Tampa native’s podcast ‘Small Victories’ nominated for NAACP Image Award
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Tampa native is up for an NAACP Image Award for her fiction-scripted podcast that is entering its third season.
Jade Madison Scott, 23, was born and raised in Tampa and she always had dreams of entering the theater field.
“When I went to Tampa Prep for high school, my freshman year I got into theater with David Mann,” Scott said. “He really instilled and invested that love. A couple of years later, I started volunteering at the Patel Conservatory at the Straz and I learned a lot of practical skills in production there.”
With her heart set on theater, she decided to attend Howard University, an HBCU in Washington, D.C.
“I applied to go to Howard for their theatre program,” Scott said. “It’s historic, you know, had plenty of people like your Phylicia Rashad’s and Chadwick Boseman’s.”
She ultimately graduated with a degree in Theater Arts Administration. However, in 2016, she started curating her own production company, WGC Productions.
“I ended up starting WGC with a shoestring budget that I had working at a Howard University’s library as an archival person,” Scott said. “Then, I got an opportunity to go to LA for a program at Howard offered, and that program paid for our housing, food and gave us a stipend. I saved the money from the stipend, and I was able to save $10,000 and I used that to start and fund the early productions. When I say shoestring budget, I’m really talking about shoestring budgets. No one is getting paid. I don’t get paid from the work that I do.”
Scott said she just paid herself for the first time in 2023 thanks to fundraising, which shows, this is about more than money.
Tampa realtor’s show about first-time buyers comes to OWN
“I really wanted to make a space where people like Black people, queer people, people who don’t get a seat at the table have a place to explore their creative sensibilities that doesn’t typically get picked up by a larger studio who doesn’t want to take a chance on them,” Scott said.
Scott has built her WGC brand on representation and inclusion.
“I love being Black, I love being an artist, I love being a Black artist,” Scott said. “I love employing Black artists and working with other young Black people and give them that opportunity. I want to show them that you can be 23 and Black and have a lead role on a show and have good material on the show. You don’t have to play maid one or prostitute two. You can do something interesting with the talent that you have.”
Under WGC, Scott writes, directs and produces three scripted fiction podcasts. She has a team of nearly 15 actors who voice their characters, including on her show, Small Victories.
“Small Victories is a story about the year in the life of a recovering drug addict and it is happier, well funnier than it sounds,” she said.
After two seasons, Small Victories has been nominated for a NAACP Image Award for outstanding script series podcast.
“I was at my job at Whatever Pops at the time, it was a slow period, I scrolled through my phone, I saw it, I was like oh my gosh, I started crying, was screaming, jumping and thanking God,” she said.
Hollywood actor Tyler Lepley opens new restaurant in Seminole Heights
For Scott, this is only the beginning.
“I’m really excited that it’s happening because in many ways I think of it as an award for Tampa because I’m not from LA and I’m really independent and money is hard to get and I work in a field that people don’t get,” she said. “So, to be able to have this honor bestowed is like, keep going, people will get it someday.”
Scott is currently writing Season 3 of Small Victories. She hopes to turn the podcast into a live performance in Tampa one day. Scott finds out if she won an NAACP Image Award on March 16.
To donate or help fund WGC Production projects, visit its website.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
