Q & A with Jill Maria Mateas

I’m Here With Productions

Photo credit: Darren Ballingall

Interview by: Ainslee Nellis

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WHERE DO YOU DRAW INSPIRATION FROM FOR YOUR WORK?

I draw my strength to be in the public eye in the Calgary arts scene from wanting to help others fulfill their dreams of being actors and seen with my media company out of Calgary, called I’m Here With. My family in Romania I know is always watching online and having over 200 family members, I want to make sure I make them proud, and show them they can become whatever they dream too.

HOW DO YOU WORK THROUGH PERIODS WHERE YOU STRUGGLE FINDING INSPIRATION?

I go through a lot all the time. Realistically I talk to my close friends Lesia, Dawne, Andras, Darren, Zula, Mike, who tell me to keep going. I share with my network on socials how I feel as well and get their feedback and encouragement. I spend time with my loved one and my dog Relu Malin Cooper, and do mediating and praying and often through my deepest thoughts and hardships, I do come up with ways to do things differently and try something new step by step and keep sticking to achieving whatever it is I’m trying for.

HOW DID YOU DEVELOP A CAREER AS AN ARTIST?

One day I met a friend who changed my life, Zulie Alnahas and gave me the opportunity to be a star in a TV show called Go Fish. From there I started a magazine in Calgary to help my network be seen. I always wanted to be an actress since the Wizard of Oz and Sound of Music, back to The Future, Star Wars movies showed me a world I could be a part of.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE SEEKING A CAREER IN THE ARTS?

Try to dream and be realistic and just go for it. Whatever it is you want to achieve, try to make it build on top of each other. Think about keeping your career going for years and always keep changing and growing with the times and technology.

HOW IS YOUR WORK UNIQUE?

No one has the background I do in Calgary. I have the drive to keep a business alive that helps others more than themselves for over ten years now. I feel that it’s my responsibly since I am known and connected how I am in film and TV in Calgary. I want to help others meet the people who have helped me and given me opportunities to be an artist as well. Helping people connect is my real super power. People listen to me and know what I say I will do and they will get more then I even let them know they would at the beginning of working together. I changed people’s lives behind the scenes and have personally brought projects to Calgary to generate opportunities for others and am proud of that.

HOW HAS YOUR PERSONAL LIFE EXPERIENCE INFLUENCED YOUR ART’S AESTHETIC STYLE OR MESSAGE?

Finding my Romanian family from being adopted at 3 1/5 in 1991 was a journey on its own. I love that I found them and my birth mother Garofita Mateas. It helps me be able to know where I came from and why I am the way I am. I now include my family in my magazine’s pages as models, my nieces Ramona, Roxana-Maria, Georgiana, Anna, Andreea, who are gorgeous and love doing photos and makeup artistry. So since meeting them two years ago I have been inspired by them to create a fashion line of athleisure wear called Mateas and Banu, clothes they like to wear. Never giving up and doing things my way from my life experience, this year I’m excited to share that the magazine I do is going national in Chapters stores and more.

FB: @IMHEREWITHMAGAZINE