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“When someone tells me I can’t do something, it pushes me to prove them wrong,” Nancy C. Mejia says about her uphill battle as a queer, Latinx woman in Hollywood. “I simply respond, ‘Let me show you.’”
These three intersections of her identity are proud badges that Mejia leads with when expressing her passion and creativity through storytelling.
Her career accomplishments exemplify three additional occupational intersections: writer, producer, and director in television. Her credits include such hit shows as Vida, The L Word: Generation Q, and The Chi, from critically acclaimed creator and producer Lena Waithe. But it wasn’t an easy path for Mejia.
“When someone tells me I can’t do something, it pushes me to prove them wrong.”
Nancy C. Mejia
The first generation Salvadoran American and native Angeleno knows a thing or two about adversity and how a lack of Latino and LGBTQ+ visibility on-screen and behind the camera can leave you questioning your future in such a demanding and underrepresented field.
Early in Mejia’s career, the number of Latina role models behind the camera was just not there. Add to that the lack of lesbian or queer people in the business to look up to, and you are left with almost no hope that there might be a place for you in Tinseltown. It would be her dedication for the love of the storytelling itself that would help her carve out a space where she could begin to contribute to the existing landscape and draw upon her experiences to improve that lack of representation.
Mejia is not alone. Los Angeles, which is roughly 50 percent Latino, can still pose a problem for young members of the community who are trying to find their sense of belonging in the entertainment industry. With Hollywood so close, yet so far for these individuals it can be a long road with limited access and limited role models or colleagues to help pave the way. The road can seem daunting.
Mejia, a UCLA graduate who studied theatre and women’s studies, showed an interest in the arts early on as a teenager. After joining her high school’s theatre department, she found her outlet to express a creativity that had been there since her childhood, but she didn’t quite know how to manifest it. She also wasn’t certain that it could lead to a viable career opportunity. Determination played a strong part in her choice to stay on track, and her passion for storytelling served as her compass.
It was Mejia’s never-ending tenacity that guided her work and allowed her to meet other creatives that could help propel her future in television.
While she didn’t have a solid plan of what her career journey might look like, she did know where she ultimately wanted to end up: telling compelling stories and increasing positive visibility for Latinx and queer narratives.
“Having that pressure of trying to figure it out forced me to rely on my instincts as to what I wanted to accomplish,” Mejia says. This strategy served as a North Star for Mejia as she kept her focus on learning the art of independent filmmaking and joining community organizations dedicated to improving the representation of Latinos behind the camera, such as the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP). It was this organization that would eventually help to put two key players in Mejia’s path: Vida showrunner Tanya Saracho and former NALIP Executive Director Ben Lopez.
When Vida was getting ready to take off at STARZ and Saracho was staffing up, she inquired with Lopez on who he would recommend from the pool of fresh NALIP talent who could bring something new to the inclusive writer’s room for Vida, a priority that year for the network. They wanted a fresh take and someone who not only had that intersection of queer and Latina but could also write and write well. Enter Nancy Mejia.
Mejia soon joined the writer’s room as a staff writer for season one, bringing both a talent for writing and a distinct queer Angeleno perspective. But she didn’t want to just write; she wanted to direct, too. During season one, Mejia shadowed a director and earned the chance to direct one episode of season two. This further contributed to her dream of directing.
“I knew I wanted to be a director before I worked on Vida. However, it was all just daydreams and theory. It wasn’t until after I directed my first episode on Vida that I was able to have a tangible experience that affirmed my desire to pursue directing,” she explains.
After Vida was cancelled, Mejia continued her writing track for The L Word: Generation Q. Soon after, she would be recommended to direct for The Chi by Gandja Monteiro, who was then working on season seven of the hit show as producing director. The two had met as fellows in the AFI Directing Workshop for Women.
“When you have a safe space to create, it is very empowering.”
Nancy C. Mejia
“When I was a writer on Vida, I recommended her as a director, where she made her television directing debut. Years later, she returned the favor by putting in my name, and that’s how I got on The Chi,” she says. “I always tell people to support and look out for your peers because that’s how you rise together.”
After having directed a few episodes of The Chi and having grown with the crew, cast, and show creators, it is not lost on Mejia what a gem of an experience she has had.
“I believe The Chi has worked out for me so well, because I’ve been allowed to be myself. I feel like a respected collaborator who’s been entrusted to follow my vision within the parameters of the show,” she explains. “When you have a safe space to create, it is very empowering. I don’t take any episode I’m assigned for granted, and I always try to exceed expectations.”
Mejia isn’t just exceeding expectations; she’s setting the bar high for other queer Latina writers and directors. She’s a solid example of what tenacity and drive can get you when you rely on that North Star and continue your journey one step at a time. There is no stopping this Angeleno.
