The Digital Bridge: Parker Westbrook

Meet my friend, Parker Westbrook.  Parker's a bad-ass... but don't take my word for it, she's just been named Krav Maga Instructor of the Year at Fit & Fearless. 

Yet, despite Parker's physical and mental toughness, there is 1 thing that leaves her a little queasy: technology.  Parker isn't alone, though. For those of us not born into the Net Generation, aka Digital Natives... the online and digital landscape can be daunting.

Now, I'm not a "Digital Native" either, and I'm certainly not a natural-born "techie" so I completely understand the feelings of overwhelm with technology for those of us who haven't grown up on the Internet.  But understanding that digital tools and platforms are critical to the new realities of our world, I've gone out of my way to embrace them.  This has left me in an exciting role of being a bridge between the 2 worldviews (that of Millenials and Non-Millenials) and I absolutely love it!  In being a "digital bridge" I relish being the calm voice, teaching and encouraging non-Digital Natives to harness social media for their own purposes.

Back to Parker.  She's got the training side of things down cold, but she's more than just about teaching people to kick and punch. Parker is driven to empower people to take responsibility for their own personal safety and well-being. Moved by her mission, and since she can't teach 24 hours a day, I began pestering her to broaden her digital footprint to reach a wider audience.

To that end, for the last several months I've worked with Parker to develop her online presence.  Together, we've developed an overarching strategy to communicate her message and I've trained her in using various online tools.  For me, the most compelling tool she's using is podcasting.  This idea was born out of Parker's unrelenting quest for knowledge exhibited by her habit of interviewing "people on the front lines of what’s happening in the world of combat sports, self-defense, and psychology".  When I learned about these interviews, drawing on my background in documentary filmmaking, it was a no-brainer to suggest she begin recording these interviews to share with her audience so they could hear first-hand lessons from assault survivors as well as leading experts in their field.  The results are inspiring podcasts published on her website.  As a part of her digital repertoire, the podcasts not only set her apart, but serve to educate a wider audience.

Working with a tee-tiny budget, Parker's digital footprint is all DIY.  Because of Parker's initial resistance to technology, one of the most rewarding parts of working with her has been encouraging and supporting her to embrace the tools to create and sustain her digital footprint.  When we first started working together she was skeptical about creating and maintaining her own website, etc, but its been fun for me to increase her digital confidence and prove to her that she can do it!

In addition to working with Parker on the digital platforms themselves, its has also been exciting to apply the business principles that we've been learning in the dMBA program - especially the areas of Marketing & Branding.  In fact, working with Parker has been a rewarding opportunity to put the Digital in Digital MBA! 

Thank you to Joni McClain of Love and Light Images for the use of Parker's photo.

dMBA - There's an App For That

Last week we wrapped up our 1st fall term in Year 2 (Y2) of the dMBA program. With classes in Business Law & Ethics, Project Management and Applied Digital Convergence (ADC), its exciting to observe how Y2 builds on Year 1 (Y1).

Y1 was all about the "nuts and bolts" of business, you know, the theories and science of business - accounting, finance, marketing - the foundation of a solid business education. Now, if Y1 was all about the science of business, Y2 is unfolding to be about the art. The rich class discussions in Law and ADC require critical and creative thinking as these areas are more finessed and not so black-and-white as most of the courses from Y1 - but these Y2 discussions wouldn't be possible without the foundation of Y1. Perhaps more importantly though, is that Y2 is allowing for the application of the principles we studied in Y1 and putting them into practice with new courses like Project Management and New Venture Creation.

My favorite application, however, is happening outside the classroom. I am currently producing a short animated film and am having a blast! Working on this film has put me back in touch with my creativity and I am loving it! From directing the voice actors to collaborating with the illustrator and animators, this creative outlet is just what I need to balance out all of my studying!

Just as rewarding, however, as the creative outlet, this production has helped me see how much I've learned since beginning the dMBA program. Perhaps if I hadn't produced anything before, I wouldn't notice what all I've been learning. With this film, my 1st since starting the program, I notice that I'm thinking about, and managing, the project in a more holistic way. From our HR courses to Accounting to Interactive Technology & E-Commerce to Law, I am now instinctively applying what we're learning in the classroom to the production process.

