Founder and Executive Director MEDIAGIRL
Journalist, filmmaker, author, Huffington post blogger, non-profit founder and newbie to ukulele playing
Brief description of who you are professionally w/ concise accomplishments
I’m a documentary filmmaker, journalist and author who has been using the media for the past 20 years to tell stories that empower women and help them make life choices with intention. This has ranged from parenting books for working moms and a documentary about redefining “happily ever after” to blogging for Huffington Post parents and editing magazines. Creating MEDIAGIRLS, my non-profit for middle-schools girls, combines my love for mentoring with that for making media.
-Why did you join TWT and what are you hoping to achieve as a member of the organization?
I’ve spent most of my professional life surrounded by those in the editorial or filmmaking world, and it can be a bubble if you’re not careful. I wanted to break out and meet women in business and finance and marketing and other fields, where I can stretch my learning and growing. Now that I’ve launched a start-up this is more important than ever so I’m grateful to be part of this community.
-What is one of your most proud professional moments and what are you most looking forward to professionally in the next five years?
Most proud: I think getting my documentary Seeking Happily Ever through a distribution deal with Lionsgate was up there. I knew nothing about doc-making when I started and hadn’t even been to film school so making that film was just endless learning, sometimes super painful with many tears shed. But I kept taking small steps forward, learning from my producer, and moving toward the end. The day that deal was signed – which meant audiences around the country would get to see it on TV – was momentous.
I am most looking forward to growing MEDIAGIRLS, and with it an army of girls who learn to reject media’s message that what most matters about them is their beauty and sex appeal, while defining for themselves what makes them valuable.
-What do you do in your “free” time? Hobbies, Interests….
I do a lot of XBox “Just Dance” with my 10-year-old daughter Risa, and we’ve been watching marathon episodes of Gilmore Girls. I read a ton of contemporary fiction, and especially YA novels lately, and daydream about spring coming someday.
-3 Core Values (i.e. Loyalty, hard work, independence):
Resilience
Humor
Passion
-Fun Fact/What makes YOU, you?
I recently sat in a parking lot in Newton Center and listened to the song “Uptown Funk” eight times in a row, singing it at the top of my lungs. I would have kept going if I wasn’t meeting someone for dinner. It’s all about finding joy in small places.