On Monday, January 25, Yves Muya, a freelance film production coordinator and manager visited the Upper School broadcast class to share his inspiring story and give the students insight into the filming industry.

Yves Muya was born in The Democratic Republic of Congo where he lived until he was ten years old. At the age of ten, Muya and his family of seven fled the Congo due to the war spreading across the country rapidly. During his and his family’s experience of refugee camps and wandering 12-year-old Muya found how captivating his imagination can be. Muya and his family rationed their food, selling the rest of the food to save enough money to make it to South Africa by mostly foot. Muya and his family arrived in South Africa during a pivotal time in South African history, the apartheid. This was a time of racial division within the nation, due to this, Muya and his family registered as Congolese refugees. Now that Muya had a home he was able to attend and graduate from high school receiving private funding to be able to attend a university in Durbin, South Africa. During his senior year of college, he had been given the opportunity to study in Los Angeles with a scholarship.

Since college Muya has worked on many productions such as the Mandalorian, American Horror Story, Westworld, Shark Tank and various TV specials. Muya has also helped produce numerous commercials for nationwide brands like Target, Walmart, Verizon and Toyota. Junior broadcast student Sebastian Claudio says, “It was just refreshing to talk to someone that has made way in the film industry and that has worked on mass scale productions and really done it all. Especially since he was so honest and brutal about the industry. He didn’t try to sell me on going into film or not going into film. He talked to us like adults and that’s all you can ask for.” Muya story not only gave students insight into the film industry, but it inspired the students.