Check Out Hassel Gastelum’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hassel Gastelum.

Hi Hassel, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
The way I got started in this field was simple and as cliche as it sounds and it was picking up a camera. Ha. It was specifically a video camcorder that I would take from my dad and go through little tape recordings of me and my sister doing imitations of High School Musical, Camp Rock, and Bratz (the movie). From a young age, I loved the creativity that came into putting effort into silly costumes and directing my muse to be as accurate as the original.

With that being said, as I grew older, the field was consistently still in my life, I switched over to broadcasting journalism in high school and then started making short films and youtube videos in college to finally graduating with a cinematography degree and making music short films in festivals, videos for artists, feature-length movies, and T.V, shows.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
ABSOLUTELY NOT. What I came upon on my journey and that is very constant is the way they underestimate women in this male-dominated industry, especially in the music and film field. My God, I really had to work 10x more than a man, and my fellow women who are pursuing the same career know exactly what I am talking about. Some of the struggles were simply just respect and equality.

But the more I learned and got experience in these different environments I got to just realize my worth and started to build my own road and started to express myself more in an unapologetically way. I made my own pedestal and started to only work with individuals and businesses who had the same mindset as me and knew the value in differences and unordinary people. I simply have an underdog mindset and nothing ever stops me anymore from getting what I truly deserve.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Of course! I am a Creative Director/CEO of my own production company: Spiral Productions. I truly specialize in anything film/photography productions. I work closely with small businesses, content creation, and music. I also go into big productions that are happening in other cities such as movies, series, or T.V. broadcasting. I am mostly known for my creativity in various projects with different approaches and my willingness to adapt to any project, especially in my unique and entrepreneurial way.

What I am most proud of is my accomplishments; being the first person in my generation and my family to graduate from college and start my own business, being able to break that mold and generation curse of having a 9-5 job and having access to expand my horizons and able to network to accumulate more jobs and opportunities for myself and for others in the future.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I don’t necessarily have a mentor that I can go to about questions and advice in this industry, unfortunately.

BUT networking and being able to talk to my peers about the field of work and feeling less alone in being vulnerable and genuine with them truly is the best way to go with people in this career, I realized that these people really do appreciate our authenticity and end up being closer to you than ever and truly become allies and friends who look out for each other and this exciting profession.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/hassssel
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hassssel/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@spiralproductions7130

Image Credits
Kairee Doty @eyesofdoty