When I was twenty years old, I checked myself into an intensive outpatient program for severe depression. A conversation was playing over and over in my mind, and I felt my control over my mental wellbeing slipping through my fingers like a pile of sand, falling slowly at first and then all at once. I was making a deal with my future-self that if the next ten years were as isolating as the past ten, I would call it quits, so to say. When I think about this conversation that my younger self was having in an echo chamber of her own mind, I want to reach back in time and give her a hug. It’s been eight years since my outpatient program, and every day I feel grateful for how much has changed and how far I have come. Now, I am about to start my dream graduate program at my dream school: In August, I'll be attending the University of Southern California for an MFA in Film and Television Production. Struggling with mental health isn’t something to celebrate, but it isn’t something to hide, either. My journey to the stable, healthy place I exist in now came down to one thing: talking. And I mean a lot of it. Talking with friends, family members, professional therapists and psychiatrists. What helped to break the ice every time was talking about something I saw on TV. I want to fight the stigma surrounding depression by creating more conversations in film and television about mental health. As a young person, nothing normalized the way I felt like seeing it discussed on the screen. I want to produce spaces for individuals to talk openly about triumphs and struggles, in turn letting viewers know that they are not alone, and that it is ok to ask for help. I graduated from Clemson University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Philosophy, having studied the cultural relevance of television and media in a traditional humanities program. My undergraduate education introduced me to the wide range of characters and theories that inform my love of film and media, and I have been able to use that knowledge professionally for half a decade. I was employed by the university my senior year in a role related to online publishing, which led me to a career in video journalism. For five years, I worked full time at Group Nine Media, a company recognized by Nielsen as the number one video publisher on mobile in the U.S. I worked at two of its brands, Thrillist and NowThis, reporting on subjects ranging from lifestyle to hard news, and my work always focused on real people in real time across the country. I have reported on diverse and underserved communities, often featuring individuals who have fought for their lives and their rights against policies and stigmas that make existing — let alone succeeding — so hard. Millions are struggling with mental health, and no two cases are alike, which is why we must keep sharing our stories. I hope to one day mentor fellow producers in ways that responsibly approach sensitive subjects, especially in regards to young people and mental health. It is vital for creators to give justice to a misunderstood group, and it is invaluable to have these conversations at the forefront of how we consume media. If I were selected to receive the Ethel Hays Destigmatization of Mental Health Scholarship, I would feel empowered to realize my full potential in graduate school as the funding would alleviate tuition costs as I work to become a professional film and television producer. I am prepared to meet the demands of the program after working in a fast-paced, team-driven news environment and graduating with a double major in an undergraduate humanities program. I look forward to producing student films that will focus on destigmatizing mental health, giving individuals a platform to tell their most personal stories. There’s a saying that I hold on to everyday: “You only need to make two people proud, and they are your future self and past self.” I’m confident that pursuing higher education is getting me one step closer to positively impacting the lives of others battling mental illness. Accomplishing that would make my future self happy. As for my past self, my 20-year-old self, the one that wanted to give up but instead stuck around... Well, she’s already proud.

I knew I wanted to be a documentary filmmaker after Rick Danko broke my heart. It was The Band’s last show and there I was, watching the rock stars on stage, only thirteen years old and enamoured by the music, the lights, and the sweat dripping off Danko’s forehead into a winged collared shirt. “See the man with the stage fright,” he cooed. “Just standing up there to give it all his might.” Except it wasn’t 1976. It was 2007, the lights were out, and I was on the couch with my mom, watching Martin Scorsese’s concert-documentary The Last Waltz for the first time. In the years since, I have watched the film over a dozen times. Every time, I think about the way I have absolutely no skin in the game but feel so pained for Danko, a person who loved something so much, loved the people he surrounded himself with and what he chose to do, but had to let it all go because the band was breaking up. The ability of film and music to make a viewer and listener feel so connected to another person has always fascinated me, especially the way the mediums allow us to feel like we are a part of someone else’s story. I graduated from Clemson University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Philosophy, having studied the social and cultural relevance of media in a traditional humanities program. My undergraduate education introduced me to the wide range of characters and theories that inform my love of film, music, and media, and I have been able to use that knowledge professionally for half a decade. I studied two humanities fields but discovered a passion for music in elective courses (film and communications) as well as from professional opportunities, such as directing music videos for my university’s Panhellenic Recruitment. After earning a scriptwriting certificate from a study abroad program taught by the Director of the UK Film Festival, I became certain that a career in visual storytelling was my goal. A campus job in online publishing led to a career in digital media, culminating in an associate producer role at the number one global news brand on mobile. Visual and audio storytelling is a language that has always made sense to me, and it has now brought me to the University of Southern California to pursue an MFA in Film and Television Production, where my ultimate goal is to direct music videos. If I were selected to receive the Women in Music Scholarship, I would feel empowered to realize my fullest potential in my graduate program as the funding would alleviate tuition costs as I work to become a professional music video director. I look forward to starting the program in August 2021 and — to paraphrase Rick Danko — giving it all my might.

