E319 Vicky Clips

Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorced mother. She is really my superhero. That's why it's important for me to support women to share their uniqueness, their personalities, perspectives, and emotions about life. Too many women in this world feel alone. They worry about the judgment of others, and they struggle with their own mental health. But when they listen to the Rare Girls Podcast, where empowered women share their voices and tell their stories, many women will feel inspired to live a life of freedom and to overcome all their insecurities. they will feel it is a safe space to find their confidence, to remember their unique beauty and to feel their self worth. And they will connect with the sisterhood of rare girls who encourage their success and support their dreams. That's what this podcast is all about. My guest today is Vicky Ramizani. Vicky Clips is an actress. She got her theater degree in the School of Fine Arts in Tehran, Iran. Vicki also teaches drama to kids, part-time, but most importantly, she runs a talent agency called Vicki Clips Talent Agency. Vicki loves musical theater, basketball, and dancing. Vicki, how are you today? Hi, Aziz. I'm doing really well. Thank you so much for this amazing opportunity. I'm honored, I'm privileged, feeling very lucky to speak to you today and absolutely curious about you as a person and as a woman. So I'll begin with this nice, easy, kind of easy, although not really, first question, which is, if your friends could describe your personality, what would they say about you? It's very subjective, however, if I wanted to be completely honest, I think the first words that will come into their mind is maybe loud. I think I tend to be very blunt, loud, and extroverted just in general. As a theatre kid, you have to be very extroverted. And I'm going to go with passionate. I love all those descriptors, and I want to know more. Because there is a situation where many girls and women are feeling a kind of pressure to conform, to not be loud. They worry and think, who am I to dare to be loud? Or what if other people judge me for being loud and being blunt and being truly and sincerely myself? What beliefs or attitudes, or like what drives you and allows you to open yourself up to be loud in a world where many people feel that too judged to be that way? That's a really good question. And I completely agree with you. I think there are a lot of women who are afraid of opening up and expressing themselves just boldly because they're afraid of what other people think or they might think like a good proper woman should be a bit more on the quiet side. But I think personally for me, I've just been very blessed. I grew up with a single mother and she's always been hustling and she's always been the boss and she's always been wearing the pants in the family. So I think just growing up with that sort of influence, I just always grew up knowing that if I wanted to do big things in the world, I know that good, polite girls can't get things done. You just have to be bold. You have to be blunt. You have to say what you want in order to reach the things you want in life. I love that. I agree 100% and we have such a similarity with the mother who are both superheroes to us. Yeah, for sure. To ask you even more, and thank you for that. You are also helping and coaching kids with theater and drama. Do you feel that that could be a solution? That let's say a teenage girl or even a woman who is feeling too introverted and reserved and shy, if she goes through the journey of becoming better at acting, releasing all her inhibitions through embodying different characters, could that be a solution and a way for women to find their bold, loud voices? 100 percent. I think acting class, especially like I've I'm so happy that I have the opportunity to work with teenagers and younger girls, especially for acting classes, because I truly love to just create an environment for them where young girls know that they're safe in that classroom. They don't have to be afraid of people judging them and they can express themselves. They can be loud, they can be silly, they can mess up, they can say whatever they want. We even have this little exercise I do with the girls sometimes. I tell them to change into character and it's called Princess Walk. So they walk around normally how they actually would and then I snap my fingers and I say, turn into a queen or a princess, and they have to pretend to put like this crown or tiara on their heads. And suddenly the way they walk, the way they talk, like you have to see the difference. Like they turn into these beautiful, confident women. They, you know, like it's so lovely to see that, that they know how to be confident. It's not, it is inside of them. They're just, you know, a little bit shy to bring it out into the world. And I feel like just practicing this while they're young, it really does help their confidence in their future selves as well. I love that and I love the difference you truly are making by giving women and girls a real experiential experience of being loud and of being free and of being any character, whether in elegance or in the way of being so that they know that they can be any person they can. and to you specifically. What drew you and attracted you to acting? I interviewed an actress who is an immigrant to Canada and she said growing up she felt that she was boxed into a stereotype of whatever ethnicity she was as an immigrant and she thought, look, being an actress would be an act of rebellion where she can be any person in the world she wants to be, she's never boxed in, she can change characters and therefore never feel like she has to be a certain way. And therefore it's defiant for an act of defiance of the expectations of others. What was your journey? What drew you to it? What do you love most about acting yourself? I think just growing up, I've always felt like I was an impatient girl and I always rushed into doing things. I always felt like I was running out of time. And I feel like becoming an actor and like getting into different characters just allowed me to experience every type of lifestyle there is, you know? Obviously you live one life. You can't be a doctor, a lawyer, a man, a sick patient, any character that you can think of, you know? But I feel like in acting, it's the only time where you have this period of time where you can get into another person or another creature's shoes and actually understand and experience what they're going through. And I always feel like, oh, I just wish I had more time to experience this. I wish I had more time to understand this. And I feel like just acting just allows a lot of people to just understand what other people are going through and build a different storyline except your own real