Growing up in the Dyker Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn in the 1990s, Laura Terruso never thought she'd be able to turn her dream of directing films into a reality. 

Not only did she not have any connections to the film industry – her mother was a teacher and her dad was a social worker – she didn't even fit her own image of what a director looked like. 

"It just wasn't in the realm of possibility," Terruso tells CNBC Make It. "When I thought of a film director, I pictured, you know, Spielberg. I thought of a white guy in jeans and a baseball cap with a megaphone."

With her latest feature film now in theaters – she directs Robert De Niro and Sebastian Maniscalco in the comedy "About My Father" – the 40-year-old recalls how she tried to follow her parents' advice to "get a steady job, get a pension" and "definitely don't go into art."   

Terruso studied journalism in college. Her attempt at a "steady" career brought her to Getty Images, where she worked as a film researcher and found herself immersed in the medium day in and day out. 

The itch to direct never went away, and Terruso made short films throughout her 20s. At 28, she finally enrolled in film school at New York University with the support of her family and her partner at the time. 

"Those three years of film school were the best years of my life," she says. "I loved every minute of it. I didn't mind waking up at four in the morning to be on set at five. I was just so happy to finally be pursuing my passion." 

While she was in school, Terruso "said yes to everything." She worked on films for as little as $100 a day doing whatever they needed, wanting to soak up as much experience as she could.

A short film of Terruso's caught the eye of "The Big Sick" director Michael Showalter, who was an adjunct professor at NYU at the time. After graduating, she worked with Showalter to write the screenplay for what would become 2016's "Hello, My Name is Doris."

Terruso was on set watching Oscar-winning actress Sally Field deliver her dialogue and seeing how Showalter worked as a director. The film grossed $15 million, helping kickstart her Hollywood career. The following year she would release her first movie, "Fits and Starts" starring Wyatt Cenac.

Now eight years out of film school, Terruso already has four feature-length films under her belt and has directed television as well.

"My advice to anyone starting out is to say yes to every opportunity and really learn from the people you're working with," she says. "Because that's going to make you better when you're eventually writing and directing your own projects."

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