Meet Ana Benitez Duarte | Multimedia Designer, Video Editor, Director & Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ana Benitez Duarte and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ana, what role has risk played in your life or career?
This is a funny question to me because I was literally having a conversation with a friend yesterday during a 3 hour walk about self doubt and risk. Self doubt comes and stays in the mind of a creative. All creatives/artists feel self doubt when working on projects or new ideas. It’s this little voice saying “maybe the magic is gone” “you won’t accomplish it this time” “you don’t have what it takes” “your idea sucks”. It takes time and self reflection to realize it’s not your voice, it’s not true. It takes faith in yourself to not listen and keep going. It takes an immense amount of confidence and a little bit of delusion to take a risk and keep going and do the thing.

Risks in my life, are how I’ve done anything and it has always led me to something better. You have to realize that if you don’t take the risk you’ll end up being in the same place you are now. Safe but maybe uncomfortable or miserable and not taking a risk means you’re choosing to stay in your same position. When your gut tells you to take a risk, know that you’d never put yourself in any real harm. That choice or change sounds scary but it could be the best thing you can do for yourself in that moment. If it doesn’t work out as you hoped, well hope it makes for a good story!

If I hadn’t listened to myself to move out of state for college, it may have taken a lot longer for me to realize who I truly was. I wouldn’t have met the amazing people and mentors I did meet. I would have stayed in my small hometown and continued to be miserable and wanting for more. If I hadn’t listened to myself to make a move again and come out to LA I wouldn’t have found the opportunities that I did. Before I graduated from Portland State University, I remember a year before graduation I was sitting on a rooftop with my best friend and we were talking about our dreams and goals. I had told them that once I graduated school I wanted to take a long break. Months long where I could rest and work on my personal projects. Once I felt I had gathered my energy I wanted to get a job that paid well and that still gave me enough money to send to my family. These were my wishes for after graduation. At the time I was going to school full time and working multiple jobs at the same time to pay for tuition, rent and to feed myself. There were months where I would only get 3-4 hours of sleep before I had to go to school, do homework and keep working. I was living in Portland at the time and I loved the city but it didn’t offer the type of work or opportunities I wanted. I knew LA held it but it felt really scary to go. I knew a lot of people that had lived there and ended up moving back after 3-6 months. They said it was hard to make it out there and when I communicated I wanted to go out there I got judgmental and concerned looks. I didn’t care because I knew my gut was telling me to move out of Portland.

Once I graduated, during the peak of the pandemic, life and options for work looked bleak but I was optimistic. During the time I was finishing up a few jobs I had. I was finishing a mural and photography job for an apartment building. (which also took some risks to get this job) and I was able to save a good chunk from those jobs to move. My best friend was already living in LA and they flew down to drive me and all my belongings to their house while I figured out a living situation. Every day I went out and looked for apartments, toured different places and neighborhoods and rode the bus and walked around the city. It was amazing to be out of Portland and experience something new after being isolated for so long. I knew no one except for 2 people in LA. It was scary moving to a new place and immediately having to figure your life out. After a week or two of searching I found a cute and affordable studio apartment in Koreatown. I was in love with the view of the sunsets it offered. As soon as I shut the door after I moved all my things in I began to cry because I was so overwhelmed with gratitude. I made it. For the next 6 months I began working on various personal projects. And at the end of my 6 month brain break I went on google maps looking for creative agencies to work for and found one! It paid well enough that I was able to send money to my family. Everything I said I wanted after graduation happened. All because I believed in myself and took the risks. It was hella scary and I cried so many days, worried about my financial and mental stability but it was also the best time of my life! I knew that I created my reality, I knew I made the right choices by taking those risks. I made it past 6 months and didn’t move back to Portland or my hometown.

Everything has a period of being uncomfortable, but you have to choose which side of the uncomfortable you want to be on. Do you want to continue being in your comfort zone but miserable and continuously wondering what life would be like if you took a risk or a chance but never did because of fear and self doubt? OR do you want to take a risk and be uncomfortable because of change, but be grateful you took a risk on yourself?

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I would die without creating. Whatever medium it is, I think I’m just happy it exists for me to use it as a medium of self expression really. I am a highly emotional and sensitive person so it is nice to find ways to let go of those things through art. Whether it be painting, filmmaking, designing, beading, sculpting, fashion, whatever. I love being able to envision something in my mind and create it on the computer or with my hands. There’s almost a high I feel when I’m able to take an idea from concept to finished result. Being a creator feels like the purpose of my life. Creating and expressing my emotions, thoughts, and experiences. I appreciate and cherish when other artists share their stories and experiences through their art. And I am grateful I can make a living off creating. That to me is “making it”.