storyline. That's fantastic. I love that perspective. It sounds like a way to turn every day into a fresh adventure where you can be limitless. And to ask you even more, you are the founder of a talent agency. How is the situation of talent in general, whatever you specialize in, when it comes to Dubai, are there enough opportunities, enough people pursuing those careers, or is it people that are having them as a side hustle, or how does it go? plus why did you feel that starting a talent agency will be adding something new to the world of talent? Okay, so basically I've lived in Dubai for many years and I was already sort of in the entertainment industry, like doing theater when I was very young in Dubai. But nowadays I can see that there are a lot of other talent agencies and Dubai is still growing. It's not there yet. I hope people always think like, oh, yeah, there's not enough room for talents in Dubai. Like, there's so much already. But that's not the truth. I feel like Dubai is now just growing inside the entertainment industry in general. Back then, it was only very limited to Arab speakers and locals. But nowadays you see a lot of independent films, a lot of production houses, so many talent agencies, modeling agencies and people coming from all across the world to come and model and dance and do acting in Dubai. So, you know, I really saw it as an opportunity because obviously I love acting myself. I didn't even think about doing this whole talent agency thing. But the good thing is I'm also sort of good at business. So I thought that, okay, how can I do something that I love but also, you know, make, you know, some side cash and, you know, have my hustling business minded working with it? So I was already introducing people to music videos, shoots, acting films, because I knew a lot of people in the industry. Then one day I was like, actually, I'm pretty good at this. Maybe I can make some money off of it. So I decided to try it out. I worked with some models who had just come to Dubai, or some models who had no experience before, and I talked and I went to malls, and shops, and brands, and production houses all by myself, introduce myself and told them, yeah, so we're we have a lot of models who would love to collaborate with you. So it was the first few months, it was just like, you know, direct marketing like that. And, you know, competition is there. We have so many agencies nowadays in Dubai, and they're like, they have like hundreds of employees and thousands of models. This was just me in the beginning. I just wanted to start it by myself. And I think the idea really came that I love business and I love art. And I think the most important thing in Dubai is to see more artists produce authentic art. Because unfortunately I feel like art in Dubai is sort of made for the rich for now. I feel like there's a lot of art galleries but it's only accessible if you're white and you have a lot of money. I don't think it's very authentic to a lot of artists that maybe don't know how to access it. So I really wanted to just create a talent agency where you didn't have to pay crazy amounts of money to join. I'm not interested in scamming anyone. You know, it's just I just wanted to be around more artists. I just wanted to be around passionate, talented people and help them make money and help them succeed in the art industry and just keep doing what I'm doing as well. Just, you know, creating more art for the world to see. I love that attitude, ambition and self-confidence. even you felt about yourself that you have a way to add when it comes to the business world. Let's relate this back to women and to them reaching and being able to fully embody their potential. There are many women in this world who are living up to the expectations of other people, even expectations other people did not vocalize or express to them. And they worry, they think, oh, if I go out of my comfort zone and I go for my own big dream, maybe start my business, maybe move to Dubai or like something like that on my own, which is my dream to follow it. What if I fail and then my parents are disappointed and other people laugh at me? What if I'm not good enough and I just like lose all the safety of my comfort zone, just trying to live up to my potential? How and what is your advice to them to find their confidence to take some risk in life because we only live once and so that more women will actually live life on their terms in their own way rather than living up to other people's dreams that might not be compatible with their own wishes? I think the best advice I could give is just do it. Honestly, if you have an idea and you feel passionate about it, just do it. I always say someone's in a hospital bed right now begging for an opportunity that you have right now. It doesn't make sense for you to not try. You have one life, you live once and regardless of whatever you do, people will always judge you. Whatever you do, there's always someone thinking they can say something to add value to it or add their own opinion. But honestly, it doesn't make sense for you not to do it because everyone always has an opinion. This is your You need to do what you're passionate about. And I feel like the first step in order to do that is surround yourself with good people. Don't allow negative people to pull you down, people with no purpose in life, no dreams, no passion. Especially when you're younger, I think you get influenced so quickly by the people around you. So it's really important to surround yourself with people who are motivating you, who are supporting you, in order for you to get that fuel and actually go out there and do what you love Without caring about what a couple of haters are going to say when I started people were like, okay, that's cute She's starting a little talent agency all like oh she named it after herself Vicky clips like who does she think she is, you know, but like The thing is I'm also working with some really good models Like I've been so blessed to have some models work with me who have done some really big brands and I've just started this Around six months. So yeah, honestly, I started this myself No one was there supporting me in the beginning and for now, I'm doing really well. So, of course, I'm going to name it after myself. I think it's just you have to be unapologetically yourselves. Even if that means people think you're thinking too much about yourself or you're too overconfident or whatever it is, you need to just forget about them. This is your life, your path. And once you make it, then you'll see everyone congratulating you. But before that, everyone's just going to give you opinions. Everyone's going to not trust what you're doing and stuff like that. I agree 100 billion percent. And to bring this back to you, what are you currently working