Conversations with Vegan Women Leaders

Conversations with Vegan Women Leaders


011: Jasmine C. Leyva On The TV Industry & Embracing the Freedom To Tell Her Own Stories

December 11, 2020

In this Conversations with Vegan Women Leaders episode we interview Jasmine C. Leyva, a filmmaker and actress based in Los Angeles.

Jasmine worked as an associate producer on a NAACP-winning docuseries Unsung, and shortly after, was given the opportunity to write and produce on Being, a docuseries highlighting dynamic entertainers in film and music.

She’s done court shows, casted for Food Network productions and made strides in front of the camera, starring in commercials and print ads for major brands including Nissan, Sony, Apple, Uber, American Express, Elle magazine and more.

She also starred in the Lifetime show, My Crazy Ex, along with other TV projects.

Happy to be doing what she loved, but simultaneously unhappy about not telling her own stories, she decided to focus on her own productions.

In 2019, Jasmine and Kenny Leyva produced their own feature-length documentary, The Invisible Vegan, a film that chronicles Jasmine’s personal experience with plant-based eating and explores the connections between plant-based eating and African roots.

In this conversation, Jasmine talks about:

• How she broke into the entertainment industry

• Her experiences of mistreatment in the often toxic culture of the TV world

• How these experiences have resulted in her becoming a more compassionate leader and creative artist

• Why she left her regular 9-5 work in the industry to tell her own stories

• How and why she made The Invisible Vegan

• How Covid-19 nixed many of her plans for 2020, yet also brought some benefits

• And more

Visit Jasmine’s website
Find out more about The Invisible Vegan

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