Episode 184: Thérèse Plummer, Actor and Audiobook Narrator

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Today I spoke over the internet with Thérèse Plummer. Therese is an actor and award-winning audiobook narrator working in New York City. She has recorded over 400 audio books for various publishers. She won the 2019 Audie Award for her work on the multicast, Sadie by Courtney Summers for Macmillan Audio,  and was nominated for the Multicast, Any Man, by Amber Tamblyn for Harper Audio and her solo narration for The Rogue: Planets Shaken by Lee W. Brainard for Podium Publishing. 

The American Library Association (ALA) awarded her work on Sourdough by Robin Sloan as part of the 2018 Listen List: Outstanding Audiobook Narration for Adult Listeners. Thérèse has been nominated for 5 Audie Awards in 2018. She was named AudioFile’s Best Voices of the Year in 2015 for her work on Robyn Carr’s A New Hope.

Thérèse is the voice of Maya Hansen in the Marvel Graphic Motion Comic Ironman Extremis, Dr. Fennel in Pokemon and for various Yu-Gi-Oh characters. Television Guest Star Roles on The Good Wife, Law and Order SVU and Virgin River for Netflix.   

You can imagine how intimidating this was. She told me how she broke in – it was a series of preparation meeting miracles, and she spoke about what everyone wants to know – how do you voice those sex scenes?

Episode 177: Susie Singer Carter, Writer, Director, Producer, Actor

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Susie’s website bio says this: “If you asked five-year-old Susie what she wanted to be when she grew up, she’d have placed her hands defiantly on either side of her pink tutu and said, “Everything. Duh!” And that is what she has done. She’s a writer, producer, actor, musician. She sat down, we became immediate friends, and talked about everything – marriage, divorce, parenting, daughtering. She recently made an autobiographical short film about alzheimer’s called My Mom and the Girl, starring the great Valerie Harper, which she’ll tell us all about, and you can see her dancing hip hop on facebook all the time. She has the media company called Go Girl Media.

And here are all the links:

MY MOM AND THE GIRL

TRAILER - https://vimeo.com/183072790

AMAZON VIDEO - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NDQPGXL

ITUNES - https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/my-mom-and-the-girl/id137275414

GOOGLE PLAY - https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/My_Mom_and_the_Girl?id=P6LORPD00no

Women writer documentaries

Women Who Wrote The Way - https://vimeo.com/207360299/bbbf9385e6

Breaking Good - https://vimeo.com/266981218

Music Video

Bad Dreams in Hollywood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF00Et4vHxE

Episode 176: Eline Mets, Writer, Producer, Motocross Racer

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Eline Mets is creating a series about women in motocross. She got tired of waiting for someone else to do it, so like a real badass woman, she’s doing it herself. Originally from Estonia, Eline is a motocross champion and the first woman in Canada to jump her dirt bike onto an airbag. Passionate about motorcycles and filmmaking, Eline is dedicated to telling stories of badass women. With a background in creating non-fiction content for years, Diaries of Badass Chicks is her directorial scripted series debut. She started a crowd funding for a webseries, and then realized it’s much bigger than that when she received videos and encouragement from women all over the world.
www.badasschicks.tv

Episode 175: Marquette Jones, Filmmaker, Professor, Podcaster

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Marquette Jones began her filmmaking journey in her hometown, Youngstown, Ohio. Marquette is an alumna of New York University’s Film and Television Production graduate program. Before becoming a filmmaker, Marquette was a public interest attorney and social entrepreneur in Oakland, California.  

Her feature film screenplay, AFTER THE JUMP, http://www.afterthejumpmovie.com/, which is currently in development, was recently selected for the Athena Screenwriting Lab in Los Angeles and was a finalist in the Vancouver International Women in Film Festival, Broad Humor Film Festival as well as a semi-finalist in the Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition. It was also selected to participate in the Women in Film/ Sundance Institute’s Film Financing and Strategy Intensive.

Her directing work includes FORGIVING CHRIS BROWN, ROUND ON BOTH SIDES, TUNK, HEROES WANTED and STREETS 2 SUITES (lensed by Bradford Young).  Her films have been featured on Amazon Video, PBS, Showtime, KweliTV, Aspire TV, BET, IFC, StreamPlix and other broadcast & digital outlets. She has also directed several commercial spots, which led to both a Telly Award and Aurora Award for excellence in storytelling.