on? What is the next step that you're moving forward towards that you seem to be ambitious, constantly on the move, and therefore you're probably having some projects on the way? Yes, absolutely. I'm very, I'm happy to say that we're working every day. I just recently had to hire an intern because I can't keep up with all of our all of the talents that have joined the agency. We just recently reached 100 talents, which is really good for our small intimate agency like my team and I were only eight people. So it's very hard for us to just allow just anyone to join the agency and stuff like that. But we're very happy to say that we've recently reached 100 talents. So we have models, dancers, actors. And right now we're just working with big production houses in buy, we're working with some brands and to do either collaboration work or just bring our models more photo shoots for the future. And on that note aside, just in my personal life, I'm still doing a couple of auditions. I'm still, I still haven't given up on my acting dream. Like I'm definitely doing that on the side. So, you know, we'll just see how it goes from there. I believe in you. I encourage fully and completely all of your success and to complete this a bit more. Is there something that you're trying to remind yourself of in life or a lesson that you have learned that you believe if other women hear or remember or recognize they will live life in a way that is happier, better, more successful so that they have that energy to be louder? Um, that's a very deep question. Wow. Like I mentioned before, always do what you feel like you have to do. Do what you believe in. Don't care about what other people have to say. People always have a judgment against you. If you feel like something is right, if you feel like there's something you're passionate about, and it's not hurting anyone and it makes you genuinely happy, go for it. Do it. But I also want to mention that a lot of women when they get into something and they're working really hard good on them very good, but I think it's also very important to sometimes take a step, breathe, look around, do a quick reflection like hey, am I going to right way, am I doing this correctly, am I overworking myself because I feel like sometimes, especially some women who are very, you know, business minded like myself, we tend to forget about ourselves. We're so busy taking care of other people and focusing on work. Sometimes you forget like, okay, I need to enjoy myself as well. So I think something that I've personally been working on is that after this whole boss girl era that I am, that I am in right now, you know, eventually, I think once you realize your worth, you'll realize that you do have to take a step back. And I do want to enter my soft girl era, hopefully settle down one day, get married, have children, have someone take care of myself as well. And just maybe tone down, not completely disappear, but tone it a bit down, like the hyper-independency that I have with myself and just like the masculine energy, because it's also very important to balance that, balance your work life, but also balance your own physical and mental spirituality as a woman as well. I love that. I don't want to end yet because this is an important topic. So let's speak about that. You said you are in your era of girl boss, which some people will say that's high masculine energy in many ways. There are some women who want to go into their soft feminine era, but they have issue of trust, where they think, oh, if I have a life partner and I settle down and I have family, they don't really like trust enough to follow because they had maybe, I don't know, trauma from machismo or just in general thinking if I don't do it myself, how can I trust other people to help me with it? Since you are going through this transition, what advice do have to some women who have been in their masculine for a long time, so that they will actually dare and relax and soften into their femininity without freaking out or getting scared from the prospect of losing control, but rather see it as part of them like flowing with life rather than controlling life? I think it's very clear because I think also me just being a very dominant person general and having like this has been some issues that I've had in my personal relationships as well but I think nowadays I see it a bit clearly because I see my mother like I mentioned my mom's a single mom she's been working almost most of her life and I see her like she's almost 50 years old now and she still hasn't settled down she's still working and she's still hustling and good for her and I'm so proud of her but seeing that sometimes I realize like I don't think I want to be 50 and still working and running around and you know still being in control. I think it's important, to some extent, to let your guard down, lose a little bit of control, even though it sounds so scary to, you know, I'm always the type of person to say like, Oh, no one can do it better than me. So let me just do it. And I put all of that baggage on myself. But I feel like if I keep doing that, in the long run, I'm never going to be happy and calm and relaxed. I think it's so my And then my mental peace is so much more important than giving someone else some a bit of my control, you know, I think nowadays I'm just realizing that I'm willing to put my guard down even if I've been hurt in the past. Okay, everyone's been hurt. It's fine. But you know, if I find someone and I trust them, I'm willing to put my guard down I'm willing to lose a bit of control, just so I can have some of this baggage off of myself and have that peace of mind and just you know, Just be okay with the fact that not everything has to be perfect. Not everything has to go according to my plan. Just have faith in the universe and God and just let it go the way it has to go. Like my faith is very strong. I always feel like if something doesn't work out, something better is going to come. And if some everything is always planned. So I honestly deep down, even if I'm saying, oh, what if I lose control and this happens? And what if it doesn't work the way I want it to do? I take a second, I'm like, Vicky, hold on, listen, just have faith, it's gonna work out. Even if you don't see it right now, have faith, at the end of the day, it's all for a good reason, and it's gonna work out eventually. 100%, Vicky, it was honestly my honor and my privilege to share your voice, to share a part of your soul and your perspective. I wish you all the success. I wish you to really impact this world, to grow your agency, to help all the kids, and to find that ability to soften and have the happy family that you desire. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for this opportunity. It was lovely talking to you. Thank you so much.