Meet Melissa Aguirre | Videographer/Photographer

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

Hi Melissa, how do you think about risk?
I LOVEEEE taking risks! I love the feeling i get when i know im doing something risky, because even if i do fail, i know that i will learn something from it.

Taking risks is the only reason why i am where i am in my career as a videographer.

I started making videos from my phone when i was around 15 years old. I would film random stuff and edit together random clips.
Then i stopped for a few years, graduated high school, went to college and somehow started making videos again. Just for fun.

Until one day, in college, i somehow nailed an internship with a filmmaker named Charlie Minn. I was a Math major… doing a filmmaker internship.

I took the risk of doing an internship as a filmmaker and ended up switching my major too. I fell in love with telling stories through video.

After that big risk, i kind of got addicted to taking risks because somehow they ended up teaching me something new about filmmaking.

That internship turned into another internship at a video production company. I ended up landing a job at the video production company as manager/director of videography. Then, from that job i got inspired to start my own brand named NVM.

Those were all risks. I risked my “future” career as a math professor to make films. I risked taking that position at the video company because the previous manager had quit and i wasn’t fully trained yet. I risked my full time job at the video company to start NVM.

So, to answer the question, risks have definitely played a huge role in my career. Risks taught me everything.

If you don’t take risks, you’ll always stay in the same place.

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.
I think my favorite part about my art is that I can make people feel different types of emotions. I can make people excited about a party. I can help them visualize a song through the visuals of a music video. I can even make them cry through a documentary. But one recent emotion that I really hope people feel when they look at my art is “inspired” or “motivated”.

I want to not only help other creatives with content but also inspire people to do things that they love. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying to quit your job and start skateboarding because you love it. All I am saying is that no matter what you do in life, somehow do that thing that feeds your soul. Maybe even just do it as a side hobby where you don’t tell anyone about it. Just make sure you do that thing that makes you happy.

What makes me happy is making videos, taking pictures, help other artists with content and most importantly, motivate others to do things that feed their soul.

I think that’s what makes NVM art, different.

How did I get here? Good question, because sometimes I’ll be eating a bowl of cereal, editing something I’ve always dreamed of editing and ask myself, “how did i get here?”.

All I can say is I got here by taking risks. When I first dived into the “film world” I had no clue what I was doing. Whenever someone asked me if I knew how to do something that was videography related, I’d say yes. Even though I had no clue what they were talking about, I’d go home, spend all night studying whatever that person asked me to do and I’d nail it the next day.
But, yes, there were times where I’d mess up. But when I would mess up, instead I’d end up learning something new. And that became sort of like a domino effect. Risk after risk. Lesson after lesson. Experience after experience.

Every risk I took, every lesson I learned and every experience I experienced, led to what is NVM today.

When people see my art I hope they don’t think to themselves ” oh, she just makes videos and takes pictures”. No. I hope that when they see my art, they feel a million emotions. But the main emotion I hope they feel is “inspired”.

I hope that you and anyone who is reading this does what feeds their soul.
Because making videos, taking pictures and helping artists with my work feeds mine.

What feeds YOUR soul?

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend Jen (one of my best friends) was in town and it was up to me to make the itinerary, i’d take her to Walmart. lol jk

I would spend the first few days waking up early and taking a drive in a scenery area while bumping our favorite songs. Then, we would go have brunch somewhere in either Hillcrest or Little Italy.

In Hillcrest i’d take her to Gossip Grill, because not only do they have really good food, but they also have an amazing vibe and dance floor.
In Little Italy i’d let her choose a random restaurant because Little Italy is filled with amazing restaurants.

In the middle of the week i’d have a beach day with her and invite other friends. Maybe even DJ at the beach while the HomeGrown crew shows up and does a house music set.

On the weekend, during the day, we would go see a play and then finish off by heading to Rich’s or a good bar near the beach while a reggae band is playing.

I could list more things to do but don’t want this to turn into a “novela”. haha

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
That’s a hard question… because i’ve been lucky enough to have mostly support and encouragement by those around me.

But, there are a few people that i’d like mention. First off, my parents… my parents have been my biggest supporters. They even supported me when i switched my major! I can go on and on and on about my parents but we’ll cut it there because it’ll turn into a “novela”.

Another person i’d like to thank is my partner. Sorry if i stay up late sometimes editing a video, but just know you are appreciated and loved.

I can list so many more people but i’ll cut there before you guys get bored. lol

Website: https://www.visualsbynvm.com/

Instagram: @visualsbynvm