I believe in the power of setting goals and intentions. As Project Life Media continues to grow and take shape, I’m creating a company credo to guide our approach to the projects we create.
Put people and relationships ahead of opportunity
Lift others up - both behind and in front of the camera
Be thoughtful, creative and inclusive
Lead with compassion
Listen, listen, listen.
Taken at my favorite spot on Earth - Big Sur. The best place to be when setting intentions :)
In 2018, I had the honor of interviewing many of the gymnasts and MSU athletes who were sexual abuse survivors in the Larry Nassar case. The film aired as part of the 2018 ESPY coverage for ESPN. To this day, it is one of my most cherished projects. What I am most proud of is the moment after our film played, when more than 150 survivors walked onto the ESPY stage and reclaimed their story as one of courage. These amazing athletes were not victims, they were survivors and this terrible chapter in their lives would not define them.
A week ago, I received this Peabody Award in the mail after it was stuck in the ESPN mailroom for almost a year of quarantine. I keep it on my desk on my office and glance at it throughout the day…it’s reminds me of the guts each survivor displayed by speaking publicly in 2018 and it reminds me of the power of positive storytelling to help others. I hope to never come across another story like the Nassar case again but I pray for more opportunities to tell important stories that have a real impact on someone’s life.
In late 2019, I started working on a docuseries about Simone Biles. The intention was to follow her throughout the 2020 season as she prepared for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In the first six months on this project, I went to Houston monthly (if not twice a month), I traveled to Belize with Simone and her family over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and I traveled to Indiannapolis for the U.S. Gymnastics team training camp.
We were preparing for first of two trips to Tokyo when the world essentially came to a halt due to the pandemic. Two weeks later, the Olympics were postponed and our project went on an indefinite hiatus.
Eleven months, and what feels like a lifetime, has passed but last week we finally returned to Houston to resume filming. While filming looks and feels a lot different these days, it was awesome to catch up with Simone and witness the many positive changes she has made in the last year. Without giving up too many details, I can happily say Simone is doing well and is quite possibly a better gymnast than she was a year ago - leave it to the GOAT to turn a year-long hiatus from competition into a positive!
Our crew is small but mighty…this is us practicing social distancing outside the gym!
My favorite personal story about life as a working mom is a story passed on to me from my then four-year-old Jack’s preschool teacher.
Jack was enrolled in a ‘nature preschool’ after being not-so-politely asked to leave a more traditional preschool setting because he was “too disruptive” and not a good “first time listener”. That school’s principal (a woman!) suggested that maybe some of his poor behavior was due my frequent work trips…so much for women supporting women!
That little mishap led us to a wonderful nature school - it was a huge breath of fresh air, literally and figuratively. There were no walls to this classroom; just sticks to play imaginary games with, leaves to turn into art work and endless trees to climb. Needless to say, Jack thrived at this school and never was he (or I) called into the principal’s office again.
One day at nature preschool, Jack’s teacher overheard him and another little girl playing house under a big tree. The little girl told Jack that she would be the mommy and he would be the daddy. Jack did not like this plan and said he wanted to be the mommy. After a bit of discussion among the two four-year-olds, Jack came up with a solution: “How about you be the mommy who stays home and I will be the mommy who goes to work.”
To this day, it’s one of my proudest working mom moments!
There have been many times in my working mom life where I have wondered if my desire to maintain my career is at the expense of my children’s well-being. Questions like: ‘should I find a job where I don’t travel as much?’ or ‘should i find a job where my hours are predictable and consistent?’ tend to float in and out of my mind. There’s no right answer to any of these questions and no one way to parent your kids and as Jack reminded me while playing house under a tree: there can be more than one type of mommy...some mommy’s stay home and other mommy’s go to work. Both choices are good.
Mission accomplished.
