Meet Naima Cooper | Filmmaker and Writer

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

Hi Naima, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I pursued a creative career because I realized how important it was for me to express myself authentically. I noticed with a lot of jobs, there’s not much space to experiment or try out new ideas. You are often following orders, and you have to leave your true self at home. Expressing myself has always led me to feeling more comfortable in my body, having more clarity and peace of mind, and feeling more connected to myself and others. These things are priorities in my life, and if I’m spending a majority of my life working a job that forces me to hide the things I care about most, it feels like I’m doing my spirit a severe disservice. Life isn’t perfect, and you can’t always get what you want, but I have made it a priority to be intentional about spending more of my time creating and learning about myself and things that can improve my storytelling abilities.

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 I mentioned, I am currently working on my second documentary, “Sex Talk”. I knew that sex was powerful from a young age and it intrigued me so much. However the shame and secrecy associated with it made me feel like I needed to suppress my interest. In college, I began exploring it more and learning more, but I still had a lot of confusion and questions. It was hard to find the answers I was looking for because information about sex is hidden from us intentionally, black women and queer people especially. So, I recently decided it was time to combine my interests in film and sex and make this documentary talking to black women, black femmes, and black men about topics around sex we don’t normally discuss in the black community. It has been difficult for me talking to certain people about this project as many find it odd that this is my area of focus. However, it feels like this is my calling at the moment, and I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing. I consider myself a beginner filmmaker with little resources, and that has been challenging as well, but it’s important to me that this project is completed. I try not to focus on perfection, external validation, self doubt, or comparing myself to others even though these thoughts come up often. I try to listen to my intuition and my inner knowing that this project along with many others I have made and will make in the future, will help me and others, and there’s few things that are more worthy of my time and energy while I’m here on this planet. That’s the truth. I want to make art for as long as I can, and this is just one step on this long, exciting, dynamic journey.

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?
I’m kind of a nerd, so I honestly prefer bookstores over most clubs in Atlanta. If my friend was into it, I’d take them to some of the bookstores I like in Atlanta like For Keeps, Charis Books, Yes Please, and Posman Books. I like watching independent film screenings at Peters Street Station too. One of my favorite places to eat at is Papi’s. We could ride scooters on the Beltline and go into some of the shops in Little Five Points. We’d probably see someone in concert at the Masquerade downtown and go hiking at Sweetwater Creek.

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 want to shout out my friend and co – creator of our upcoming documentary, “Sex Talk”, Aminah (@aminahvuyelwa on instagram). Aminah has been with me from the inception of this project, and it would not be where it is today without her unwavering support. I told myself I didn’t want to keep working on projects alone, and she answered my prayers. She has motivated me and been extremely generous with her time, energy, and her community throughout this process while also dealing with her own life and responsibilities. I respect her deeply and have so much gratitude that she saw value in me and this project, and I can’t wait to show the world the beautiful thing we created together! Follow @sextalkdocumentary on instagram for updates!

Website: https://naimacooper.wixsite.com/mysite

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/storiesbynaima/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naima-cooper-93b909104/

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@storiesbynaima?si=4qSXqd6umacY2i-5

Other: Follow @sextalkdocumentary on instagram! We are crowdfunding with Seed and Spark and trying to raise $6,000!

Image Credits
Purple Background Shot by John Dierre