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Meet Kiara Iman of Optimal Inheritance in Augusta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kiara Iman.

Kiara Iman is no stranger to hard work, dedication, and faith that endures all other circumstances. A native of Elyria, Ohio, Iman has been apart of the creative arts field since she was eight years old teaching herself to play the piano and arrangement. Her passion for the arts took her from Ohio to Augusta, Georgia where she attended John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School. There is where she progressed in the craft of acting, singing, producing, and much more while creating creative arts experiences in the community as well. She has worked on several projects ranging from short films to movie soundtracks and much more in between.

Iman is now using her talents for a heavenly calling with the creation of Optimal Inheritance Studios and Beloved: Bits & Pieces. These passion projects were bred from a place of healing and identity recognition. Iman’s new EP, Beloved: Bits & Pieces, explores the nuances of singleness and the notion of being loved in a countercultural manner for millennials. Her work has been streamed on her blog site and various other platforms that have reached people from the southeast and as far out as California.

Optimal Inheritance is growing day by day as a production/media company, serving locals and providing services such as photography, scriptwriting, music and video production/recording, mentorship, ministry, and content development. All projects go toward providing hope and education for the youth while redefining narratives — especially within the African American culture.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Kiara lives by this truth: with great glory comes much suffering. Success does not happen without a struggle a risk, a lesson, a story, and anything worth having is worth fighting for. Therefore, she has made up in her mind that the calling on her life deserves intentional sacrifice even if it continues to require a ton of time of separation. She’s had to let go of leisure, crowds, opportunities, you name it to get closer to the goal. That is not an easy task, which is, honestly, where most people give up. Kiara has counted the costs — leaving family, childhood memories, and comfort behind in order to step out into the unknown.

This kind of faith, yes may open doors, but it also closes a lot of them. Kiara is a believer, and being a Christian in the industry is hard, hard, hard. She has to constantly fight through the stereotypes because of her spirituality while staying true to herself. She desires to be an example of setting a personal standard and actually sticking to it. She wants to revolutionize Hollywood with a newfound perspective, a fresh face, a meaningful message with her faith, culture, and personal experiences.

Please tell us about Optimal Inheritance.
Optimal Inheritance was founded by Kiara Iman with a unique passion to reclaim the creative culture. It is a platform for all types of people to share their experiences, wisdom, perspectives, and incredible stories through The Arts.

Kiara is the lead content creator for the production of music/video, blog writing, photography, and events coordination. She leads her team to use their gifts for collaboration on projects. This offers more opportunities for small businesses to work together rather than be so focused on themselves that we actually stop serving one another in love. The Optimal Inheritance team is a strong believer of unity and maximizing what they have by building The Body of Humanity, not just their personal brands. In all, that is definitely something to be proud of!

All of their proceeds, investments, and projects go toward outreach. For example, Kiara recently just released her new EP called “Beloved: bits & pieces” which has helped pour into so many lives (creating job opportunities for actors, dancers, crew, and publicists; opening up bible studies for women and developing communities by showing how to heal from broken relationships and insecurities; producing and sharing online educational insight regarding identity and navigating the single, dating, and marriage world).

OPTIMAL INHERITANCE’S MISSION:

To Bring Glory to our Father, Friend, Redeemer, Lord, and Savior, Jesus Christ.
We create for The Creator.
We devote ourselves to honoring Him with our gifts and teaching others the fullness of using their talents to advance the Kingdom.
We hope to inspire those who question, doubt, waver, are tired of religious traditions that keep them stagnant, and all who are passionate about The Good News.
We consistently illustrate throughout our work an amazing narrative about humanity’s desperate need for a relationship with The One who is Love itself.
We pray you are transformed through your interaction.

What were you like growing up?
“I always have and always will be the kid who thinks super deep, and maybe even way too deep at times, about life. I constantly ask myself ‘is this really it?’ There ‘has to be more’ right?

Well, I didn’t grow up popular. I was the ‘floater’. I’ve never been into clicks. I’ve always been focused on doing my own thing. Now, that sounds cool and confident as a twenty-one year old woman, but being that kind of girl in, let’s say, MIDDLE SCHOOL (don’t even get me started on high school), was not all of that and a bag of chips. It’s very scary to be yourself…your honest, authentic self. So, I went through this long phase of trying to be Perfect Patty, and that wall had to come down!

It wasn’t until sophomore year in high school that I really started practicing ‘letting go’. When I finally moved to Augusta, GA from Ohio to attend Davidson Fine Arts, I actually began to feel like I was finding my voice — breaking fears and just putting myself out there more. Sometimes we don’t know what we’re capable of until we get around a community who pushes us past potential.

From there, I stopped being the shy girl who only song in the shower or when no one was home. I really started to break out! I then put on a talent showcase fundraiser, toured around the CSRA with my music, won competitions for acting, joined Musical Theatre, acted in my first short film, studied in New York for a summer. The possibilities became endless. I was pushing past the brace-faced, dark unclear skinned girl who was so unsure of herself and started to become everything that was already on the inside of me. I stopped letting my external define me when I began to grasp a hold of all that was within me.” – Kiara Iman

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