Today we’d like to introduce you to Shanese Shields.
Hi Shanese, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Missouri, which is known as The Show me State. I think being born and raised in the Show me State made me work harder and show people what I am truly capable of. I started writing at a very young age and had my first piece of writing published at the tender young age of 12. It was a poem that I had written after being inspired by my late and great Sorority sister, Dr. Maya Angelou called “Do you Hate me?”
Growing up, I was always the life of the party and found creative ways to entertain myself. Two of my favorite things to do as a child were playing video games and singing on my Karaoke machine. I also enjoyed reenacting scenes from the Cosby show and Different World. I think all of those things helped craft me into the creative individual I am today.
I always knew I would entertain and educate people. Those are two things that have always been very important to me. Prior to the pandemic, I spent the last ten years working with At Risk Youth 17-20 years old. I have always been a champion for the underdogs, and working with At Risk Youth allowed me to do what I love while changing the lives of families in my community. I have helped a lot of families celebrate first-generation high school graduates.
I moved to Atlanta in August 2019 to fully pursue all of my business and creative endeavors. I started my creative company Klazzy Kre8tions on March 3, 2009 and felt I finally had enough traction to pursue my business on a full-time basis. I wanted to be around other hungry and determined creatives like myself.
After getting my dream job in 2016 and being told in 2019 that they had to cut $5 million in jobs and that I would have to take a $45K pay cut to keep my job, I chose to leave. I decided in January 2019 that I was moving to Atlanta in the summer to expand my experience in the entertainment industry. Seven months after my arrival, the Pandemic shut down the entire world.
I was able to introduce myself to the world in January 2020 when a show that I was on aired called 60 Days In. I was always a fan of the show and thought what idiot would volunteer to go to jail. Well, in 2019 I joined season 6 and became the very idiot I talked about in previous seasons. I wanted to bring awareness to how people with autoimmune diseases, food allergies & intolerances were treated in the criminal justice system. It was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made in my life and although I don’t regret it, I wished my true story was shown and not made into a mockery. However, I am blessed that the production company tasked with showcasing my story failed me because that pushed me to start my own production company so I can showcase true and honest stories about people like me.
I did not allow the pandemic to stop me. After starting my production company, Klazzy Kre8tions Production Company in 2020, this year we have filmed four smaller projects. I also have written one feature film, treatment for docuseries and 12 short films. Moving to a new city months before the pandemic shut the world down did not stop me, it motivated me to do what I came to Atlanta to do, which is create magic and let my presence be known. A pandemic, brain disorder, gastrointestinal autoimmune disease or Graves Disease will not stop me. I always tell my students to fight through when it hurts, so I have to be a living example for them. No Excuses…
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been a very bumpy road. Every single time I make a “daring” decision to do something, life throws me a major curveball. It started back in 2001 when I decided against my parent’s wishes to intern at Disney World. I was able to get credit for school and work on my acting craft while working at the prestigious Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
Two major things happened while interning and being away from my family and friends. I was supposed to be on an airplane on 9/11/2001, as it was a couple of days before a major birthday for me. I was supposed to fly to Kansas City to get my mom and we were going to fly to Chicago to be with my sister. I ended up meeting two awesome people in Florida that helped me celebrate my birthday. I told my family I wanted to stay in Florida and enjoy my birthday with my new friends. The same day I was supposed to be in the air, the tragedy of 9/11 happened.
We still had the airline ticket for me to use at a later date, which worked out perfectly. While working at Disney World, I started developing horrific headaches. We used the airline ticket from my birthday to fly me home to see a neurologist. I learned in 2001 that I have a brain disorder called a Chiari Malformation after suffering horrible headaches.
According to Google, a Chiari Malformation “is a problem in which a part of the brain (the cerebellum) at the back of the skull bulges through a normal opening in the skull where it joins the spinal canal. This puts pressure on parts of the brain and spinal cord and can cause mild to severe symptoms.”
