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If you are wondering what life is like as a powerful female role model, Diana Derycz-Kessler is the perfect person to ask. A former Elite fashion model and Harvard Law graduate, Diana is owner and CEO of The Los Angeles Film School and The Los Angeles Recording School in Hollywood.
In addition to leading two of LA’s most prominent art schools, Diana also acts as general counsel to her and her husband’s investment company, The Bristol Group.
Saturday Night Magazine caught up with Diana to find out the secret to her success.
You have a law degree; shouldn’t you be running a law firm instead of a school?
That’s a good question! I tried the law firm thing and spent four years running my own practice. I spent another five years as an international oil and gas attorney. Practicing law day in and day out is not as exciting to me as running businesses. As a lawyer, I always envied business people, so my dream had always been to cross over. Having spent eight years in school after high school at a variety of institutions, I really learned to love education. Somewhere along the line I also became fascinated with filmmaking. What better business to run than one that interlaces education with creativity?
Describe the difference between being a fashion model and the CEO of a company.
Simply put: you need looks to be a fashion model, while you need brains and personality to be a CEO. In modeling, you are competing with hundreds of thousands of other gorgeous people - yes, they do exist! As a CEO, you know that you are there because of other characteristics.
What’s it like being a woman in a male-dominated business world?
That is my favorite question. First of all, it’s a lot of fun. As a young girl, I grew up admiring men and thinking that they run the world because they’re suppose to. Men were the doctors, the lawyers, the presidents, whereas women were the nurses, the legal assistants and the secretaries. When you get older, you realize that men have the same strengths, work ethic, insecurities, emotional ups and downs, and other characteristics that women have. In essence, they are not the superstars that I once believed them to be, but simply human, just like women. I have also learned that women can be just as effective in any position, if not more. Many times in my career I have been the only woman sitting at the business table, but after the hellos and welcomes - and raised eyebrows from the men, I believe everybody forgets the gender of the people in the room.
What do you tell other females that are looking to become entrepreneurs?
Go for it. Mistakes will only make you stronger. Forget your insecurities for a moment. Or, alternatively, remember that every other entrepreneur has the same insecurities as you have, whether male or female, so you are just as likely to succeed as the next entrepreneur.
In addition to working with the school, you are involved in your own movie projects as an executive producer. Any big ones coming up?
Yes, watch out for All Ages Night. This is an incredibly fresh film about the teenage music scene. The director, Nancy Stein, graduated from our school, and she is one of the most talented young directors I’ve seen in a long time. You asked about entrepreneurs, well Nancy left her very secure job, came to our school to learn directing, received dozens of awards for her student film, and is now directing her first feature film! Nancy took this risk even with kids at home.
What do you get more gratification from, working with clients from your investment company or working with students from the film school?
I certainly get the biggest thrill when I see our graduates make it in the industry. When I walk around the film school, and I bump into students carrying their equipment and talking excitingly about their film projects, it reminds me of how incredible dreams and hopes are. When I see a former student make it out there because of the skills that they’ve learned at our schools, it makes me feel great. I can give you a laundry list of graduates that are living their dream right now because of what our schools taught them. On the investment company side, I have to admit that I come out of every investor meeting admiring the client because of what they have achieved in life. Most of our clients are individuals or companies that are successful like our students.
Barack Obama was one of your classmates at Harvard. Do you remember what he was like?
Barack Obama was truly incredible. He was mature beyond his years, an eloquent speaker and an extremely nice guy. He was a trailblazer even back then. Many people ask me that question, and I wish I had something more juicy to say other than the fact that he was a totally stand up guy. I bumped into him in Washington a couple of years ago, and he seemed like the same person I knew in law school.
What are some of your future goals?
Continue building the Los Angeles Film School and the Los Angeles Recording School as the most sought after media school in the world by graduating skilled and talented people. I also look forward to spending lots of time with my husband, whom I adore, and my large family, including my five kids. In addition, I hope to continue building a movie portfolio and, of course, write that incredible novel one day.
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