Nasha Clark is moving up through the entertainment industry ranks while learning life lessons along the way.
The publicist began her career as an intern at Roc Nation in 2015. She graduated from a master’s program at Hofstra, and eventually launched her own P firm, Nasha Clark Inc. Recently, Clark stopped by rolling out to detail how she’s navigated the challenges during her career.
Do you think a part of your entrepreneurial spirit came from working under a company led by such a strong business-minded entrepreneur like Jay-Z?
I think just the work environment being around those people, being able to see different things that I had never been exposed to, I was 23, 24 years old at the time when I was interning. I didn’t have the experience, like my little one-offs, but that was why in my first major [gig] I was like, “Oh my God. I made it.” I was so excited. I say Mr. Carter, but even when he would come in and say like, “Hey” or wave, I’d be like, “Oh my God, this is it! I’m in there!” I was just really excited to be a part of that team, learn and grow in so many ways, good bad and indifferent.
You publicly identify as a mental health advocate. What has your mental health journey looked like?
I had a really abrupt and devastating introduction to mental health by losing my brother in 2016 to suicide. So that was sort of my introduction to the true journey of mental health, besides hearing about it and not being well versed in understanding it. I think that’s sort of piqued my interest in really becoming educated in it. At the time that I finished at Roc Nation, which was 2016 and graduated, it was like I was on top of the world. Then, a month after my graduation I lost my brother, so I just found myself in this whirlwind of emotions. I didn’t really know how to deal with it, and then a few years later I had struggled with my own emotions and mental health and I felt like, for the first time I understood my brother in a way I couldn’t before, not even in 2016 [or] years prior.
For the last, I’d say six years, I’ve been taking my own journey with mental health really educating myself trying to partner with agencies that do the work.
What did you learn from your deepest moments of grief?
That healing and life in this journey are not linear. It’s not linear at all and allow yourself that grace to just show up as your honest self. I have really good days. I had a rough day yesterday — full transparency, but I got up today and I was like, “OK. Well, I look forward to this interview,” and different things that helped me. Showing up as your honest self is probably the most important thing you can do no matter what that looks like.
For help, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255.
