Meet Abby Wu | Creative Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Abby Wu and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Abby, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I was born and raised in Guangzhou, China. It’s a metropolitan city in southern China northwest of Hong Kong on the Pearl River. Growing up, I was immersed in Cantonese culture, especially films and music from Hong Kong. From there, I moved and lived in New York for 6 years, and I recently relocated to Los Angeles.

I think my background is made up of constant interactions and clashes between cultures and opinions, which turned me into someone who’s always culturally curious and interested in the diversity of opinions. As a creative producer now, I like to dig deeply into different people’s experiences and perspectives as well as the nuances of emotions and expression when I produce a storytelling project. There are just, so many sides of the same coin, so many threads of thinking and murmurs, so many glitches in our reality – that I think are all worth digging and discussing.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m a creative producer who currently works at 88rising. I produce many different kinds of projects – from music videos to short films, from documentaries to online concerts, from photoshoots to live performances. I sometimes direct and edit as well.

There’s a huge spectrum of the role producer – from the more logistic and technical end to the more creative end. I think I definitely fall closer to the creative end. I’m not the most well-versed in all the technicalities, but very interested in and attentive to ruminating on creative ideas. Is such an idea worth expressing and do we have the agency to be the one saying it? Who and what are we using to express it and do we give them agency? Is there another angle to it and is there a deeper layer to it? What is the balance between aesthetic and meaningfulness and can aesthetic itself be meaningful? These are questions I contemplate on every production but yet to find a good answer to. Nevertheless, being constantly critical of my role as a media worker and questioning my perspective as well as the dominant narrative is something of utmost importance to me. I bring these questions into every project to discuss with my collaborators. In a way, I’m proud of making myself and my team uncomfortable via these discussions; I think media workers should always be uncomfortable.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m kind of new to LA as well but I’ve brought my visiting friends to In Sheep’s Clothing listening session, Chinatown plaza for a cup of coffee at Thank You Coffee or a drink at General Lee’s, and of course, the classic Joshua Tree road trip.

If my friends visit me in New York, I have much more to offer. Definitely a movie at Metrograph, and from there a visit to Aeon Bookstore, a dinner at Congee Village. In my recent visit, I went to Karma gallery and bookstore as well as Studio 151 vinyl bar – all highly recommended. Moving to Brooklyn where I used to live – picnic at Prospect Park, dinner at Win Son, play pool at Maracuja, a drink at Pokito…there are way too many places.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to dedicate my shoutout to all the women in my life – my dear girlfriends, my mother, my sister, and the women I work with. Recognizing and experiencing life and work as a young woman resulted in many challenges, confusion, and traumas in my life. These women were by my side, supporting me with pure compassion, giving me guidance, and saving a safe place that I can always retreat to. Sisterhood is powerful and most precious.

Website: https://abbyyingtongwu.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbixzka/

Image Credits
Natt Lim Jesse Chow