Conversations with the Inspiring Elizabeth Woods-Darby

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Woods-Darby.

Elizabeth, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born on a windy night in March in a cabin on a farmstead in rural Colorado. My dad caught me as I slipped from my mother into his rough, work-hardened hands, while my brothers 8, and 12, stood nearby with wide child eyes.

 This is really where my story starts.

 My family was -well is- anything but standard, normal. We lived on 24 acres of old apple orchard, raised our own goats for milk and meat and hauled drinking water 3 miles from town.

 When my mom, who was 42 when she found out she was pregnant with me, was refused by the local doctor to be seen because of her age, her natural reaction wasn’t fear but a complete attitude of ” okay. I got this.” I don’t know if that bravery is something that I got from being carried inside her or if it was part of my own genetic makeup, but it’s something that’s driven and pushed me my whole life.

I grew up wild, not in the traditional sense of chasing boys and downing beer, but barefoot and footloose ranging across the wilderness on my horse or with my goats, my head full of stories and pictures of my friends and fed by the imagination of the world out there.

 I was cast in my first play at 7, picked up my first camera (a disposable from the supermarket) at eight and began modeling at 9. For me, none of them were ever quite separatable. It was everything all at once. When I was 19, I bought my first real DSLR and with my best friend and my older brother, we shot our first real film. A black and white silent film called Paper Heart with an all-original soundtrack.

 I acted in it, helped direct, produce and I did the majority of the editing. We entered it in our local film festival and ended up winning seven awards for it, including Best Picture, Best Actor and Actress, Best Cinematography and the People’s Choice Award.

I loved the tangible storytelling of it. Of being in front of and behind the camera. And I feel like my delight to experience both sides has changed the way I capture and see the world.

In 2013 I applied for a summer film acting program in NYC. I packed my small town leather boots, pooled all the money I’d saved from being a goat midwife (Yes, it’s a real thing) over the last three years plus the money I’d raised and hopped on a jet plane in Denver.

I don’t know if it was my mother’s sense of adventure, her bravery or my dad’s sense of fortitude, but I fell in love with New York City and I fell in love with my acting school.

 After the summer, I came back to Colorado for a month to sell everything I had, including my car, and I officially moved to Manhattan.

 I worked three jobs to put myself through school and lived with five other girls in an apartment in Harlem with one bathroom. But I had been raised on a farm without warm running water and while the city was a different beast, I was still ready for it. The city fed me with a fire I hadn’t known I’d been looking for.

But like all fire, it can burn you. That first Christmas, too broke to go home, a friend and I planned to volunteer at a soup kitchen for Christmas, but he passed away from an enlarged heart on Christmas Eve. I kept my head down, I kept working hard, but the things that sustained me started to change. I missed the wilds and I missed my sense of belonging in the faces of my friends. I found my way back to my camera, getting lost in central park, capturing the world around me for hours, taking headshots for friends and waiting to get cast in something.

In 2015 my Acting Conservatory program finished, and I moved back to Colorado.

 The thing that had struck me so much about my life and all my actor friends in New York was that everyone was always waiting. Busy, sure, but waiting. Waiting to be discovered. Waiting to be cast. Waiting to meet the right person at the right party. (Cue the La La Land soundtrack). Always being on your best behavior because you never know who you might meet on the subway.

 I was sick of the waiting. Sick of waiting for someone else to decide I was enough.

So I started my own creative company and called it WD Creatives.

 It, like life, encompasses more than just one thing.

 I made films for non-profits and helped with crowdfunding and brand recognition on their websites.

 I shot engagements & elopements; headshots for LinkedIn.

 I modeled for local brands and photographers. I wrote and shot fictional short films and collaborated with other colorado artists.

 It is so important to me to do my best to add to the pool of artistic enough-ness, giving others a hand and a leg up instead of holding on to the story we are handed, that everyone, especially women in show business, are inherently a threat to each other.

 By removing the middleman, we are capable of freeing ourselves and making the art and the impact we were designed to have.

The thing I love about my business is that it varies so much. From working with people who are making the world better to capturing elopements in Hong Kong, to modeling wedding dresses for local Denver Companies; I think it’s that essential contrast that I love.

 That contrast in life, just like in a good black & white photograph. You’ve got to have the high saturation, the rich dark tones, the striking light, but more than that, you need to be capturing something. Someone. A moment. A feeling. A story.

 That’s why I do what I do. That’s why I love what I do.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Have I had obstacles? Absolutely. Have I been broke? Absolutely. Have I doubted myself? You bet your butt I have. Have I struggled with being lonely working for myself for years? Whew boy. Yes.

We are faced with so many challenges and so many choices every day.

I’d say I have four pieces of advice for people and young women, especially:

 Stick to your own integrity. Don’t ever do anything that goes against it, no matter if it’s in your professional life, something a co-worker asks of you, something a date wants. Find that inner compass and stick with it. It’s worth it, I promise.

Find your tribe and invest yourself in it. We all need friends, but creatives and entrepreneurs, especially, need a place of human belonging and a place where we can be messy and working on it and exhausted and fully loved anyway.

Look for ways you can help the people around you. It’s one of the biggest secret weapons there is, to try to help find that person a job or land that audition or loan them that great dress that makes their eyes stand out. Helped people want to help people. And we have the added bonus of having a much better world in the meantime.

The last thing I’ll say on advice is don’t give up on something just because you don’t know how to do it.

 Ask for help, ask someone who does know how to do it. Ask for resources from your circle of social media friends and don’t doubt your ability to learn it yourself, if you need to. You are capable of learning everything you need to know. No matter how much of the ‘right type of education’ you’ve had.

The amount of things I have learned by the seat of my pants from some youtube video or website forum might surprise you. (Hello HTML) But because I haven’t let it stop me, it means that my creative boundaries really are exactly what I say they are. Boundless.

What should we know about WD Creatives? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I work with people to tell and capture stories.

 Whether that is capturing your child’s birth on video, the love story of a newly engaged couple against the sunset at Red Rocks; or working with a Boulder non-profit to hone and release their story of providing eye care to the underserved people of Jamaica every year for the last 25.

That’s what I’m here for.

I’m also here as an actor for your short films, short plays and as an experienced model for your exuberant new designs against the brickwork in RiNo.

Most recently, I’ve started focusing on shooting human events. Elopements, engagements and births.

 There is something I really value in getting to be a part of your story at these crucial crossroads and moments and a part of how you remember it for years to come.

I’m also moving forward with a new branch of projects. Coaching for the individual, in artistic and crossroad situations. I believe that no one should have to do this thing alone and that finding support and compassion in our lives is the strongest and bravest thing we can do most days.

What do you feel are the biggest barriers today to female leadership in your industry or generally?
The biggest barrier to female leadership is our own culture around it and the waiting that we do for other people to recognize us. I am very inspired by the works of Reese Witherspoon and how she has boldly created the work she wanted to see in the world, for women, by women. I think this, taking it into our own hands, is so powerful and so worthwhile.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.elizabethwoodsdarby.com
• Instagram: @barefootinthefog
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/elizabeth.woodsdarby/

Image Credit:
Steven Falconer, Lucy Schultz Photography, Anateya Rose Media, Elizabeth Woods-Darby

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