I'm thrilled to be returning to my creative roots, but am even more thrilled to apply to the creative process all that I've been learning!

* The above illustrations are an early storyboard from my current film illustrated by Zara Steadman.

On the Eve of Year Two...

With the start of classes tomorrow, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what an amazing journey this last year has been!

Early on in the dMBA program I began researching Participant Media for a marketing class. I had long been a fan of their films (Food Inc., Charlie Wilson's War, North Country, etc.), but during my 1st year of the program I kept coming back to them again and again, fascinated by their business model. Their mission,"entertainment that inspires and compels social change" resonated deeply with me and my mission became to intern with them this summer.

To my great joy I was accepted as an intern in the Social Action department where I teamed with the staff and other interns to research, develop and execute social engagement campaigns (both online and offline) for PM's upcoming narratives and documentaries (see below). I had hoped to blog about my experience more, however, much of what I did each day was confidential so there really wasn't a way to share what I was doing and learning. Suffice it to say it was a rich and rewarding experience to not only work on these campaigns, but to also learn about the company as a whole. Laurie Luh, PM's Senior HR Director, organized weekly Brown Bag lunches where we had the opportunity to learn from representatives of different parts of the organization including Narrative & Documentary Development, TakePart, Legal and Finance & Business Operations.

After such a rich experience with my internship and so thoroughly enjoying the city itself, it wasn't easy to leave LA! But all I can think now, if the results of Year One have been so rewarding, I can't wait to see what's next!

The List, or, How I spent my Summer

AMAZING internship w/ Participant Media (titles included The Help, Contagion, Circumstance, Page One)

Yamashiro

Dolly Parton at the Hollywood Bowl

Horseback riding in Griffith Park (stampede included at no extra charge!)

The Doors at Whiskey a Go Go

Hollywood Farmers Market

Boxing at Freddy Roach's Wild Card Boxing Gym w/ Ray Beltran (USBA Lightweight Champ and Manny Pacquiao's sparring partner)

Dearly Departed Tours

The Grove & Farmers Market

Compton

Watts

Manhatten Beach

Venice Beach

Malibu Beach

Malibu Canyon

Topanga Canyon

Inn of the 7th Ray

Griffith Observatory

Runyon Canyon

Hollywood Blvd

Melrose

Sunset Blvd

Sunset Strip

Little Tokyo

China Town

The Metro (Red & Gold lines)

Thai Town

Mini riot on Hollywood Blvd

Dodger's game (they won!)

Watching Kermit the Frog & Miss Piggy film the newest Muppets film

The Go-Go's getting their star on the Walk of Fame

Martinis & chx potpie at Musso & Frank

Dinner at El Coyote on 8/8

Cigars & infinity pools

Lucky Strike bowling

Fashion District

Skid Row

Toy District

Jewelry District

Garden of Oz

Grease's Rydell HS

Muscle Beach

Miceli's

A $30 sandwich at The Ivey

Rodeo Dr.

Beverly Hills

La Brea tar pits

Ecclesia

Private tour of the SAG offices

LACMA

LA Film Fest

Jeff Skoll on Technology and Social Change

Last week I wrote about my experience of learning to converge digital tools with the entertainment industry. Here's a take on it from Participant Media's founder, Jeff Skoll with a big dose of social change mixed in:

A Minute with Jeff Skoll on

Technology and Global Social Change

The Joy of Wandering

Wrapping up my 3rd week of interning at Participant Media means I'm nearly 1/2 way through my time in LA! I had planned to update the blog more while I'm here, but I've been so immersed in the experience that it has been challenging to put it to words!

One of my favorite things in the whole-wide-world is to be in a new city and simply wander around, noticing the details and soaking up its unique history and culture. The vastness of LA, with its pockets of cities and neighborhoods, is the perfect place to feed this joy of wandering. Similarly, my internship in the Social Action department has been a joy as it is allowing me to combine my varied experiences, interests and education all in one role.

What does a Social Action intern do exactly? We support the Social Action team, whose job it is to create and execute campaigns designed to engage audiences in the themes of Participant Media's films. For example, the documentary, Waiting for 'Superman', which explores the state of our current public school system, has a campaign giving people tools to get involved and impact the system at local and national levels.

