After years of navigating the world of business, Yuky decided to take a bold new step – into the world of film and TV. Passionate about storytelling and visual media, she is now embarking on a Masters in Film and Television: Research and Production at the University of Birmingham. This shift marks an exciting new chapter, where she blends her analytical skills with creative expression, exploring the power of film to inform, entertain, and inspire. In this blog, Yuky shares her journey, what led to this change, and what she hopes to achieve in this dynamic industry.
Since I can remember, I have always loved films. I used to come from school and watch a movie almost everyday. So, when the time came to decide what I wanted to study, my first thought was to become an actress. Actors were the face of movies, so in my young and naïve mind, if I wanted to work in film, that’s what I had to do. Of course, when I told my parents, they immediately refused and persuaded me to study something else. While not entirely convinced, I choose to study Business Administration. After all, it was a degree that could be useful in any industry I wanted to work in the future.
Through university, I managed to get good grades but still felt miserable because I was getting further away from my dream of working in film. It wasn’t until my final year that I discovered a scriptwriting workshop offered to communication students, and despite not being one of them, I decided to join. In all my years studying, I had never enjoyed a class as much as I did in that workshop, nor had I felt such excitement about what I was learning. That was the moment I finally knew. I never really wanted to be an actress, I wanted to be the person who made the movies. I wanted to be a filmmaker. As thrilled as I was with this discovery, I only had one semester left to graduate from university, so I now had to make a choice: switch majors and start over, or continue and graduate with a Business degree. It wasn’t an easy decision, but after everything my parents and I had sacrificed, I felt I owed it to them, and myself, to finish. So I did. I graduated with a Business degree and decided to pursue film making as a postgraduate. But first, I needed to earn some money.
I started working and held roles where I learned a lot and grew professionally, but as the years went by, no amount of growth or promotions could fill the lack of fulfillment because I wasn’t pursuing my passion. It took me a while, but two years ago I finally decided to go for it and study what I had always wanted. After doing my research, I found the MA Film and Television programme at UoB, which was perfect for me since I had no prior experience in film and it would allow me to learn everything I needed to enter the industry.
Although the decision to quit my stable job to pursue something unknown was terrifying, I feel that I made the right choice. Even though I’m only halfway through my Masters, I’ve already had incredible experiences that are bringing me closer to what I always dreamt of, and I can’t wait to see what’s ahead. If you find yourself in a similar situation, all I can say is: Believe in yourself and take the leap. How will you ever know what you’re capable of if you never try?
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