Film Courage: You touched on family structure, family dynamics earlier. Were your parents
encouraging of you being in the entertainment industry? Rachel K. Ofori, Producer: My parents were
not at all encouraging to the industry. They were adamantly" no." I'm a child of
foreigners immigrants from Jamaica my dad and you know he came to this country
with a very specific dream to make a better opportunity for himself of course
but his children so he came here and not too long later he had me and my brothers
so you get a job you get benefits you build like the American dream that he
had in his mind of what it is I grew up here though I saw other dreams in
America that could be accomplished so I had a totally different idea of that and
also I'm the kind of the I guess unconventional one in the family when it
comes to structure so I was just always that problem childhood would not follow
this beaten path like okay stay here and I'm like what's over there you know so
no they were not supportive now they're very supportive so I would encourage
anyone dealing with that like where family is may be causing an extra layer
of stress because they don't agree or believe in what your your dreams are
it's okay I think a really good book for that it's called The Dream Giver: Following Your God-Given Destiny (Author Bruce Wilkinson) it goes
on a journey and the person experiences a lot of that and it shows you that's
fine they're just not going to understand this moment but they're not
coming from a negative space and I think if someone told me that early on it
would have been so much easier just to say I respect your opinion and then
continue to move rather than why so hateful towards me why won't they like
respect and support my dreams it's like it's okay they're worried about you they
care about you they know what's best for you in their own limited way so it's
okay if you saw another way it's okay if you see an expanded way but respect
their their disagreement and then go about your way with the confidence that
what you have in you that dream was put there with a purpose and you're gonna
achieve that dream if you don't let that discourage you how did you show them
that this is what you wanted to do and you still love them and you still you're
glad maybe they're worried for you but this is who you are how did you show
them that um I think I showed them it
not quitting I quit a lot of things as a little kid and I really think that's
because I was I'm a very like definitive person so if I've already decided what I
want to do and I start something else I'm not gonna be happy about it so I'll
play the trumpet you know like no quit it like I'll go out for this quit it you
know things like that so they didn't see they would think oh she's gonna go on
this road and then maybe quit you know there were things that showed them I
don't stick the things other than this why would that be a thing so if I'm so
dedicated to that one thing or dedicated to you know success in school or
something you pick one or the other they want school it's like go to college get
this degree and then go off and have this particular career so I showed them
by sticking to what I said that I wanted to do and I think sometimes people just
need to be proven wrong and do it by your actions not by your
words so I did I stopped arguing I didn't you
know keep saying look what I did and I didn't even keep them posted on a lot of
things I kept them posted when things happen that I knew that would mean
something to them from a limited perspective so it's like hey I just got
hired to ad a feature film are you getting paid yep I'm getting paid rather
than telling him the one I did that what I wasn't paid for it you know so it's
like you don't have to keep them up to date in your journey because that's
going to cause frustration they're not gonna be excited about it but when
something happens where you feel like okay this is a moment in time that I can
share and still don't be dependent on their reaction but they might have a
good reaction to this let me go ahead and share it I think that's the best way
to handle that that family push back on your career do you think also because
the last decade in the United States and other parts of the world we've seen that
that like safe route isn't necessarily safe mm that's good um yeah I think it's
becoming far more clear now than say 20 years ago that there are other ways
people are starting businesses while they're having jobs and things like that
but also I think I think there's fair involved whenever someone's very
cautious there is a fear element to it and identifying what the fear is I think
for my dad he grew up in a family that was very wealthy in Jamaica and he
watched them lose their wealth like drastically like it was like a drastic
thing they owned which track races and real estate and
not the whole family but the part that he was in they lost their money and it
calls a huge strain it was caused a lot of problems for him in childhood so I
that fear that he was coming from was real but it wasn't going to happen in my
life because I had him as a father so I think once he started to trust that he
gave me something that I'm applying in a different way then that shows him I can
make it because he gave me the work ethic he showed me to work hard he gave
me integrity like always treat people the way you want to be treated and then
some you know be honest all those things I got from him I just applied it in
different arena so yeah I think just kind of seeing what you know is truth
apply differently can help expand people's minds too yeah so when they say
like the the child always kind of does the opposite of what the parent wants
when you saw that your father for a very good reason was fearful did that make
you have like more let's say bravery did that make you almost want to improve
that fear wrong that's interesting um I never thought of it as I was trying to
prove him wrong it might have been something in there because when you said
they're kind of connected it might have been some of that in there behind the
scenes but I think my brothers they went on a more traditional route in their
careers they kind of followed that a little differently but followed it but I
think for me I would say what I can agree with on that end is I know my dad
and other people that I know that were more in a traditional way had other
dreams and said see them later in life now trying to fit those and image them
into their lives it's much more difficult to do it later it can be it's
very possible Mary Kay did it and so many others but it's harder because you
already have such a way established I knew that I couldn't like do what he
said like well just do this and then go back to that well that's what you did
and I couldn't say that to him like dad that doesn't work but I saw him do that
and I saw maybe a certain distance happened with certain things that would
have been different if you would have went another way but he didn't have that
opportunity he had to establish what made my dreams possible he had this job
it's the structure and so forth so yeah I think that's that's definitely
something that kind of fits in said what how would how would happen
like the Jim Carrey documentary he talked about his dad and yeah same thing
he wanted to provide for his family he really cared for them yeah but then to
see his dad and lose his job and it's like early 50s yeah and he really wanted
to be a musician I I guess right and how and that really stayed with him
yeah that's it's it's something you'll never forget what if it happens to you
in a way that where your parents can show vulnerability when you're younger
it's it's a tough thing because kids usually see their parents is just
strength it's just strength and then you kind of lose that fantasy later on but I
actually saw that happen and I think for me my dad is a truck driver for a
company but he also did real estate and when the real estate market went kaput I
mean he literally lost more than half his income within like it was immediate
it was immediate for for most people and the prudence that my dad had he saved so
much money we always lived way below our means so it didn't affect him where he
lost the house or anything but I saw something of this was the plan the plan
doesn't work that's what I saw in his eyes so the plan might not work even the
safe one why not go against the safe and just try it like especially when you're
younger it's like go for it why not so yeah do you think that's
where your courage to be an artist comes from mmm that's a good question
I think courage is applied in all aspects um I think courage from me and
confidence comes from work when you do things you see you can do things and
then you get confidence and when you get confidence you get more courage to go to
the next level like I'm not sure I can do that whatever I'd done something I
wasn't sure sure uh and then I can go forth and do more so playing sports
young being the only girl on a bunch of brothers and cousins and all guys on my
block and getting to play football with them and then actually getting them like
well she did it she caught the ball when they thought I wouldn't like little
things like that I think all is a part of building a good foundation of
confidence and then you get to school and then you're like do I take the AP
classes let me go ahead and try you know I might fail the first time but then you
do well you're like wow you know what next year I'm taking all AP classes or
whatever it is like little little winds along the way I think help build our
confidence which ultimately builds to her
to walk off well you're not really sure what's next yeah
you