I think my favorite medium right now is, filmmaking, it excites me because it feels like a culmination of all the things I’m interested in. All the things that I have practiced and learned, the skills I have developed, they all join and become a part of the filmmaking world. Whether that is art direction, set design, costume design, sound design, foley, video editing, cinematography, storytelling, or directing. It feels like everything I have done in my life thus far, leads here. I am still in the beginning stages, but it’s cool to have helped friends with short films that made it to weed festivals lol or filmed and edited music videos. When I am in the zone of creating, it just feels right. It was definitely not easy coming to this mind set though. For the longest time, I thought there was something wrong with me for wanting to do so much or for never focusing on one interest at once. I didn’t understand that, that was just how my mind/brain worked. I didn’t understand the applications for it all. It just felt like I had too many interests and my mind was scattered, but now it all just makes sense. I had to stop listening to other voices telling me how things should be or what worked for them. Because what works for one person may not work for all. Everyone is different and everyone has their own path and I believe this is mine for now.

Along with filmmaking, I felt I needed to have something else to do with my time, something that uses my hands. I have always loved fashion as a way to express my every day moods/emotions. My full time job includes being on a computer for 8+ hours a day. I needed a break from screens so I started beading. I love the look of harnesses but didn’t have access to leather or the tools you need for leatherwork. So I started creating harnesses with materials I did have access to, and that was pearls. I love the idea something that supposed to be “hard” with the contrast of something “soft”. It has been one of my favorite hobbies right now to bead harnesses. I had a friend I was helping at the Rose Bowl one Sunday and I took one of my harnesses to take custom orders but no one really seemed interested. We had been out there selling her vintage clothing for hours and no bites on my stuff. I was getting ready to pack up, it was the last 20 minutes of the flea market until everyone started packing up. But I felt a little discouraged and was going to pack my stuff early when I see two people beeline to the harness. It was one of the actors from a movie by my favorite director. He bought it on the spot and wore it to an award show where he won his first acting award. It was such a cool moment to see my harness be a part of such a special night. It gave me motivation to continue to make them. I love wearing them and seeing that other people like them too is a nice feeling. It’s a project under development but I will continue to make more and better designs.

Nothing is easy, but everything takes faith in oneself, a little bit of delusion and passion for your craft to wanna be the best you can be and want to express yourself through that craft. Release what you have inside.

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?
If a friend was visiting I would immediately take them to one of my favorite spots in Koreatown which is Escala. It is a Columbian restaurant with a touch of Korean inspired dishes. If we went on a weekday, I’d order us the loaded yucca fries and ask two friends to join us so we could get the sample platter and try a bit of everything, especially the arepas. During the night I’d take them down Western and to Mama Lions for Jazz or Funk night depending on their preference. During the day I’d take them to all the free museums and check out cool exhibitions and grab a boba tea. On the weekend I’d take them back to Escala to eat their weekend brunch menu. I’d get a lime and coconut smoothie! We’d make our way to Melrose and stroll around the Melrose flea market shopping for cool accessories. And come back to my area to grab a burrito from my favorite food truck Jez’s Tacos and come back to mine to watch the flight of the crows from my window and watch a movie on my projector. The next day we’d make our way to Chinatown, shop around for a while, grab some fruit and agua frescas, then head to Won Kok for dim sum. To work off all the delicious food I’d take them to Griffith Observatory during the afternoon, we’d hike around and make our way to the observatory, catch the sunset, grab some tickets for the planetarium and come out and look at the moon through their giant telescope. The rest of the week we’d enjoy our time together, maybe go to the beach, enjoy the sun and waves and chat. I love LA for the diversity it has in people and cultural pockets within the city, I’d love to share all that with them.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I can’t name just one person, although if I did it would definitely be my best friend Nevan Doyle a.k.a. Mishko. Who from the moment we met, has always been such a motivator and supporter in all that I do. They took the time to listen to all my wild ideas and emotions and offered their perspective and encouragement and have helped me achieve so much. They literally moved me from Portland to LA so that’s sick. Aside from Nevan, there has always been a person or people for every project, move, or decision that I have made that I leaned on for support. I have met these people in my journey in life and there are way too many people to name here. Some are no longer on this plane of existence but others are and I hope they know how much I appreciate them. For every project that I have started and was going in as a noob, I found many mentors during my time in university who guided me through the process. When I was doing my first mural, I found my mentor painting his own mural on the outside of a pizza shop! And he took the time to meet me for coffee and answer all my questions. For big decisions, there have been so many people and good friends who took me in, listened to me and became a sound board and never told me what to do but offered their perspective and that helped me figure things out for myself. There have been many friends who helped out with various projects and helped write big emails for me. I have been blessed with finding great support, mentorship and love. I am beyond grateful for each and every one of the people that has touched my life in some way.

Website: https://anabenitezduarte.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anabenitezduarte/?hl=en