Self-love is a lifelong journey. Sauda Johnson-McNeal knows this all too well. The lawyer turned actress and producer, created the film Love the Skin You’re In as a love letter to herself, and ultimately to the Black community. After spending years as an attorney, she ultimately bet on herself and turned her idea into a full feature length film starring Wendy Raquel Robinson, Marla Gibbs and so many more. She sat down with Parlé Mag to talk about her inspirations, her path to the film, and ultimately why this film will inspire the next generation of Black filmmakers. Check out our Sauda Johnson-McNeal interview below.
Parlé Mag: You’re a practicing lawyer and an actor. How have you managed to blend those two pursuits and what initially led you to that decision?
Sauda Johnson-McNeal: In Los Angeles where I was studying at USC, they were filming BAPS. I was like an extras assistant or producers assistant, something like that. But Laritha Jones was the executive producer and she was an attorney. And I’m like, my gosh, this woman, I love her. She’s a boss. So that’s when I decided. I’m going to go to law school. I’m going to become an executive producer. I want to do it this way. And it was more empowering for me actually. And that’s really how I ended up following the legal space.
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Parlé Mag: And now you have your own film, Love the Skin You’re In. Tell me how that got off the ground and what was the inspiration?
Sauda Johnson-McNeal:So the inspiration would be partly my life, partly what other women that I know have gone through in terms of their self-love journey, right? I would say early 20s, early 30s were very challenging for me. I had self-injurious behaviors and really just low self-esteem at that time. And part of it was just I had these really high accomplishments that I thought I would achieve by a certain age. And now looking back, I’m like, wow, they’re a little bit unreasonable.
But at the time, I just thought, why haven’t I done this yet? Why am I not here yet? And so when I got to that other side of loving myself, being in a good space after therapy and prayer, I thought, maybe I should help the next woman who may be walking in the shoes that I walked in. So in 2014, I decided I am going to get back into what I’m supposed to be doing, which is my film and acting, and I’m gonna use what I believe is a very influential platform, which is media and film, to share my story and help people.
Parlé Mag: Wow. So you’ve had this idea for more than a decade?
Sauda Johnson-McNeal: The vision started back then, 2014. I started writing the script and finally shot the film after raising the funds, getting the money, part of it, the majority of it was self-financed in 2004.
Parlé Mag: So why did you go the self finance route? Did you try the traditional route first or you would just were like, this is my project, I wanna get it off the ground?
Sauda Johnson-McNeal: I absolutely tried the traditional route first. The legal person in me is like, you’re supposed to use other people’s money. That’s the reality of this business, of anything when it comes to investing. However, I really just got a lot of pushback as far as what I was focusing on. Sub-love, no violence, no sex, family.
And I knew that there was a space for it. I’d done the research, I spoke to other women and they wanted to see this type of work as well as just people in general. However, when it comes to getting that money, people are like, it’s not going to sell. So I eventually decided I’m gonna go ahead and use my money and make this happen so I can actually now be part of this world, have a different conversation for the next film when I start getting investors, which is of course what I’m doing now. Yeah, no, that’s mean, kudos to you. That is a journey of itself. Thank you. Yeah, you learned the process of the film and also after it kind of made you. Yes, I mean, can you repeat that? I apologize. Yeah, what do you feel?
Parlé Mag: What did you learn through the process of kind of creating it on your own?
Sauda Johnson-McNeal: I learned so much, I would say the majority of what I learned is when you’re new at something, you need a team. You need a team who absolutely knows what they’re doing. So it was the understanding that, of course, I was the leader, but at the same time, I was allowing them to lead me to learn. So I would definitely say to anyone who’s just starting off in terms of kind of that takeaway is: Get that team. Get that team who has the expertise, who have already done this time and time again. And that’s how you’re gonna learn and that’s how you’ll get a wonderful project. And that is how I was able to get Obba Babatundé and Marla Gibbs and Wendy Raquel Robinson.
Parlé Mag: How did that feel kind of stepping into like working with them?
Sauda Johnson-McNeal: It felt surreal, really. I mean, because at first, you know, you have to always be careful on this journey. And I say journey for me, that self love journey of really starting to question and have that doubt. Like why, why would they want to do my film? Why me? And it’s like, why not you? You know, this is a wonderful script.
Parlé Mag: So what’s next? Are you working on anything else that you want to do after this?
Sauda Johnson-McNeal: I’m working on actually two films. One of them is already drafted and just in, you know, kind of tweaking it. Another one I’m currently in the progress of developing and then I have two TV shows one is a lifestyle show and the other one is the spin-off of Love the Skin You’re In a movie the television show so very much excited and hoping that someone is willing to say you know what we see what she did with her own money with a wonderful team and we’re now willing to invest in her and this film.I’m actually segueing out of practicing law, going full time into this space of becoming a personality. So I’ll be doing public speaking to help people in terms of this journey of love.
I want people to remember to create your own way Love the Skin You’re In. It’s currently out. It’s on Amazon, Apple TV. Please stream it.
Stay Connected with Sauda Johnson-McNeal:
Instagram: @RonashLLC
Website: ronashllc.com
