big or small, no more excuses! Life is too short to not live the life you want and I’m proud to say that I’m doing it! I wrote out a list of about 80 goals and I’m sure I’ll add some more but the start of my journey with these goals was starting a new youtube channel youtube.com/andrealewichannel) and then finally getting as much of this list done as I can! Like I said some of the goals are big and some are very small but all of them are to make me better, smarter, and healthier as a person. I hope that all of you will do the same, if you have a list of wants and goals go out and accomplish them and tell the world or at least tell me and we’ll inspire each other :).

 At the end of the day I’m still a “wild girl” at heart but I am saying goodbye to that chapter and eagerly opening the door to my new chapter as a woman! New Channel, New Chapter, New Beginnings! Thank you to everyone who has grown with me so far, join me on my new journey xo

Thank you….What I learned from @indiegogo

I apologize for not writing this post sooner but after the last 40 days of social media over load I needed a bit of break from looking at my computer lol.

So back to our regularly scheduled program. Wow! We did it! 40 days, teasers and interviews, countless tweets, too many instagram screen shots and Facebook status updates and we hit our goal! I can’t describe how amazing it felt when I finally saw that number on the indie gogo page. I was overwhelmed, I thought I was reading it wrong lol. It was one of those moments when I said, “you like me, you really like!” lol.

From day one of releasing information about, “Black Actress” I received endless emails full of support from people who told me they were rooting for me, they wanted to help me and they were inspired by me. Those emails made me feel amazing and was the one constant source of inspiration I had throughout the entire indie gogo campaign. This campaign was tough, I have friends who have done crowd funding in the past and they all warned me that it’s a lot of work and very stressful and they didn’t lie. I’m not sure I slept for the entire 40 day of the campaign and to top it off I was doing a million other things during the campaign, I was filming another project that was full of night shoots so my sleeping schedule was all kinds of jacked up, I was dealing with health issues, a little bit of family drama and I was doing the pre-production for the show. It was a lot on my mind but at no point did I question the work load. The whole time, it just felt right, like it was the beginning of how busy I am going to be and how busy I want to be.

The most important thing I learned while doing the indie gogo campaign is who my audience is. I always thought I had a good idea but for the first time I felt like I actually saw and heard them, and really felt the support and presence of YOU guys. It was a real blessing to see the people who may have never tweeted me or commented on anything now coming out of the wood work to give what they could and asking people to donate and help make this series happen.

I realized during the campaign that our dreams are bigger than us and we should always strive to make them as big as we possibly can. Without you realizing it your dreams can connect, inspire and change life for so many other people. I had a long conversation with a woman that I idolize in the entertainment industry and I explained to her how for the first time in my life my dream felt so heavy that it was now pulling me instead of me  having to dragging it all these years. The simple shift in weight was subtle but so important to what I was doing, I was going in the right direction.

I think crowd funding is like your life on steroids. Whether you’ve been chasing your dream for 10 years or 1 year, you know what it’s like to need support and finances and man power and so many other things to just make a little stride to being closer to your goals. Crowd funding is everything you’ve already been doing and preparing but to the next level, you’ve always been had to be shameless and asking people to give you a chance and some help but now you have to do it with a time constraint. It’s stressful as hell and the epitome of being your most vulnerable as an artist and entrepreneur. But at the end of the day it’s worth it! It made me stronger, made me proud and made me realize that I’m not a flake, I’m not just talking out of my ass, I’m dead serious! I want this, I’ve wanted it my whole life and it doesn’t matter how long it takes me I’m going to have it. It’s important to confirm and remind yourself of who you are and what your goals are. Indie gogo helped me re-confirm my promise with myself and added one more dot to my journey. Thank you to every single person who wrote, tweeted, instagrammed, facebook’d, emailed, donated and supported “Black Actress” and my indie gogo campaign! Some serious big tings a gwan!! xo

The Color Run

This is my birthday present to myself, I’m a little early since my birthday isn’t until August 15th (Leo Power!!!) lol but anywho this run is long time in the making. As a lot of you know I’ve been on a serious health/fitness journey since the beginning of 2012 and I’m so happy to take it the next level. A few months ago I was in New York at an event and I met 2 of the most inspiring women I’ve ever met. Robin and Samantha, best friends, one being a lawyer and the other a celebrity stylist and boutique owner, both are apart of the social media team for Nike Women and they are both committed to love, health and being the best them they could be. They told their story and how they run 5k a day and go around the world doing marathons in their spare time for fun! This story was like a huge light switch to went off in my head, I wanted to be them! Seriously, I wanted to be able to say I run 5k a day and I run in marathons around the world. It was the sound of the freedom, the release of fear and the strength of their self love that had me so inspired. I made a choice right then that I would go for it, I didn’t force it I just let the wind take me where I’m supposed to go and then I saw a post on instagram about “The Color Run” and I knew that this was it! They have runs all over the world, and 60% of the runners in this marathon this is their first run ever! The idea is to be splashed with powdered color every leg of the race oh and it’s not really a race, they don’t count your time, which removes all of the pressure. I’m so excited about this, on Aug 17th in Montreal, Quebec I’m going to do my first run. Join Me? Or if you know someone who has done this run before let me know how it was, do something every day that scares you!

 

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