The next major hiccup occurred several years later after I made another major life decision. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher but was scared to make the transition. I finally decided to leave Corporate America and go into teaching. I took a $30k pay cut to start as a Paraprofessional in education since my degrees were not in education. Three months later, I was blessed with a full-time teaching job with much better pay and benefits.
During this transition, I started losing my hair and was losing massive amounts of weight (90 pounds). After visiting my primary care physician, an oncologist, a gastrointestinal doctor, and a gynecologist, I was finally diagnosed with Celiac Disease. In addition to being diagnosed with a new disease and learning what foods I now had to avoid. I was also informed that due to being misdiagnosed my entire life, I could not have children the traditional way. Celiac caused me the inability to ever experience the ups and downs of pregnancy.
The last hiccup I will discuss is something that is currently affecting me. A couple of months after moving to Atlanta, I fell really ill. This time was different from the other times I was sick. This sickness affected my mind, body, and soul. I was diagnosed with Graves Diseases and Thyroid Eye Disease in January 2020.
All of these things could have stopped me or discouraged me from living my dreams or helping others. Instead, it makes me work harder and be a champion for others fighting the same or similar battles. I would not be the strong person I am today if I was not made to go through the trials and tribulations, I have experienced. I have truly learned how to find the triumphs in my trials and tribulations.
As you know, we’re big fans of Klazzy Kre8tions Production Company. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I am the owner or Klazzy Kre8tions (3/2009) and Klazzy Kre8tions Production Company (2020). I started both of my businesses because I wanted to have access to certain types of products, services and productions. Klazzy Kre8tions is the parent company for my production company. I have spent the last 24 years writing, directing and acting and decided it was time to invest in myself and my craft and Fully Rely on God, so I started the production company.
After being grossly disappointed in the way an international television show portrayed me, my health and my story, I decided it was not time to get mad but to get strategic and make some changes. I am so passionate because I suffer from 3 Autoimmune Diseases and at the time of my incarceration, I only suffered from one disease, which was Celiac Disease. The lack of nutrition and being predisposed to Graves Disease through my mother and grandmother brought on the symptoms for Graves’ Disease while filming the show.
The show portrayed me as a chronic complainer because I was not able to eat certain foods. I volunteered to go to jail because I read a lot of stories about people just like me who suffer from Celiac Disease. They experienced trials and tribulations, weight loss and sickness while being incarcerated. I was able to witness firsthand how people with medical issues were also treated when my feet were extremely swollen and I started experiencing heart palpitations.
Since I have been out of jail, I have made it my mission to continue to bring awareness and change. I am currently working on a line of children’s books that feature main characters with various Autoimmune Diseases for my Amazon store (https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B09HV8BD3J). I also have started working on footage for my Docuseries, Autoimmune Diseases: No more suffering in silence.
Klazzy Kre8tions Production Company’s mission is to provide quality film and television projects that aim to Empower, Educate, Inspire and Entertain. Most of our projects will concentrate on the first three more so than Entertaining. I created the production company to create projects that make people think and crave to know more about the storyline and characters.
Since I am new to the area, I am looking to collaborate with other creatives in the area including but not limited to: Makeup Artist, Actors, Cinematographers, Editors, Musicians, Writers, Directors, Producers, BTS Photographers, and other crew. We are done filming for 2021 but will ramp up again no later than March 2022. We are also looking for investors and/or sponsors for some of our upcoming projects.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
I always enjoyed being the life of the party. Some of my favorite childhood memories involved my mother, two of my friends and I reenacting an EnVogue concert. My two friends were sisters and were one year apart in age. My mother and their mother grew up together and the three of us grew up together. We would put on our best costumes and put on our very own EnVogue concert. We had such a great time dressing up and performing. Little did I know those performances would prepare me for a career as an Entertainer and Educator.
Contact Info:
- Email: klazzykre8tionspc@gmail.com
- Website: https://klazzykre8tionsproductioncompany.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dramakueen16
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KlazzyKre8tionsPC
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DramaKueenVlog
- Other: https://klazzy-kre8tions.myshopify.com/
