This is a picture of me at 3 years old with a cardboard box on my head. You probably gathered that on your own but I figured I’d make it clear. You’re probably wondering why? The simple answer is because I had an audience. In the home movie that this is taken from, I put this box on my head and pretended to be a TV, putting on a show for my audience (my mom and dad). I would entertain my parents and then would abruptly say “The fun times are over”, removing the box from my head. They would act upset and say “nooo!” only for me to say “the fun times are back on again!” and place the box back on my head to thunderous cheering. Oh yeah. This is the life!

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been addicted to this feeling of making people feel something. My love for getting a reaction took me through many hobbies: learning musical instruments, writing stories, and even (for a brief time), being a magician. Pictured here: (Yes, I did in fact do Birthday Parties)

But by far the most fulfilling way for me to get the reaction I wanted was through film.

My first experience with film came in the form of making short movies with my cousins using my Dad’s phone. Very rudimentary iMovie presets and unintelligible audio crafted a grand viewing experience for all. But the quality of these movies didn’t matter, it was the fact that they made our friends laugh. Something that I crafted from nothing was now bringing joy to other people, and to me that was the coolest thing in the world.

I quickly became the designated videographer among my friends and family, filming comedy sketches, family events and everything in between. As I experimented more, I learned more. I became curious and taught myself how to edit, how to use an actual camera, and how to make my movies look better. Any time I had a school project, I asked if I could make a video instead of powerpoint.

At a senior year high school sports banquet, I announced that I would be majoring in Film and Television Production and was literally laughed at by my coach and many of my peers. “That’s a major?!” they said. (I’LL SHOW THEM! I’LL SHOW THEM ALL! *Cue dramatic lightning strike.) Sorry, got a bit carried away there, but the point is this was something I wanted to do all the time and I wasn’t afraid to go for it.

When I started college at Drexel University, I was immediately thrown into film and TV classes and loved every part of it. I picked up new skills and thought about how I could use them to better shape my own stories that I wanted to tell. I also learned that there was a sketch comedy club called “Drexel Night Live”. A spoof of “Saturday Night Live”, it was a student-run live sketch comedy show consisting of live and recorded sketches. These kids were doing what I wanted to do, they wrote comedy, recorded films, and put on a show for an audience. It wasn’t about getting paid, the reaction they got from the crowd is what fueled them to do more. After attending one of their live shows, I worked up the nerve to ask if I could join. Several terms and many shows later, I am now the President of the club and am instilling my love for film and comedy in our new members.

All these years later I still love getting a reaction, and film is the medium that allows me to express my ideas and reach people in a way that is truest to my heart. It’s like that expression “You get more joy out of giving a gift than receiving a gift” (which sounds like a bunch of hooey to anyone who’s gotten a really cool gift before) but I do think there’s truth to it. For me, the greatest gift I can receive is bringing joy to others, and I hope to do a lot of that here at JTWO.

Around fourth grade, my mom found a magnet arts middle school nearby and after immediately applying, I attended the school from fifth to eighth grade. When arriving at the school we did an “intro to the arts”, to try them each out before picking an “emphasis”. My first time walking into the video room time stopped, it was just a small room in the back of the library but 11 year old me felt like I just walked into Disneyland between the poster filled walls, figurines, and the endless extraterrestrial film equipment. Before I even sat down I knew I wanted to spend the next four years in that room. I had finally found a safe place where I could make movies like I wanted to do and learn how to do it properly in an environment of other kids passionate about film.

The teacher, Mr. Kelsey very quickly became someone I looked up to and considered a mentor, and was truly a teacher who wanted us to be ourselves and be creative, and this was the first time I was given space and resources to do what I’ve so desperately been wanting to do. The video room became the joy in my life and my safe place, and continued to be for years after middle school. After school in high school I would head to the middle school to help Mr. Kelsey teach the incoming fifth graders, and each year got to experience the joy of teaching enthusiastic 11 year olds how to make movies and edit them.

Making videos was something I wanted to do before I knew a career in film was even possible, so by the time we were supposed to start thinking about colleges, there was no doubt in my mind on what I wanted to do, and that there were no other options. This was poked, and questioned, and challenged, by family, teachers, and peers, however I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else and wanted to do what would make me happy.

What I love about film is the ability to create emotion and share it with others. I want to make others feel something and highlight the beautiful small moments that come with life. This all started with the need to document my memories and things I thought were cool or pretty, and it’s the same now 10 years later. I spent a lot of my life wondering how the films I watch impact me and my emotional state so deeply, and I think it would be so rewarding to create that feeling for somebody else.

Fast forward to my junior year as a film student at Drexel and I’m living what 11 year old me would think is the dream life, and I’d have to agree with her. With too many amazing experiences to count and a few projects I’m proud of under my belt, I was led to an awesome new internship at JTWO, and cannot begin to explain how excited I am to learn and get all the experience I can to help me grow to be a better filmmaker.

From a young age, I always adored movies and the alternate realities they created. I was always daydreaming about the characters in the books I was obsessed with, and was constantly watching the same movies over and over. My parents would laugh when I would develop hyper obsessions, deciding my life was the same as the characters I followed in stories or films. Having a very vivid imagination from a young age pushed me to always be painting, drawing, and crafting different creations. My room would suddenly transform into a mermaid’s palace, or an adventurer’s cabin. I wanted to exist in these unrealistic worlds so bad I tried to make them reality. My love for movies only escalated when my mom took me to see a late night showing of Jurassic Park. I was very scared but so intrigued. How did they create a dinosaur park? What was it like for the actors to exist in this imaginary world? How did they create these lifelike dinosaurs? These kinds of questions continued to peck at me after every movie I watched. Now I know I don’t only love films for the stories they tell, but the world altering realities they create.

Taking photos became a huge passion of mine, my high school photography teacher helped me realize how I can express myself within my photography. Throughout highschool I continued to do creative and documentary photography, building my skills and finally feeling like I had found a passion I could carry with me forever. When the time came around to start thinking about college I was lost. I had good grades, but didn’t gravitate towards any majors that were more practical. My photography teacher helped push me towards doing film, and I am so glad for his input in that situation. When I was accepted to Drexel University in Philadelphia I was extremely excited to declare Film and Television production as my major. Looking back, I was not ready for what was in store for me in the slightest. When I first entered Drexel as a freshman, I thought I wanted to focus on cameras. My self doubt fought me through classes, and I felt I didn’t have the same skills as the other students I worked with. As a sophomore I was asked to do art direction for a small school run television show, and I was nervous but said yes. Something clicked for me when I started working on the props and set decoration. I started thinking about all of the films I was obsessed with when I was younger, each created a mystical or mysterious world through their production design. Now in my third year at Drexel, I am very focused on set decoration and composition. It’s fun to be involved in the cinematography by deciding what’s in frame. I often think back to how I used to decorate my room to match the movies I liked, or created small props to make the magic of my imagination come to life. It’s inspiring to know I have carried these skills with me for a long time, I just had to discover them again through my love for film as a young adult. I am eager to see where the next year of school takes me, as well as grow my skill set here at JTWO Films.