As a producer, Marquette’s credits include Andrea Williams’ SPOONFUL OF SUGAR, Alrick Brown’s ADVENTURES OF SUPERN*GGER, and Tamika Guishard’s JACKIE. Her past filmmaking-related awards include: New York University’s Warner Bros. Production Award, Panasonic‘s “P2 for a Cause” Grand Prize Winner, Fotokem Film Processing Grant, Woods Hole Film Festival, Best Short Screenplay Winner for “Free’s Rain”, ProMotion Pictures / Heineken Branded Entertainment Shorts Competition Winner, Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival Best Short Narrative, and First Run Festival’s Producing Award.

When she is not busy writing, producing or directing, Marquette hosts the Directing Magic podcast,http://www.directingmagic.com/, and teaches creative media at The University of Alabama.

Episode 172: Jeffery Tobias Halter, Gender Strategist

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Jeffery Tobias Halter is a gender strategist and the President of YWomen, a strategic consulting company focused on engaging men in women’s leadership advancement. Jeffery is the former Director of Diversity Strategy for The Coca-Cola Company. He is the author of two books including WHY WOMEN, The Leadership Imperative to Advancing Women and is a two-time TEDx speaker. His clients include dozens of Fortune 500 companies and he serves on the Board of Trustees for Miss America 2.0.

I originally interviewed Jeffery for episode 13, which you can find here. This was before #metoo and TimesUp and we were just exploring unconscious gender bias in the workplace.

Jeffery has been doing his work as a gender strategist for a long time, but I wondered how his work has ramped up and changed focus in recent days. Luckily, I got to ask him.

You can find more here:

Gender Advocacy Quiz - https://ywomen.biz/male-advocacy-profile/

Articles - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefferyhalter/detail/recent-activity/posts/

website - www.ywomen.biz

Twitter - @YWomen

Episode 163: Angela Cohen, Actress, Writer, Filmmaker

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I spoke with Angela Cohen for episode 163. Angela is a writer and an actress with a degree from Emory University in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. In 2012, Angela founded Charley Bear Productions Inc, with a vision to affect change through art, showcasing the female perspective in front of and behind the camera. Charley Bear produced the dramatic short film, Without Grace, starring Angela alongside award winning actress Ann Dowd. It is wonderful and you should watch it.

In fact, you should watch it today, as it is in the All Voices Film Festival on Amazon through June 17th. Finalists are based upon the numbers of views in the time period. Angela would love to recoup her angel investor’s generous contribution in making this film and stir your heart with emotion in the process. It's 18 minutes- you have 18 minutes!  

Here's the link to watch Without Grace. Tell your friends! 

Angela is fascinated with the brain and the overlap of art and science. The synergy of this will be actualized in her work in Virtual Reality, which she will tell us all about.

Episode 156: Liz Jenkins, CFO, Hello Sunshine

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Liz is the Chief Financial Officer of Hello Sunshine, the media brand founded by Reese Witherspoon. She tells us all about the company, their mission, and their culture. It’s as good as you imagined. Liz was formerly the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy at Media Rights Capital. While there, she worked on the deal to bring House of Cards to Netflix, which was then written up as a Harvard Business Review business case, and she talks it about it here as well. Liz is very much one of the best and brightest, and I’m so happy to have her on the show.

Episode 154: Melinda McLaughlin, Chief Marketing Officer

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Melinda is the Chief Marketing Officer at Extreme Reach. You may notice that Extreme Reach is the sponsor of this podcast, so that’s how I met her, but I would have interviewed her regardless. She tells us a bit more about the company, and we talked a lot about her journey in her work life. How important it is to be authentic, how self-awareness is key to leadership, and how knitting might be the key to everything.

And how highly paid executives will still tackle each other when something is being given away for free.  Humans are funny.

Episode 150: Amanda Blumenthal, Intimacy Coordinator

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Today we have something new - new for the podcast and new for the industry. I sat down with Amanda Blumenthal who is one of a handful of people working in the new position called “Intimacy Coordinator.” She is currently working on the HBO show called Euphoria. She breaks down for us what that job really entails, how her unique background, education and work history prepared her perfectly for it, and the real need for this position on a set. It makes total sense and it’s one of those things that makes you hit your forehead with your palm and ask why haven’t we always had this!? You can reach Amanda via her website here: intimacycoordinator.com.

