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

Hi Kathy, do you have some perspective or insight you can share with us on the question of when someone should give up versus when they should keep going?

Whether to keep going or to give up is not something I know to do, per se. Instead, it is something that is determined for me. What I mean by that is there are two extraneous factors that drive that.

The first is my faith. That causes me to try, have a glimmer of hope, and seek out all possibilities and exhaust them within my own ability or power before calling “uncle.” Secondly, things tend to come to me when they are supposed to continue in motion or work on my behalf; I don’t have to force it. Just when I am about to stop a certain “thing,” a certain opportunity falls in my lap [unsolicited], or a door/window opens up that I wasn’t expecting, in hind sight, there was seemingly always a pattern. The pattern was the end results. They all showed I was meant to take the roads less traveled or accept something unplanned I otherwise wouldn’t. I was better off and benefited by doing them versus foregoing them.

So, you know you’re not supposed to give up because even though you’re sitting still, everything around you related to your goal or aspiration is STILL moving forward and pulling you with it– overpowering your reluctance.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

I am a corporate business professional by trade (executive MBA) and I have a degree in public administration (MPA) coupled with that. My background is eclectic: working in government, education, community relations,  healthcare, transportation & logistics, and in the non profit space. However, I’ve progressively started moving to three-quarters time on the solopreneurship plain with my part-time Lofton Media business.

As I think about my retirement future, I am busy taking more risks, collaborating,  seeking projects, developing new relationships, and producing more content. I want to create my own path not only as a source of income, but as a source of flexibility where I can decide when, where, and how I’d like to spend my days doing what I love and dictating how much I make.

I’ve found an age old adage to be true: that if you do what you love it’s not like you doing the job at all. That is how I feel about what I do when I’m working with the camera. I can sit up literally all night with no sleep to edit a film or photography. I love shooting scenes and being on the set of a production, whether it’s mine or someone else’s. I’ve always had this bug since age 10, when I actually produced my first documentary short on Diana Ross in a program for the gifted. Back then, we had to use slide and tape along with a tape recorder for the voiceover. I am dating myself here. Lol!

From the perspective of my friends, colleagues, and others who know and have watched me move, they will tell you what makes me stand out is my unique ability and methodology. I do things in “unorthodox” ways, if you will. I do what comes to me and not necessarily how it’s supposed to be done, if that makes sense.

I do things with the end in mind, and as long as I get there I’m going to make it work. I don’t use “cookie cutter” approaches, and I don’t try to assimilate. I do things with quality and I do them with the hope that I’ll do them right the first time. But, I’m not afraid to mess up and I will go back to the drawing board. I will get it right eventually and I’ll make “it” look good.

I’m not afraid to speak up, speak out, or challenge something if I think it is for the good of making something better. I’m not afraid to voice unpopular opinions in a crowd. I am a multi-tasker who will take out the garbage and also split the atom at the same time. Lol! People watch me struggle on the one hand and then do something effortlessly on the other, because I’m a doer with a can-do attitude. Nothing beats a failure but a try. I’m one of those folks crazy enough to go for something because the worst that can happen is it just doesn’t happen. Therefore, I’ve lost nothing.

The thing I believe is most memorable about me to others is how they watched me take care of my father for seven-and-a-half years as his only child and primary caregiver. I had to survive and work intermittently, and I also chose to make films. It was actually my experience of becoming a family caregiver and learning the stories of fellow family caregivers that inspired me to do my very first documentary feature. It won in the 2016 Indie Memphis Film Festival for Best Hometown Documentary Feature as well as the Audience Award. So, my father was instrumental in getting me on this path to filmmaking. This says a lot about my tenacity, my faith and my attitude, which I got from my father. Oh, daddy was also a cinephile. I think it’s in the genes.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If I had a friend in Atlanta for the weekend I would take them to several places. The first would be Tyler Perry Studios. This is a stand-out for me because I am an African-American cinephile, filmmaker, and supporter of the fact this is the only major Black film studio in the U.S. of this SIZE. There is one in Virginia run by Tim and Daphne-Maxwell Reid. I do want to give credit to them. Next would be the aquarium. I’ve not been there, so that would be a great new thing for me to do and I’ve heard so many great things about it. Then we’d go drive by historic Spelman and Morehouse colleges so they could see that rich HBCU legacy. Finally, we’d wind down at a quaint restaurant with Georgia flair.

We’d take a drive out to Roswell for that. The reason is my friend Tran, who nominated me for this shout-out, lives in Roswell and she is a media spokesperson for ‘Roswell Snobs.’ She has said so many wonderful things about the town and has shown so many cool photos and videos about it in her work, including restaurants, points of interest, and places for happy hour, I would have to take a drive over to include it– and her.

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 am an indie filmmaker, photographer, writer, and a producer. Over the past 7 years this has been on an amateur level. However, I have won quite a few festival categories domestically and abroad. I was most excited to win a categorily in London, a nomination in Germany, and most recently a win in Rome, Italy. My small solopreneurship, Lofton Media, does operate on the professional side. To-date, I provide services in videography, consultation, and marketing & communications for individual, small groups, and non profits.

My indie filmmaking was born out of passion and a desire to create since my childhood. But now, I am starting to realize a deferred dream. I’m stepping from behind the camera more with the goal of getting on the business sideof things and shot-calling deals.

Im excited to be the executive producer for the first time on a feature film soon going into production in my hometown of Memphis. Just when I’m about to move on to the other things on my plate, opportunity falls into my lap.

This trend ties directly into your question about not giving up: things “find” me. My good friend Tran Bui- Smith, who nominated me for this feature article and is also a producer, always notes how things seem to follow me on the creative path in the best ways– when I am not looking. This executive producer opportunity is one of those examples.

I usually juggle things concurrently, and along with being a creative I’ve always been extremely active in public service, advocacy, and community involvement. That is actually how Tran and I met. We were working together in a community organization and sitting on its founding board when she previously lived in Memphis. She is now active in metro Atlanta doing charitable works. Her daughter, Ava Smith, is the reigning Teen Miss Georgia Earth and does wonderful sustainability work in GA.

I love to advocate for vulnerable populations. Amid my creative pursuits, I’m currently participating in a joint national fellowship with Lead for America, the American Connection Corps, Microsoft, Land O’Lakes, and Americorps. This Fellowship allows me to work in the digital equity space on a prohect for a non profit called Innovate Memphis. Specifically, I am developing and delivering curriculum on digital literacy and computer skills training for African-American senior citizens in under-served areas.

This assignment has brought me so much intrinsic reward: impacting the lives of the elderly who would otherwise not be exposed to this type of training during an age of relying on the internet, particularly since the pandemic. Having participants in my cohorts as old as age 96 has inspired me, as well as put me in awe.

I combine my creative side with my advocacy by sometimes photographing or filming my experiences. Lead for America recently named me ‘Fellow of the Week’ for the 2022-2023 class. I am the first fellow to receive that distinction for our class. This was not only for the successful works at host site Innovate Memphis, but also because of the short film that I produced for the MLK Day of Service. I captured my altruism, talked about some of the tenets of my fellowship, and a bit about the history and the social climate in Memphis along with the good things we do in the name of service. It was a great opportunity to highlight the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, who was assassinated here, since I am the only fellow who resides in Memphis.

I will get to publicly speak about the experiences in my first digital literacy training cohort due to the standout things I witnessed, and also learned, at the February 2023 National Association of African-American Studies Conference in Arlington, Texas.

Website: www.kathyolofton.com

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/lofton_media

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

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/caregiver901

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/loftonmedia901

Image Credits
Angie Yu (headshot, black dress)

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