Working in the Social Action department in just these 3 short weeks has allowed me to draw on my work experience in campaign development and community engagement. I'm also drawing on my undergrad degree in Sociology by employing research methods and statistics to identify or rule out social trends and themes. My quirky filmmaker habit of "interviewing" people I meet during my travels is paying off too. Tying it all together, of course, is learning from the Social Action team how to put into practice the business and digital strategies I've been studying for the past year.

And just when I thought this internship was the perfect intersection of my interests, it got even better! I've recently been assigned to design a digital campaign on a topic that's near and dear to my heart both professionally and personally. I can't say much more than that for now... stay tuned!

So, as the title of this post is the Joy of Wandering - let me wander back to the main point here - I'm overjoyed because I'm using the fruits of my wanderings among seemingly far-flung professional, educational and geographical explorations and have the opportunity to learn so much more at such an amazing company!

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Since starting this blog about my experience of St. Eds' dMBA program, I've had prospective and future students send me questions about it. The most common questions have been about how to best prepare for the program.

My answer is pretty simple: come academically prepared and have an effective stress coping strategy.

To academically prepare, 1st, check out the list of required courses and look for your weakest areas. This will, of course, be different for everyone depending on your work and undergraduate experience. For example, I've worked in Marketing pretty extensively, and in undergrad I was a Sociology major, so I felt pretty comfortable with Marketing and Statistics. Because I have written copiously in my career and, as an undergrad, took way more writing component courses than were required and completed an independent study research project, writing and Marketing Research weren't an issue. My areas of weakness however, were Accounting and Finance and that's where I had to work the hardest.

2nd, upon identifying areas to strengthen from the list of required courses, begin to fill in any knowledge gaps now. You can do this by taking a course at your local community college, or, at the very least, pick up a "For Dummies" type of book to familiarize yourself with key concepts - trust me, your future self will thank you! Before starting the program, I took Accounting at Austin Community College, and boy, am I SUPER glad that I did!

An effective stress coping strategy is just as critical to the program. I can't emphasize enough how quickly this program moves - 3 new classes every 7 weeks. But don't be fooled, that doesn't mean the curriculum is watered down - we're being prepared for the national MBA Major Field Test (in 2 days - wish me luck!). Throughout it all, my favorite stress release has been training in Krav Maga at Fit and Fearless (2 blocks from campus!) 3 - 4 nights a week. There's nothing quite as physically and mentally refreshing as punching the heck out of a bag for an hour.

On the eve of starting my 1st year, the best advice given to me came from a dMBA graduate who advised, "Its not rocket science, you just gotta do the work." That summation became my mantra, reminding me that I CAN do it and that, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. So, as I reflect on my successes and perhaps, even more importantly, my challenges over this 1st year, I'm grateful for the how well the dMBA program has been preparing me to continue forward to pursue my passions.

Making Movies That Matter

This video is a TED Talk from Jeff Skoll, founder and chairman of Participant Media, the company where I'll be interning this summer. Watching this video has me more excited than ever to work with them!

Who Said, "Grad School Isn't The Real World"? Part Deux

OMG - SO freaking excited! I am THRILLED to tell the world that I've landed the coolest internship this summer with Participant Media in Los Angeles! In addition to its upcoming features, The Help and Jodie Foster's The Beaver, Participant is most notably known for its Academy Award Winning/Nominated narratives and documentaries including Charlie Wilson's War, Good Night and Good Luck, North Country, Food Inc., An Inconvenient Truth and The Cove.

I will intern in the Social Action department, working with Kristen Irving, the Director of Campaign Development, to develop a social action campaign aligned with a soon-to-be announced major motion picture.

I've long been a fan of Participant's films, but its since starting the dMBA program, that I've begun to study their practice of creating social action campaigns in depth. In fact, it was in a Marketing class in our very 1st term that I began to research their business model. Since that time I've continued to follow them closely with the hopes of landing an internship there. So I'm happy to say, my hard work and persistence has paid off :)

As excited as I am about this opportunity, its taken me a couple of weeks to blog about it... "life has gotten in the way", as Professor Nair from HR likes to say. Almost immediately after accepting their offer, my Grandmother was admitted to ICU with pneumonia... and just a few days after that, she passed away. My Grandmother has been a very influential person in my life - so much so, that I've been filming her and working on a documentary, Grandmother Storyteller, about her for the past several years.