Episode 143: Lisa Ebersole, Talented Multi

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For today’s episode I sat down with creator Lisa Ebersole. Lisa created and stars in the webseries called “37 Problems,” which you can find on Amazon Prime and Who Ha Ha. The series is a comedy about a woman facing the end of her fertility and what she is going to do about it.

She is also a playwright, whose plays have been produced off-broadway and regionally, and a screenwriters coach. We talked about what it takes to raise the money and produce a webseries and get distribution. It’s a whole thing.

check out the BRIC Foundation Summit here: https://bricfoundation.org/2019summit/

Episode 135: apparentlyjack, Jacqueline Legan and Katie Koeblitz

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Jacqueline is a veteran Director of Video Production, and currently the Founder and Executive Producer at apparentlyjack. Jacqueline’s background spans almost every aspect of the filmmaking process from development to delivery, in both the branded and Independent film spaces with films and commercials starring well known Directors and Talent.    

With over ten years producing Independent Film, Katie is currently the Head of Independent Content at apparentlyjack. Katie’s production background includes work on both narrative and documentary feature films. Most recently, Katie produced documentaries G-Funk, A More Civil War, and The Untitled MMW Documentary. On the narrative side, Katie co-produced The Land, Galveston, and also had a hand in the coming-of-age film The Kings of Summer, which premiered at Sundance.                      

After many years in the advertising and film  industries, Jacqueline decided to go out on her own to form the content studio, apparentlyjack. apparentlyjack’s mission is to bring cinematic storytelling and storyline driven content to brands and independent film in a variety of formats.               

apparentlyjack champions equality, diversity, and inclusivity both behind and in front of the     camera. They have dedicated a portion of the company to empowering and mentoring other   women in entertainment and are working with various organizations to reach gender parity   by 2020.  For more information about apparentlyjack, visit www.apparentlyjack.com.     

Episode 134: Julia Lynn Huffman, Storyteller, Filmmaker, Coach

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Julia started out in broadcast journalism and acting, and then transitioned to working behind the camera. Having worked in the television industry for over two decades and cutting her teeth as a coordinator, writer, producer, shooter and editor for companies like E! Entertainment, Steven Bochko Productions and HGTV, Julia went on to direct, write and produce her own feature film and become one of a handful of female directors to win multiple awards in the film festival circuit and secure world-wide distribution for her first feature film, endorsed by Dr Jane Goodall, Medicine of the Wolf.

Julia just finished her short film WOLF SPIRIT starring world renowned National Geographic photographer Jim Brandenburg and will be using the film as a tool for education about the value of wolves and their necessary place on the north American landscape.

We talked about her passion projects, tenacity in the business, and the state of women in the world. As we do.

You can reach Julia via LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-h-30a7734/

Episode 132: Sasheen R. Artis, Writer/Producer

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Sasheen is a Writer/Producer with over 20 years of experience in live events, documentaries, talk shows and scripted programming, such as “Fight for $15” and its impact on small business, the school-to-prison pipeline, the plight of New Orleans residents on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and a “one-night only” Prince concert at the Conga Room in Los Angeles. Sasheen also produced the late-night talk show, Tavis Smiley.

Currently, she is in development with several TV and film projects and co-chairs the Producers Guild of America Power of Diversity Master Workshop. 

This summer, she was invited by the Royal Film Commission - Jordan to develop a curriculum and teach a 5-day Workshop to their local filmmakers on how to prepare their projects for the marketplace. The Workshop culminated with the filmmakers pitching their projects for feedback to top Hollywood execs from Sony, Fox, Paramount, Media Rights Capital and HBO. 

We talked about her incredible journey from homelessness to producing, and broke down the business case for diversity. This is a good one.

Episode 130: Ellen Gerstein, Actor, Writer, Producer, Director

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Ellen is an award-winning writer, director, producer, and actor. She is a member of: Women In Film, The Alliance of Women Directors, LA Film Team, Film Independent, The Actors Studio and SAG-AFTRA. Apart from having a million credits in film, television and theatre, she has also worked as a psychotherapist, and a stand-up comic.

