“How much longer are you going to stay oblivious of the immensity of yourself?”
This is the quote that inspired Micahela Vindiola, a second-year Delta College student, to finally stop letting life pass her by and pursue her passion.
The quote was shared by Adriana Brogger, associate professor of Radio and Television. Vindiola cites Brogger as her inspiration behind starting her podcast: “AfterShot.”
After taking a three-year-long break from college, Vindiola returned to Delta last spring and enrolled in Brogger’s Media Performance class. She gained more from the class than she could have imagined.
“Hearing a professor tell us her story and everything she’s done, it made me think, ‘Hey, I want to do that, too,’” Vindiola said.
It wasn’t long after hearing Brogger’s story that Vindiola decided to launch her podcast.
“I’m grateful to know that I have inspired her,” Brogger said. “She inspires me right back.”
Vindiola knew she wanted “AfterShot” to focus on local creatives from the beginning. She inherited her father’s love of music and noticed not enough attention was paid to Stockton’s arts scene.
“Stockton doesn’t have the best reputation,” Vindiola said. “The main reason why I started “AfterShot” was to give those in the local area a platform for their work to be seen. So many people focus on the bad stuff here, but there’s a lot more that we have to offer and there’s a lot of people here who are trying to make a difference.”
Vindiola, who has now taken two RTV classes, said she has learned the value of post-production and interviewing techniques.
“I really get in-depth with every artist,” she said. “It’s important to study every person you’re going to interview because that shows you’re genuinely interested in them and you know what you’re talking about.”
Vindiola said networking and being consistent with uploads has helped to grow her audience.
“Everybody knows everybody in the local arts scene,” she said. “You see the same faces over and over again. As long as you keep showing up to these events, people are going to recognize you and they’re going to follow you.”
The best part about the local arts scene is the sense of community that it fosters.
“Out of every event I’ve gone to during the past two years, there hasn’t been a single fight or any violence at all,” Vindiola said. “That’s hard to find in this town. If you go to a bar or a club, there’s always a chance it’s going to get shot up so it’s important for us to have a space where we could be ourselves and be creative.”
Vindiola thinks that in order for the local arts scene to grow, people need to support the few establishments who welcome local artists.
“If we continue to have these spaces, we’re going to see a lot more artists come up because they’re going to have a place to go and a place to showcase their work,” she said.
Vindiola’s mission is to help push those artists towards success.
“I see potential in these people, even though some of them don’t see potential in themselves,” she said. “If they come across someone who truly believes in them, it’s going to push them harder and that’s my main goal: to push everyone harder because I know they could do it.”