Meet Meera Vaidya | Creative Producer

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

Hi Meera, what’s the most important lesson your business/career has taught you?
From the very beginning of my education and when I started working the one thing I kept in mind was making the best out of every opportunity given to me. For every opportunity, what mattered the most was what I did with it. I realized that each job and project allowed me to grow and pave way for even more opportunities. Throughout my career, with each project, this lesson has been taught to me time and time again. For example, when the pandemic hit, I made sure to work on projects with writers and directors with the hope that I would be able to film them soon. I developed multiple projects during the pandemic, keeping the hope that one day I would be able to film them. I used that downtime to grow my collaborations and once we were able to film, I filmed a 5 episode web series and 4 short films in less than a year. Even when the shoots seemed too difficult, I always use the challenges as a way to learn new things that I could use in the next project and meet people with whom I could collaborate in the future. Within each challenge lies an opportunity and you can use this to learn and grow from it.

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.
Being a Producer is not easy. A lot of it is creating opportunities for yourself. Once I knew I wanted to be a producer I joined a commercials/advertisement production house so that I could see many different kinds of productions in a short span of time before heading to film school. At the height of my career and education was when the pandemic happened. I managed to use my relationships with directors and screenwriters to develop films and shoot them once we could. I knew since I wanted to work in Television I needed to move to LA. Having moved from India to America, this wasn’t as challenging as I expected it to be. Even in LA, I continued to work on projects. Being an international student is one of the main things that drives me to have to do more and pushed my limits further than I could have imagined so that I can continue to do the work I want to do.

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?
My love for travel is very much attached to my love for food. I show people around LA through the good food in all the different places. I think LA has some of the best food in the country. From Korean Barbecue in Koreatown to sushi in Orange County which would allow us to go to all the beautiful beaches. A good day would be a hike followed by a beer at my favorite bar, All Season Brewery. Sunsets in LA are quite incomparable and going to the beach to sit and watch the sunset is more than ideal.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My family and friends who have seen me through the good and bad times, through my struggles and celebrations always been there for them all. My advisor at my graduate school who I emailed at uncertain points in my professional career and was there to help me figure out the best way for me. And my dad. My dad definitely deserves a lot of credit for where I am. He has always encouraged me to follow my instinct, only supporting and giving advice but never questioning me.

Instagram: @meera783

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meera-vaidya-61863510a

Image Credits
1, 2, 3: Aiman Mimiko 4: Solomon Chidi Amadiume