The first time I heard those three little words, I was sitting in a small classroom in front of a floor-to-ceiling whiteboard, quickly eating Fiber One bars before the next session. In 2014, I was a student tutor for student athletes at Clemson University, trying to make Division One stars as passionate about Philosophy 101 as I was. As I shuffled diagrams of teleological arguments and made room at the table, a track and field runner pulled up a chair and said those three little words: “I requested you.” Tutoring student athletes was one of the most rewarding commitments I made as an undergraduate student; another was working in the university’s career center and assisting transfer and first-generation students in their adjustments to campus. I’m passionate about helping others realize and work towards their educational goals and certain that communities are healthiest when their resources are equally shared. As a teen, I thought I would be a teacher. I tutored middle schoolers through National Honor Society, Pathways for Exceptional Children, and Future Educators of America. Throughout college, I consistently volunteered with local nonprofits and was ultimately granted the Greek Life Unsung Hero Award, an annual honor given to one person out of the 4,000-member Greek community for a demonstrated commitment to community service, peer leadership, and academic excellence. Although my career aspirations have changed, I remain dedicated to education, which has in part led me to filmmaking. At their core, television news and documentary storytelling are a form of education. Since Clemson, I’ve remained committed to mentoring high school and college students by working as a certified tutor at C2 Education and volunteering with Girls Write Now, a nonprofit that has been distinguished three times by the White House and ranks in the top 4% of programs nationwide for outstanding performance in social-emotional outcomes for young people. With Girls Write Now, I work one-on-one and in small groups with underserved young women on school assignments and college applications, developing their academic skills as well as confidence. The past year of remote learning has made it especially clear that inequity can’t be solved with technology or short-term solutions; Individuals need community support to make use of the tools around them. I look forward to continuing assisting young adults with their educational goals while a graduate student at USC. If I were selected to receive the Misha Brahmbhatt Help Your Community Scholarship, I would feel empowered to realize my full potential as both a student and mentor. The funds would alleviate tuition costs as I study to become a professional filmmaker. I plan to continue contributing to my community while in graduate school by participating in mentor and buddy programs, supporting local high schoolers as well as undergraduate students in their professional ambitions. After volunteering and assisting students in their educational goals for nearly a decade, I have learned that you have to meet people where they are, every day, on a personal level. This is how we make room at the table, and allow everyone to pull up a chair.

I knew I wanted to be a documentary filmmaker after Rick Danko broke my heart. It was The Band’s last show and there I was, watching the rock stars on stage, only thirteen years old and enamoured by the music, the lights, and the sweat dripping off Danko’s forehead into a winged collared shirt. “See the man with the stage fright,” he cooed. “Just standing up there to give it all his might.” Except it wasn’t 1976. It was 2007, the lights were out, and I was on the couch with my mom, watching Martin Scorsese’s concert-documentary "The Last Waltz" for the first time. In the years since, I have watched the film a dozen times. Every time, I think about the way I have absolutely no skin in the game but feel so pained for Danko, a person who loved something so much, loved the people he surrounded himself with and what he chose to do, but had to let it all go because the band was breaking up. The ability of film and music to make a viewer and listener feel so connected to another person has always fascinated me, especially the way those mediums allow us to feel like we are a part of someone else’s story. I graduated from Clemson University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Philosophy, having studied the social and cultural relevance of media in a traditional humanities program. My undergraduate education introduced me to the wide range of characters and theories that inform my love of film, music, and media, and I have been able to use that knowledge professionally for half a decade. I studied two humanities fields but discovered a passion for music in elective courses (film and communications) as well as from professional opportunities, such as directing music videos for my university’s Panhellenic Recruitment. After earning a scriptwriting certificate from a study abroad program taught by the Director of the UK Film Festival, I became certain that a career in visual storytelling was my goal. A campus job in online publishing led to a career in digital media, culminating in an associate producer role at the number one global news brand on mobile. Visual and audio storytelling is a language that has always made sense to me, and it has brought me to the University of Southern California to pursue an MFA in Film and Television Production, where my ultimate goal is to direct music videos. If I were selected to receive the Jaki Nelson LGBTQ+ Music Education Scholarship, I would feel empowered to realize my fullest potential in my graduate program as the funding would alleviate tuition costs as I work to become a professional music video director. To paraphrase Rick Danko, I look forward to giving it all my might.

