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Rene Holder is creative by nature but he really “came into his own” when the switch came on at the end of his teenage years. After “hating school” and “not applying himself enough” for years, he finally settled down and went on to successfully complete animation programmes at UTT and launch his own creative agency, Lab 206.  Now with a decade in the business and learning about the industry, this animation expert is happy that he is at a place in his journey where the fruits of his labour seem to finally be paying off. Rene and his team are currently working on a project that has the potential to be (as we say in T&T) reallll big. Rene shared his journey with us: from his humble beginnings in South Trinidad to the launch of Lab206 to present day.

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I feel like San Fernando is in me. No matter where I go, San Fernando and the San Fernando-ness, will always be a part of me. Yes, that may sound strange but as a child, we moved around a lot because we didn’t really own a house until I was in my late teens so I can safely say that I grew up all over San Fernando. As I think back to that time, my parents definitely sacrificed a lot to ensure that I had a good education. Back then, it was thought that you needed to be in the “right” kindergarten to get into the “right” primary & secondary schools. They did a lot to ensure that in those foundation years, I was set on a safe and progressive path.

While I always understood the importance of school and a sound education, I hated school. All my report cards had remarks like, “Rene is a smart student but he just doesn’t apply himself”.  I however successfully completed primary and secondary school. I am sure many teachers were surprised, to be honest.

Despite my dad always working, he took an active interest in everything that I did. I must have been 15 or 16 years when he took me to Animae Caribe. At the time, they hosted an open forum on animation education and its potential future growth. I don’t remember what I said, but my dad told me that was the first time he saw me publicly speak up about something. It was on that day that he knew that this was something I was passionate about.

Even with that passion in me and my deep love for animation, I don’t think I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the passion. I was always fascinated by comics and cartoons but I still wasn’t certain. It wasn’t until I started to read the Vox Magazine in the Express newspapers, that I thought to myself, “this is it”. Each Sunday, there were folklore and sci-fi stories which were visualised and told through a modern Caribbean aesthetic. These stories were brought to life by people like James Hackett, Kayode James, Warren LePlatte and some others. It was in those moments that the switch turned on in my head and I realised that I didn’t have to migrate to do this. I also knew that migration would have been difficult because it would have meant, burdening my parents with that cost.

It’s weird to say that now because I know that they would’ve done anything for me but the pursuit of that dream at that time seemed like too high of a hurdle. They supported me through all of the early and teenage years so I wanted to ease them up a bit and try to do it on my own. My uncle (and I say uncle in the Trinidad context) and one of my mentors, told me one time, “You already know what you have to do, you don’t need to ask my permission.” That stuck with me and that was the final push that I needed.

In 2010, the University of Trinidad and Tobago launched their Animation programme and I saw that as the ideal opportunity to achieve my goal. In pursuing the programme, I met great people and even went on to launch my own agency, Lab 206 with a classmate. To this day, we are still business partners. In retrospect, building and running an animation company was a huge learning curve. The journey from conception to the maturity of Lab 206, has been challenging but this is expected as the creative industry in T&T, to this day, operates in an environment that doesn’t quite understand and support new media.

To date, the biggest setback I have encountered on this journey was when a mentor sabotaged some of my projects. After that happened, I took time to re-evaluate what I wanted to do and more importantly who I wanted to be in this industry. It made me come to terms with the fact that there are always ways to achieve the things you believe in and ways to do it properly. I know that as a creative, and more so, just as an individual, I don’t ever want to have to resort to sabotaging another creative for my own success. If nothing else, that bitter experience made me value the people who supported me and made me realise the people who are in my corner.

That assessment and personal commitment paid off because four years after that experience, I am now developing a project that is going to be pitched at an international forum in France in front of companies like BBC, Netflix & Cartoon Network.

I have never really seen myself as a mentor so sharing my story and journey with MENtions took a lot of convincing by the founder. But over the years, I’ve tried to make myself available and tried not to shy away from speaking about the realities of the industry when asked, especially in the context of being a creator in the Caribbean.  Mainly because my reality and experience may not be another person’s and as the industry changes and grows, the dynamics may also.

My approach to my career and life in general is to consistently be aware of opportunities and be ready to act when they are presented. I try to be knowledgeable about everything in the industry and how other industries/sectors complement animation and vice versa.

It is my hope that upcoming creatives are able to see that it is possible to have a sustainable career in the sector.

I may have mentioned this before but I think it should be repeared. It is important to have great support, be it from family or close friends. I am lucky to have amazing family and friends. These people, along with external factors, contributed to successes apart from my own drive and perseverance.

To that person who is exploring and feeling a bit lost at this juncture, I want to say, don’t be discouraged. Look within, keep those eyes open and the switch will literally turn on at the right time.

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Lab 206 is an animation and interactive design studio based in Port of Spain, Trinidad. The agency specializes in 2D animation, illustration for character designs, motion design, video editing, story board creation, website development and other interactive solutions.