Without sounding too biased, this is one of my very favorite interviews. If you have ever studied acting in New York, this will take you back. Ellen is delicious, and prepare yourself, you are about to fall in love with her.

You can find Ellen here: www.ellengerstein.com

Episode 124: Sara Laschever, "Women Don't Ask"

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Sara is the co-author, with Linda Babcock, of two groundbreaking books about women and negotiation, Women Don’t Ask: The High Cost of Avoiding Negotiation—and Positive Strategies for Change and Ask for It! How Women Can Use the Power of Negotiation to Get What They Really Want.

From Sara’s bio, “Whether they want higher salaries, better career opportunities, or more help at home, women are much less likely than men to ask for what they want. When women do ask, they tend to mimic the forceful, competitive negotiating style favored by men, which often backfires. Sara looks at why women feel reluctant to ask for what they need and deserve—and reveals the shockingly high price paid by women, their employers, and the economy as a whole if they don’t address this persistent phenomenon. She shows women how to recognize more opportunities to negotiate, manage the anxiety they may feel when they approach a negotiation, and employ negotiating strategies that have been shown to work especially well for women.

Sara lectures widely and teaches workshops about women and negotiation and women’s leadership challenges for organizations in the U.S. and around the world.”

We are very lucky to have her on the show for a very delicious conversation. We NEED THIS!

Episode 118: Mir Harris, Time's Up, Activist

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Mir is the Manager of Operations and Community Engagement at Time's Up. I was first introduced to Mir through a piece she wrote that knocked me out. I asked her to read it on the show. Mir is an activist, a thoughtful and conscious leader, and possesses a personal power that is expressed through service. Prepare yourself, you are about to be inspired. I mean no pressure, I don’t mean to oversell it. You tell me. (You’ll be inspired.)

Episodes 108 & 109: Dana Belcastro and Debra Bergman, Production Executives

Dana Belcastro is EVP Feature Production at Twentieth Century Fox and Debra Bergman is EVP Production and Head of Production Scripted at Paramount TV. They are also the co-founders of the Women’s Production Society – the organization for female top-level production executives. We talk about their journey up through production and to the top of the studio machines.

There was a moment in the last year when they realized as a body of women they are powerful, and are in a unique position to create some change. So, that is exactly what they are doing.

We talked for so long and about so many topics, this will be two episodes. This can be your week to binge on female production executives.

These women are formidable.

Episode 105: Alexis Giostra, Productivity Alchemist

Alexis Giostra is a Productivity Alchemist, whose focus is on helping people (mostly women) do less to accomplish more. Who doesn’t want and need that? I found our conversation incredibly juicy, as we delved into things like quantum physics, and law of attraction, and the seven hermetic principles of the Universe. Very woo. Very LA.

Alexis Giostra is a thought leader in the field of productivity and she is the subject of Alexia Anastassio’s (EP 80) next documentary. You can learn more about her here: http://www.strangecharmed.com/ and you can order her planner here: https://amzn.to/2qJnkX1

Episode 99: Hilary Wagner, VP Production Finance, CBS

Hilary is the Vice President of Production Finance at CBS Studios. Here’s a story about how the entertainment industry lures you in. If your first couple of jobs are Seinfeld and Waiting for Guffman, are you really going back to corporate audit? Of course not.

Hilary tells her story of how she worked her way up through production accounting, to production finance on the studio side with a brief stint in the production department.

She’s now at the point in her career where leadership and mentorship has become as important as getting the numbers right. It’s legacy time, and when you can see big trends in the industry and are positioned to make a difference, you do.

Episode 89: Molly-Ann Leikin, Songwriter, Consultant

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Molly is a Songwriter, a Songwriting Consultant, and an Author. She was a staff writer at A&M Records, and has won numerous awards and been nominated for an Emmy for her work on Happy Endings. She also helps songwriters shape their songs and get them to market, and has written books to that end. You can find Molly and her services at songmd.com.

She has a method, and after talking to her I feel like I could write a hit song! I’ll keep you posted…

And this, when your family considers songwriting to be a few steps below being a drug dealer or a prostitute, it is very motivating to be successful.