As a video journalist, I’ve spent three years entrenched in the daily news and politics cycles, and after one of the most contentious elections in modern U.S. history (the 2020 presidential election), I’ve been thinking about a reporting trip I took during the first week of March 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down travel. I flew to Birmingham, Alabama to interview DeJuana Thompson, founder of the grassroots voter registration organization Woke Vote. For two days, we shot footage at her home and office, as well as at historic downtown sites and the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s campus. The video was produced by NowThis, the number one global news brand on mobile, as part of a social justice partnership with the philanthropic organization Emerson Collective. My intention was to make the video educational — both about Thompson’s organization and broader voting trends in the U.S. — as well as purposeful, with a call to action at the end. The piece encouraged NowThis’s audience of 17 million on Facebook to push forward in political and social justice efforts, with special attention paid to voting rights. Nationwide demonstrations for social justice made 2020 a year of reckoning for both news publishers and policymakers. For me, the trip to Alabama and the movements that made national news in 2020 highlighted the responsibility of media organizations to inform viewers about how to become more involved in their communities — especially in a deeply polarized country. Even as print and digital news institutions across the U.S. struggle to survive, working at a new media company in the midst of a pandemic informed my belief that it has never been a more vital time to reach people where they are. Starting in August 2021, I will be attending the University of Southern California for an MFA in Film and Television Production. As I prepare to leave my job in journalism to pursue a graduate degree in filmmaking, I have realized that the most valuable way I can serve my community is by organizing and mobilizing to protect our fundamental rights to vote, gather, and protest. I plan on applying my video background to documentary and television storytelling in 2021 and beyond, doing what I can to inform people about the resources and ways to get involved in social justice efforts locally.

When I was 20 years old, I checked myself into an intensive outpatient program for depression. A conversation was playing over and over in my mind: My then-self was making a deal with my future-self that if the next ten years were as “bad” as the past ten, I would throw in the towel. When I think about this conversation my younger self was having in an echo chamber of her own mind, I want to reach back in time and give her a hug. It’s been seven years, and I am about to start my dream program at my dream school. In August, I'll be attending the University of Southern California for an MFA in Film and Television Production. Struggling isn’t something to celebrate, but it isn’t something to hide. My journey came down to one thing: talking. And I mean a lot of it. With friends, family members, and professionals. What helped break the ice every time was talking about something I saw on TV. I want to fight the stigma surrounding depression by creating more conversations in film and television around mental health. As a young person, nothing normalized the way I felt like seeing it on the screen. I want to produce spaces for characters to talk openly about triumphs and struggles, in turn letting viewers know that they are not alone, and that it is ok to ask for help. I hope to one day mentor fellow producers in ways that responsibly approach sensitive subjects, with special attention paid to young people and mental health. It is vital for writers to give justice to a misunderstood group, and it is invaluable to have these conversations at the forefront of how we consume media. Just a few months ago, I heard someone say, “You only need to make two people proud: your 80-year-old self and 8-year-old self.” I’m confident that pursuing higher education is getting me one step closer to positively impacting the lives of others battling mental illness. Accomplishing that would make my 80-year-old self happy. But my 20-year-old self? She’s already proud.

I graduated from Clemson University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Philosophy, having studied the cultural relevance of television and media in a traditional humanities program. I was employed by the university my senior year in a role related to online publishing, which led me to a career in video journalism. For four years, I worked full time at Group Nine Media, a company recognized by Nielsen as the number one video publisher on mobile in the U.S. I worked at two of its brands, Thrillist and NowThis, reporting on subjects ranging from lifestyle to hard news. While NowThis, in particular, has incredible reach and competes with the country’s biggest broadcast networks, it has a comparatively small staff, so I had opportunities to work one-on-one with mentors and step into a range of creative roles. My work has always focused on real people in real time across the country. I have reported on diverse and underserved communities, often featuring individuals with disabilities/mixed abilities. As a person with dyslexia, I am considered neurodivergent. I attribute much of my success in understanding and creating compelling stories to being neurodivergent. I hope to one day mentor fellow writers and producers in ways to approach sensitive subjects with special attention paid to individuals who do not share a neurotypical journey. My perspective can contribute to the diversity of content online because I believe it is vital for writers to give justice to this misunderstood group. Even as I worked full time, I regularly made my way back into a classroom, enrolling in workshops related to writing and online media at Manhattan Edit Workshop, Downtown Community Television Center, and New York University. Whenever I could, I was writing creative pieces at night, flexing a different muscle after covering hard news during the day. Starting August 2021, I will be attending the University of Southern California for an MFA in Film and Television Production, an extremely competitive 3-year program. I am prepared to meet the demands of energy, creativity, and collaboration of graduate school after working in a fast-paced, team-driven news environment and graduating with a double major in an undergraduate humanities program. I am independently paying for my education; I will not be receiving any financial support from family or an employer. If I were granted the AMPLIFY Digital Storytellers Scholarship, it would be used to help defray tuition costs, offset expenses around moving from New Jersey to California, and fund the production of my student films that will focus on giving voice to individuals with disabilities.