Losing her has been devastating. In the days between her passing and the funeral, all I could do was eat Lucky Charms and listen to the '60's gospel-meets-psychedelic-rock hit, "Spirit in the Sky." And oh yeah, see to the "minor details" of grad school (you caught the sarcasm, right?).

The timing of these 2 big events, coupled with the fact that hard work must still be completed, reminded me of something I noticed recently in my 100,000,000th viewing of the classic, "Rocky". You know the famous workout scene which culminates with Rocky triumphantly ascending the steps of the Philly Museum of Art? Its an iconic feel-good scene where Rocky is experiencing the pay-off of all his hard work. But here's the kicker - immediately after that, we cut to Rocky the night before the big fight - he's restless and agitated. He wanders the city and ends up in the Spectrum where he runs into the fight promoter whose comments completely shatter Rocky's fragile confidence. He goes home and tells Adrian he can't go through with the fight. After speaking with Adrian though, he realizes he must go on and his goal becomes to simply "go the distance" with the Champ.

What floors me about this is how quickly Rocky goes from his ultimate high, on the Art Museum steps, to his ultimate low. My own high and low hadn't yet happened, so at the time I was simply struck by the well-crafted writing and how it beautifully juxtaposes such tender human experiences at such extreme ends of the spectrum.

I'm getting back in the saddle now with school. It was hectic for a while - being at Grannie Annie's bedside in her last few days - giving and receiving support with my family - planning the funeral - somehow managing to pull myself together to give her eulogy. During all that, I didn't miss a deadline with school.

Sure, I thought about asking for a little wiggle room from my professors, but I didn't. Each round of classes is only 7 weeks so there is little room for wiggling - it just seemed easier to suck it up and do my homework in her hospital room while she slept rather than to put it off. Besides, I'd look up to occasionally catch her proudly watching me study - and she wouldn't have put up with me not, "going the distance". She was as tough as they come.

I'm off the Lucky Charms now and I'm back to focusing on this exciting opportunity with Participant. After all, it was Grannie Annie and her gift of storytelling who taught me about the powerful impact of a well-told story. With that I leave you with a quote about my Grandmother - one that succinctly explains her grand style of telling a story:

Its a Texas thing.

If you can't improve on a story, why tell it?

South By: 2011

Well, another SXSW has come and gone. As a long-time Austin resident I've had the privilege of enjoying the festival as an annual spring ritual over the years. But this year, as a dMBA student, was particularly fun - people's eyes would light up when they learned I'm a filmmaker AND and a digital media business student. I'm finding organizations are hungry for this blend. I felt so popular :)

So as the festival is ginormous - how do I even begin a blog entry on it? So many panels! So many screenings! And oh yeah... so many parties!

Here are just a few of the most memorable highlights:

Participant Media's Creating Social Action Plans for Films panel. After attending, for every documentary I saw (and I saw A LOT), my mind automatically began to consider a Social Action/Social Media strategy for each film.

Swapping war stories with producer Monnie Wills on the ups and downs of working in Russia.

Attending a panel on visual storytelling by Robyn Girard, a deaf filmmaker and gaining perspective on telling stories from a soley visual perspective.

Getting stuck in the bathroom at the Vimeo theater with another germ-o-phobe. There were no paper towels - only hand dryers and you can't use those to open a door.

Flow Non-Fiction's Branded Documentary** panel. I had actually interviewed these guys on that very topic for a paper. And the panel was awesome as it included a 360 view of from all the stakeholders (clients, ad agencies, etc.)

Making a famous rockstar blush.

Meeting the producer of How to Die in Oregon while in line for a film - when he told me the name of his film I thought he said, How to Dye an Organ. We spoke for a good few minutes till I realized my mistake. Boy, that was weird.

Connecting with a ton of illustrators interested in working on the animated short I am producing with MacBoy.

The Unexpected Non-Fiction Storytelling** panel. Wow - these guys are up to some really creative stuff, challenging the definition of documentary and creating new ways for audiences to engage with stories.

Crying my eyes out during Where Soldiers Come From.

Attending a private reception for Where Soldiers Come From and speaking with the guys and their families. Getting to know some of them on a personal level was way more rewarding than any amount of "industry networking".

