Meet Sydney Oshuna | Filmmaker, Youth Artistic Educator, and Innovator

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

Hi Sydney, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
Never wait on someone to give you an opportunity, if there’s something that you want to do…just DO IT! Often times when it comes to being a creator there’s the misconception that someone has to put you on. No, anyone can give you the opportunity to get your foot in the door but YOU have to be the one to take the first step in. I discovered early on that I never wanted to wait on anyone to give me my success, I was going to take it.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
In 2020, I moved to New York for college and immediately found myself wanting to be involved. The pandemic has affected many individuals, including our young people who are now left to experiment with their creative endeavors at home. For this reason, I founded the Me in Foundation (MIF) which is an organization at Bard College that enables underrepresented youth from low-income communities to be the writers of their own story. My main goal is to extend arts education resources to our creative youth! We have a virtual mentoring program for scholars K-12 in both Upstate New York and the Greater Atlanta area. Working in this new virtual realm is of course not the easiest, but it’s the safest and I have learned how to adapt to things that make me uncomfortable. I believe that is a challenge for all artists at some point in their careers, figuring out how to get their message out there. For me, I was most concerned with identifying what impact I wanted to leave on others. I don’t want people to look at me and say “yes, that’s the girl who has a million followers”. I have a very personal relationship with my supporters, I know them just as much as they know me. “She’s a hard worker who cares”. When you make that relationship personal it almost doesn’t feel like a responsibility, if that makes sense. It feels like a purpose. I learned that no matter what I do, people are always watching, and for that, I will always give them my most authentic and true self.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I wish I could say that I had the opportunity to fully explore the new area that I am in! Everything has been closed lately, so to stay safe, I would suggest a nature walk around Bard College’s campus. It is breathtaking. Sometimes while taking walks on my own, I lose track of time. The Hudson Valley River looks beautiful at anytime of the day, which is why we would eat Salvatore’s Pizza while watching the river flow downstream. At the end of the night, we will head to Blithewood to look at the stars, which can be seen more clearly Upstate compared to the city.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Definitely my best friend, Lauryn Charliah! Without her, I do not think that I would be able to be who I am today. It is imperative for creatives to have another creator in their corner who knows your work and pushes you to always be the best that you can be. They know your potential, sometimes, they know it more than you do. Lauryn is that person who I can always bounce ideas off of and who will push me towards my goals.

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

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydneyoshunawilliams

Image Credits
@waypastjupiter.co