Mona Chalabi’s (Good) Bad Creative Career Advice
Mona Chalabi at work on another bright work. Photo by Poupay Jutharout.
If Mona Chalabi offers you bad advice, take it. Let us explain.
Talk to her about her dynamic creative career, and she may begin an answer with “this might be bad advice…” Whenever she says that, she is about to share some wisdom, trust us.
Mona is a creative hyphenate-hyphenate. She has received a Pulitzer Prize for her data journalism work highlighting Jeff Bezos’s wealth, was nominated for an News & Documentary Emmy award for the Vagina Dispatches video series, and regularly contributes to The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Guardian, where she is currently the data editor.
She is also the executive producer and creative director of the upcoming, A24-produced show #1 Happy Family USA on Amazon. Created by comedian Ramy Youssef, the series follows the maniacally-upbeat Husseins who are the most patriotic, peaceful, and definitely-not-suspicious Muslim family in post-9/11 "Amreeka". The satirical show finds humor in hardship as the Husseins navigate the early 2000s under the watchful eyes of their terrified neighbors. (For good measure, Mona also voices a phone operator in the show.)
Here, Chalabi discusses why she continues to push herself to take on new types of projects across mediums, how she decides which projects to take on, and why sometimes you have to be your own agent.
A scene from the satirical #1 Happy Family USA show featuring Mona’s character illustrations.
You’re a journalist, illustrator, storyteller, and now producing and participating in a big show. Is there where you thought your career would go?
Not at all. I hadn't even contemplated doing an animated show until Ramy got in touch.
There is no data or journalism in the show, and he was drawn to my visual aesthetic. I was also part of the writer’s room. It was a real departure from my usual work, but it was exciting to be in learning mode, which I’m craving at this point in my career.
When I started this project in the summer of 2020, I was also doing data visualizations about Covid and the efficacy of masking, the appropriate distance to keep between people, and how long the virus lives on surfaces. I knew that, if I messed those up, that could potentially impact public health and the consequence was enormous. Whereas if I choose the wrong color palette for a character illustration, we’ll be fine.
Mona’s data visualizations tell powerful stories that deliver a well-defined point, like this one above on women’s equality in elected office in the U.S.
What is the starting point for your illustrations?
The research phase is how I begin my work. The main thing about data visualizations is you're not pulling up visual references and sketching until you have a clear grasp of the research. For the show, we also followed a research-focused approach and spent a lot of time looking at aesthetics from 2001 to make sure everything felt like the time period. We asked ourselves questions, like What phones were out the month the show starts? and What was the best computer then?
Mona’s data visualizations incorporate the topical elements directly into the illustrations.
You produce a lot of different types of work. How do you define your creative self?
It keeps shifting and changing. At this point, I would say journalist, and that journalism manifests as visualizations and it also influences my approach to TV writing. Good journalists are observant. I might observe how someone’s hands move when they talk, and when hand gestures come in the writing or animation of a character, I know how to draw them in a more natural way.
What are your requirements for taking on new work?
I like to use a checklist someone told me about – maybe it was artist Hallie Bateman.
Every job she takes has to fulfill two or three criteria. The rate and project have to be good, the work has to do good in the world, and I have to grow in some way professionally from it. If I’m learning, I’m stretching myself.
Rates can be a funny thing. In a perfect world, we set high rates and stick to that. But sometimes we might need or want the work, even if the pay is low. How do you view these two ideas?
Maybe this is bad advice, but I would say it's better to have fewer, well-paid contracts than to kill yourself trying to get many bad-paying jobs. What I have found is that, in an effort to do all of the bad-paying jobs, the quality of your work deteriorates and the pieces feel disposable.
I recognize that landing big contracts is difficult, but can you think outside the norm. For instance, is there a way for you to collaborate with another creative who has complementary skills and then pitch your skills together to take on a larger project?
As you’ve grown in your career, what is something important you focus on now that you didn’t earlier on?
One thing that helped to shift my career was having an agent. I’ve been with my literary agent for 10 years and my journalism agent for eight years. They have given guidance on what jobs to take and when to say “no”. They have also radically changed my fees. When a potential client reaches out with a low fee, my agents will explain how that doesn’t work or they will negotiate a higher one if it makes sense.
And I know that it is hard to get an agent when you are junior, so I’d recommend you find someone who is also junior. My agents are about the same age as me.
Any tips for those who can’t get an agent right away?
This may be bad advice, but if you can't find an agent who will negotiate on your behalf, you could set up another email address and use an alias for it. You’ve essentially created your own “business partner” to now negotiate for you.
So far, you’ve shared some great bad advice. Anything else you’d like to leave us with?
If you can afford to (which I know is a big if), do less. Not only will you be healthier, but you’ll leave opportunities for other people rather than hoarding them up for yourself.