Enjoying the rich serendipity of randomly meeting just the right people.

...and doing every bit of it in 3-inch heels.

**Click the link and you can hear the recorded session.

Coen Brothers, look out!

Meet Brandon and Jonathan, the next generation of filmmaking brothers.

I recently volunteered with Mobile Film School, a non-profit bringing media arts education to under-served communities. The students of Eastside Memorial Green Tech High spent two days shooting on the topic of "stereotypes" and I had the privilege of mentoring them as they learned how to edit with Final Cut Pro (FCP).

These kids are smart as whips and though new to FCP, they picked it up quickly. It was incredibly rewarding to help them build their fluency with digital technology so they can give voice their own stories. And I learned a ton from them!

It was great spending the day taking a break from schoolwork - getting away from the business side of things - and diving back into the creative side again. But the best part of the day? Jonathan giving me a big ole' hug at the end and telling me how glad he was I came and how much he enjoyed working with me. ***Sniff***

KO'ing Accounting

What's the deal with me getting giddy every time I write a budget lately? I've been absolutely euphoric as I work on my final accounting project. Seriously.

The project, to create the budget and financial statements for an event, is based on the Austin Regional Golden Gloves Tournament that I recently attended.

The tournament promoter, Art Cardenas, graciously took the time to sit down with me to discuss the expenses and revenue streams associated with the event. I arrived early for our meeting so I waited while he wrapped up training. I didn't mind waiting however, as I got to watch him work. I've spent a good part of my life in gyms and around fighters of all sorts so the smell of sweat and atmosphere of hard work made me feel right at home.

When Art wrapped up his coaching we got down to business. The best part of it though was that our financial conversation was punctuated with talk of boxing and the walloping rhythm of pugilists on the speed bag. So there I was, around people I love, talking about things I love, doing something I love. OK, technically, accounting in-and-of-itself isn't something I love - in fact, sometimes the homework feels something akin to my fingernails slowly being pulled out with pliers. But I'm in this program to better leverage business functions because I firmly believe that:

Accounting + Financial Knowledge = The Power to Make Things Happen

So my budget-induced-euphoria was caused by putting my newly enhanced accounting skills to use for something I care about. And why do I respect boxers so much? Because when I see them put their heart into their training, it reminds me that when things get tough I gotta, as my old boxing instructor used to say, "Suck it up." This dMBA program is challenging, but if my heroes can climb into the ring and repeatedly get punched in the face, I can do a little accounting homework.

Right Brain, Meet Left Brain.

I got the giggles in my Managerial Accounting class yesterday. Since giving up Winter Break's relaxing pace for grad school's frenetic race, it can get too easy to lose sight of why I entered the dMBA program in the first place. Its like not seeing the forest for all the trees - the trees being the abundance of homework! But as I sat in Accounting yesterday, I remembered why I'm here and so, despite the crazy workload, I felt really happy!

Happiness induced by Accounting?!?! Yes! I'm sure many people will scratch their heads on that one! You see, this week we are studying the budgeting process. Now, I'm sure I will be mocked mercilessly when my friends hear me say this, but I LOVE making budgets! In fact, last week, I did a sales budget for fun (seriously!) for my friend, Robyn, who is updating the business model for her Spirit of Africa Adventure tours. Now, I've created and managed budgets in my corporate experience, but it was while writing a film budget for a grant proposal that I recognized how much I love each stage of the filmmaking process. I had initially gotten into filmmaking because of the creativity of the production phase; but while writing the proposal, I realized that I relish the business elements, from budgeting to distribution, just as much. From this discovery, I concluded that I didn't want to specialize in shooting or editing, but rather, I wanted to be the producer so I could have a hand in each step from start to finish!

Despite my nerdly enjoyment of working in Excel however, upon wrapping up my Accounting homework, I find my right brain jonesing for a creative fix! And that's why this dMBA program is such a perfect fit - it encourages our artistic pursuits as well. So when I need a break from our traditional business classes, I find time to edit Grandmother Storyteller and polish up a short script that I hope to have animated by MacBoy (production meeting this Thursday!).

But for now, I'm off to research my Information Systems project - building a video editing workstation from the ground up! Did I mention this dMBA program is eclectic?!