I have always loved movies.

My family always watched movies together, especially old black and white movies that my parents had loved when they were kids. Every week I would go through the TV guide to see what was coming up next on the Turner Classic Movies Channel. But it wasn't until I was part way through my undergraduate degree that I even considered making movies of my own.

I immediately switched my major to the closest thing the University of Washington offered to a production degree: Cinema and Media Studies. I studied film theory and story structure, learning how to write about cinema academically, but the production courses offered were exceptionally minimal. Most everything I know about film production has been either self-taught or learned from the generous people I have met on set. And I'm still trying to learn everything I can.

I have thought a lot about the kind of films that I want to make. Mostly, I want to make films that have meaning-- films that bring questions to people's hearts and minds. I believe that film can be a gateway to empathy. We can learn so much about each other as human beings when we explore the art that's all around us, and I want to help bring about meaningful and representational art.