Meet Mykieya Potter: Director and Artist

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

Hi Mykieya, we’d love to hear more about your end-goal, professionally.
My end goal is to have my own production company. Although I love to direct, I’ve always said I want to create roles and give opportunities to black people that are kept away from us. I want to be able to build a legacy for my name and family. When you see anything I produce and create I want people to say ‘That’s Mykieya’s” or “Mykieya is responsible for that.” I want to inspire younger people that come from any background to know you can do anything as long as you keep pushing through.

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.
As a kid, my talent was being an artist. I was quiet and I loved to draw/paint. It’s crazy because I always tried to fight to get art class in school, but they would never give it to me until my 12th grade year in high school. I was always in band. Trumpets all day!!!!! I always drew at home though. Towards the end of high school I had the gut feeling that being in band wasn’t something I wanted to do. I applied for college for the bachelors of theatre art’s and again my gut told me that was it, even though my first passion is art. Art is something God gave to me naturally, but I chose to go towards theatre art. I thought I was going to act. lol. I laugh because I’m such an introvert. I’ll act if needed a fill in, or pop up, but I love being behind the camera. I didn’t get a taste of directing until my junior year in college. After that I fell in love. I literally didn’t care about acting anymore. I got the opportunity to come up with my own show to direct my senior year, and it taught me a lot. Any and everything you can think of happened to me. I wanted to quit. I thought it wasn’t worth all the stress and time put into it. I felt as though I could be enjoying my senior year without having to deal with the stress. I told my professor I wanted to quit. He looked at me and said ” I know its hard but anything you start you have to finish. There’s always going to be challenges along the way. You can’t give up.” In the moment I wanted to still give up because I was in my emotions but you can’t let your emotions get the best of you. That lesson taught me to always push through. Now Im directing with Freestyle Filmworks and any challenge me and my girls are faced with, we literally get past because we’ve been through it all. When you see me and my brand “Canvas Productions” and anything/anyone i worked on/with, know that it’s not easy but we refuse to give up because there’s a bigger picture at the end.

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?
SHOUTOUT TO MY BFF DANIELLE BYRD, A.K.A, DANI, A.K.A MY HOME SKILLET LOL. I met my best friend in college so she stayed in Georgia for 4 years. Every time she comes down here, we’re probably going to try of new spots to visit and eat. The last time she came we went to this New Orleans place on old national. The food and drinks were BOMB! When she comes again we’re gonna go back. Don’t judge me lol. Anyways, sis is a food critic to me. When she comes sometimes I won’t cook because she’s not about to come for my food lol. it sounds crazy but the only places we’ve been to together is some bars, six flags ( she prefers the first row, and id rather save my stomach and sit in the middle), and cascade. We took the bus to cascade and I don’t think she ever rode a bus or train, so we gave her the experience lol; plus we didn’t have cars at the moment. When she comes back we definitely have to go to the aquarium, the Coca Cola factory museum, the civil rights museum, and definitely some places I haven’t even been.

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?
First and foremost you always have to shoutout God! Through everything that life has thrown at me since the age of maybe 12 or 13 up to now and also in the future, I know God was there for me and will continue to be there. I want to shoutout my number 1 supporter, which is my mom. She gave me the advice to go do whatever I loved to do, and to not be ashamed of it. She also gave me advice to apply to Clark Atlanta University when I was 17 years old. It’s funny because that’s where I graduated with my bachelors. Shoutout to CAU!!!!! The theatre department shaped me into the woman I am today. CAU has helped me step out of my comfort zone and take risk. I want to thank anyone who has been by my side up and helped me along the way. Also want thank anyone who isn’t in my life at the moment, but has helped in the past. No one’s help and/or support will ever go unrecognized.

Instagram: @mykieya
Twitter: @mykieya
Youtube: Everything Mykieya

Image Credits
K. Kenzie.