Meet Zaïa Lebtahi | Music and Film Producer/Actress/Teacher/Consultant

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

Hi Zaïa, what role has risk played in your life or career?
The word “Risk” itself has a negative/dangerous connotation to me. “Taking risks” should be consider instead as “making steps”. Like when a baby learns to walk, there is no other way but to learn by falling in order to build, to move forward. The motto of my company is “Forward”.

Life is like a game. We have to always be ready to throw our last cards on the table.
I have done it many times and I will always be ready to do it again.
I remember sometimes putting in all the money I had left to support one project without having even one small guarantee. One of these times I found a joker card on the side walk and I smiled.

Every entrepreneur has to take risks to build. That is how we can create and generate a profit of any sort. This is true specially for independent artists.
What we learn in doing so is that it is always directly or indirectly rewarding.

When you let go of fear you always get rewarded. You always grow, either because you learned a lesson or because you reached your goal. Either way, at the end of the day, you build a bigger and stronger confidence, and a better knowledge of yourself and others.
The more you “take risks” the more you go beyond yourself, the more you know, trust, love yourself and others.
The more you free yourself the more you enjoy playing the game. The more happy you are of being free, the more you inspire others in doing so.
The more free and happy you are, the more you attract others and everything you want and need. Always!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I think that everybody can create and be an artist. At some point, everybody should at least be the creator of his/her life. Like Nietzsche I believe that Art is something that stings us to keep us awake and alive. To him, without Art our society would commit suicide.
Nietszche said that Art is the “Good Will of Illusion”.
Personally, the act of creation perpetuates Humanity. When one creates, one opens other new fields of possibilities to expand life. Literally and scientifically, when we create we develop new information that is transmitted by the brain into DNA and passed on from generation to generation, and this upholds life.

We all create either when we give birth or when we are children who play and pretend, or paint, dance, sing etc…That is why children remind us to what is essential.
Becoming a so-called professional adult artist is a very deep and intense journey plenty of solitude.
When we are an artist, solitude is necessary to face who we really are in order to affirm it because only our originality can make us an artist.
And by being so, it is necessary for a true creator to reach beyond the fear of being seen exactly as he is. What we are is what must be shared.
Only our originality and uniqueness is what brings something different to the world and what makes us a real artist. But to dare affirm entirely who we are, we need to accept ourselves. To embrace ourselves and love who we are, we have to let go totally of any judgment.
At the beginning, when I was on stage as an actress and stage director, I was never really satisfied and happy of my creations because I was looking for perfection and validation. I was judging myself. Even when the audience was crying, laughing, applauding, throwing me flowers etc… it was never enough to fill the emptiness that I was trying to fill with exterior love.
It is only after showing my production over and over again and daring to take the risk of suffering when showing my work, which I wasn’t totally satisfied with, that little by little with time, practice and experience I learned to be happier.
I learned to love myself more and look inside of myself to find what I was looking for exteriorly.

What I learned along the way is that becoming better in my Art was of course due to more practice and technique but it was especially because I was able to free myself from mine and the judgment of others. I was able to become again this child that can give freely without waiting for any outcome except for having fun.
Along my path that is what gave me what every artist is looking for, to find his/her own signature.
Otherwise we would just copy and repeat what others have already created and there is no interest in doing so.

In Paris, a long time ago, while I was working on a very difficult monologue that was thoroughly challenging me as an actress, at that time I was asked to stage direct a group of children in a showcase of “Le Petit Prince” by St Exupery.
This experience made me find out the most what I was looking for as an actress, just by observing how the kids were not acting but were truly personifying their character. They could do it because they were entirely in the present moment playing without thinking or judging.
To me, being an Artist is a political act in the noble sense of what the word “Political” means. It’s a way to act for the City as a citizen. it’s an engagement that needs to elevate us spiritually because it brings a vision that goes above our mortal condition. It is an act that inspires and recalls our Freedom as the necessary condition to the Happiness that we all look for.

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?

Bottega Louie for the True Love that I found in this restaurant.
The Biltmore Hotel for its Beauty, History and Magic memories.

DTLA for some of the most important moments of my life.

Otherwise, the beautiful beach where I spend so much time and that know all my secrets.
The privileged Point Dume in Malibu for its scenery.

Topanga Canyon where I found a lot of my inspiration while hiking, where I shoot my first short film in Los Angeles called “Aimer CQFD” (To Love QED), for my always surprising meetings with the deers and for the “Sunrise rendez-vous” that is forever printed in my heart.

Joshua Tree for the light and the Silence and much more which I cannot express with words.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My parents and my daughter who’ve always encouraged me to never let go and keep doing what was important to me. They believed in myself when I was lost. They pushed me toward my dreams.

My daughter especially helped me to grow and free myself because she gave me unconditional love and therefore showed me how to accept, trust and love myself better.
That gave me more trust and freedom to be more creative and a better entrepreneur.
Since she was a little girl, my daughter would always say, “Always higher, always further, always stronger!”

I really believe that kids are our best coaches in life. If we can listen to them and be humble enough to follow their steps, we inherit what is essential.
Whether it is my daughter or the children I have worked with, I always tried to give them my best but they always gave me so much more!

Website: www.zaialebtahiproductions.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/zaialebtahi

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/za%C3%AFa-lebtahi-4a117940

Youtube: youtube.com/results?search_query=zaia+lebtahi

Other: My IMdb : imdb.com/name/nm5270613 My Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/zaialebtahi Yelp of my former successful French restaurant elected best French restaurant in the west side of LA: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ratata-buffet-froid-et-petits-plats-los-angeles-2 CBS news article about my French restaurant : https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/best-french-cafes-bakeries-and-restaurants-in-and-around-la/, https://youtu.be/ZFVB_ckgCFU?si=uQEO_OrE0IjBr-Lx My Official Music Video for my song ‘Respect’ (my latest production