Before entering academia, I learned what type of colleague I wanted to become while participating in filmmaking and ballroom dancing.
ABOUT ME
Filmmaking
Beginning as children with Grandma’s ‘bazooka’ camcorder, many of my family and friends got into filmmaking. I have many fond memories of brainstorming sessions, where we would try and come up with interesting and compelling projects while munching on ice cubes. One of my favorite parts of the process was combining the best ideas, refining them through multiple script drafts, and then transforming those ideas into reality.
After producing numerous successful short films, many of our crew went on to pursue professional careers in the film industry, including my years as an operations manager for an international broadcasting company. This passion for brainstorming interesting projects with others and iteratively transforming our ideas into reality still persists in my research today.
Ballroom
In order to live vicariously through her children (and perhaps teach us some manners), my mother wanted to put us all in ballroom dance classes. The problem was we couldn’t really afford it. So, we arranged for ballroom lessons in exchange for manual labor, number crunching, and even some filmmaking. These creative solutions, that were only possible by the generosity of a gifted teacher, enabled numerous experiences: full ride scholarships, performing and competing across three continents, as well as winning the British Open—not to mention all the lifelong friendships.
These experiences taught me the lasting impact effective mentoring can have. Thus, I am striving to become a colleague that helps others reach their potential and to form work relationships that others believe are worth maintaining throughout a lifetime.
