Creatives looking for some inspiration? This show may be for you. Corey Emanuel Omnimedia recently launched its first online docu-portrait series, Lend Me Your Lens, a show that unpacks the journey of successful creatives of color, highlighting artists, authors, designers, influencers, and musicians. During each episode, these creatives dive into their journeys by sharing inspirations and the tangible steps they’ve taken to transform their passions into a purpose-driven lifestyle.
“This project w
as really a labor of love that derived from my dissertation research,” said creator and producer, Corey Emanuel. “I set out to assess the positive and negative effects of black entertainment and entertainers on black culture. Eventually, I had this ‘aha moment.’ I could create an online platform for shared stories of self-efficacy, therefore, contributing to the discourse surrounding black mental health. I wanted to ignite positive emotions, behaviors, and attitudes toward one’s creative endeavors. I wanted to create what I felt was missing from the unscripted genre of entertainment and make it accessible across the globe.”Emanuel became inspired by the content that would eventually become this project while studying Media Psychology in graduate school. The new school form of psychology helped to provide an understanding of what happens when people interact with media as producers, distributors, and consumers. According to Emanuel, black millennials watch almost 33 hours per week of television and 48% of them are watching it on PCs and smartphones.
Emanuel sought to understand more about how black millennials perceived the content they were consuming and through that journey, Lend Me Your Lens was born. Inspired by his own creative journey, he designed a series to target a Black audience seeking to take their own creative endeavors to the next level.
The first episode highlights Jennia Fredrique, a multihyphenate, a term
currently used to describe career-oriented individuals who excel at multiple endeavors. During this episode, Emanuel chats with Fredrique, who discusses transcending from being an actress to a working writer and director, while maintaining her work-life balance as a wife and mother. Lend Me Your Lens (Image: Corey Emanuel Omnimedia)Tune in to Lend Me Your Lens every Thursday and catch the new episode here.