Real Stories Real People

Goodbye Corporate America, Goodbye window corner office. Banker turns film director!

Still a teenager, Hilton Paoli used to walk down the streets in the poor neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro where he was born and lived going to his bus stop singing a song with lyrics that said "I’ll walk with Faith, with Faith I’ll walk". Hilton dreamed that he could progress, get out of the neighborhood slums of Rio, enter that dreamed airplane in Rio’s International Airport, go somewhere far and be someone.

As he looks back these past 30 years, Hilton now realizes his life happened as he had dreamed of. He was accepted at the Business School University of Rio de Janeiro at 17. He was president of a student association at only 18. He was hired by a big four public accounting firm in Rio de Janeiro. He worked for fortune 100 companies and had a stellar career. He was transferred to New York City, rented a fancy apartment in Manhattan, bought a house in Connecticut and had his Golden Retrievers playing in the yard.

All of Hilton’s achievements prepared him for this moment, the acceptance of possibilities and being able to make things happen. The authentic dreams for Hilton now are assembled in the heart, that deep and authentic desire of self-expression.

Hilton longed for emotional and transformational work through arts.

When he looked at his Corporate Finance career Hilton also realized that his progress was seeded by creativity. The company that he worked for many years transferred him from Rio to New York after watching a short film Hilton had created.

Hitting 40 was a threshold event for Hilton. His search for meaning and purpose became latent and stronger than ever before in his life. The choice to leave this unfulfilling life behind and follow his passion took work. It took him gaining weight, keeping a unhealthy lifestyle, and finally being laid off before he realized that the most important aspect of his life was missing. This was living an authentic life aligned with his interests and natural abilities and paved by purpose became his number one priority. Hilton hired the services of Craig Nathanson, The Vocational Coach to guide him and support him through the process. That decision was a turning point in his life. He knew he could not turn back.

Life can be filled with synchronicities. The journey in discovering his vocation was softened when a friend called Hilton from Brazil saying she found some short funny essays he had written in high school. Laughing with her, Hilton realized that was a time of his life when he felt truly alive and filled with dreams. Telling and creating captivating stories, sharing the feeling of wonder, touching the lives of people was something he loved to do.

Hilton now describes his vocation as a Film Director and Screenwriter far more than just a new profession or way of making a living. Being a filmmaker makes the purpose of his existence. It enables him to create and to be.

Packing his luggage, handing the keys of his home to a real estate agent, and putting his dog in his truck and driving down the south at the end of last year was one of the most exciting and transformational experiences Hilton has been through. Symbolically he was letting go of key elements that kept him paralyzed; a nice home in Connecticut, a reasonable six digit income and a prestigious professional status. Each mile driven south made him a year younger. When Hilton left Connecticut he was 42 years old. When he arrived in South Florida, he was 21 years old, excited with possibilities, filled with dreams, detached from material possessions, or any other thing that could hold him back.

Hilton enrolled in film school.
It is difficult indeed to differentiate vocation from having fun. Hilton is in the final pre-production phase of his first short film entitled “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Bank Robbery”.
Hilton has been strongly influenced by Woody Allen and Pedro Almodovar, and the good emotional inspiring stories of Disney, blending them all together somewhat resembles another type of film and storytelling he also plans to create.

What can we learn from Hilton?

It is never too early or too late to follow your heart and pursue your natural gifts and interests. Hilton is not quite sure as yet where this next journey will lead but obviously it is leading in directions which work better for him. This is a lesson to be learned for all of us from Hilton’s story!

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