Check Out Taj-Malik Tavares’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Taj-Malik Tavares.

Hi Taj-Malik, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My name is Taj-Malik Tavares. I am a Sustainability Coordinator, photographer and filmmaker native to Atlanta, Georgia. My story begins almost ten years ago in 2017.

During this time, I was recommended by my film teacher to join a film production summer program with a local non-profit named Re:Imagine. The fellow members voted me as the director for a music video project highlighting the dangers of gun violence. This experience gave me confidence and motivation to express myself creatively. It also opened the door for me to appear on WABE’s A Closer Look program with Rose Scott for an in-depth interview discussing the video.

A few years later in 2021, the Re:Imagine team reached out to me with an opportunity to join their inaugural film apprenticeship team. I quit my job as the movie theaters and decided to dedicate my time and effort toward my long-term goals. After nine months of on-set and soft skill training, I felt confident in my ability to apply for new opportunities.

After two rounds of applications, I was hired at Adult Swim as an Office Production Assistant. I worked with the production team there for shows such as: “SquidBillies”, “Birdgirl” and “Aqua Teen Hunger Force”. My day to day responsibilities included conforming scripts, drafting email correspondence and supporting the creators and producers with a variety of tasks. Unfortunately, my time there ended after one year due to a corporate merger which reshuffled teams across the Warner Brother company.

I spent months without work before a former colleague of mine reached out to me with an opportunity to join an upcoming film production as a Sustainability Coordinator. Although, I wasn’t completely familiar with the role, I was in great hands with Amazon MGM’s former Sustainability Executive, Susan Sanchez. She guided me through all the hurdles and supported my growth during my first film production.

An unlucky streak would resume shortly after this opportunity as the actor and writer’s strike would begin just days after we wrapped in 2023.

Eight months later, I was back on a production in a Sustainability role. It was during this time that I decided to give more focus to my personal creative expression. This feeling spawned the idea that eventually became my photography series, “Ataraxy”. A fifteen subject, Kodak film shot project highlighting Southern landscapes in the metro-Atlanta area. The photos feature young, people of color in sprawling, traditional settings. The juxtaposition between the stereotypical face of Southern heritage versus the reality of the people who built and still occupy this land.

The next summer in 2025 I worked on a personal short film with a group of my friends as a creative exercise. This film, “One More Before We Go” is currently in post-production.

It’s been five years since I began my journey into my current career and passion. Throughout that time, I’ve faced hurdles, set backs and self doubt, but through it all I remained determined to complete my goals to the best of my ability.

Nowadays, I’m in preproduction on another film named “Post Maith” and an upcoming photography project entitled, “Southern Oak Bears the Fruit of Their Labor”. I’m excited to share my work with the greater Atlanta community and beyond.

Thank you for your time!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road has not always been smooth during my journey. My largest obstacle was overcoming my self doubt. There were times in my career where I felt I didn’t deserve my position or didn’t believe in my own ability to achieve success. This is a common occurrence for creative and professionals of all ages. There will be ideas in your head of inevitable failure, but it’s important to recognize it as just a passing, negative thought. It’s something I’m still working on every day.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Outside of my personal photography and film work, my professional specialization is in environmental data collection and analytics. As a Sustainability Coordinator, I work closely with all facets of a production to ensure we’re operating in an environmentally conscious manner while also adhering to all city, state and studio guidelines.

In my career, I am known for my strong work ethic and ability to create unity in the crew surrounding the implementation of new technologies and strategies.

I am most proud of the work my job allows me to do with coordinating daily food donation. In the course of my career, I have overseen the donation of thousands of pounds of leftover food to those facing food insecurity in the metro-Atlanta area. As a native of this area, it is my deepest honor to be able to give back to a community that has given me so much.

What sets me apart from others in my field, is my deep compassion for the work and collaborative spirit. I understand that everyone is coming to this production with a variety of understandings of my role and its purpose, but with patient explanations and room of error and growth, my colleagues can feel safe learning from me and teaching others in their department.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
People can support me through following my personal growth in photography and filmmaking.

My production company, “Exit 7 Productions”, will be the umbrella in which all my work will fall under.

Professionally, you can spread the news from local production to large scale about the importance of a Sustainability professional being implemented on set. Every crew member has a specialized function that adds to the overall success of the project, and Sustainability is just the same.

We can save money, time, effort and, most importantly, carbon emissions from being wasted.

Pricing:

• My pricing for Sustainability consulting would be on a sliding scale in relation to the scale of the production.
• My photography and film work are currently unlisted monetarily, but I would be open to any creative conversations and opportunities.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tajmaliktavares/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taj-malik-tavares/