Career: Part 3
I often think about how what would have happened had I indeed gotten that Fulbright. My proposal had me going to a very remote village in Romania and I imagine I would have been lonely and isolated, but it would have been fascinating to document that place in time.
I ended up staying in Hungary for 4.5 years. I taught English for a year, but mostly worked as an Executive Assistant for the English Partner of the Hungarian Law Firm, Köves & Partners (which at the time, was part of the International firm, Clifford Chance). I would start work each day at 5pm, and would end by 8pm - or late into the night, depending on what needed to be done. Mostly, I typed emails and faxes that had been dictated to me in a hand-held recording device that my boss had recorded prior to the start of my evening shift. It was a good job and I was able to save a lot of money those years.
During the last year in Budapest I constructed a serious plan for my return to the States. I would move to New York City and live with my old friend Tim (the photographer friend) and enroll in Hunter College's Integrated Media Arts program. And of course I would need to find a job.
In 2000, I made the move. Looking for a job was tough! I looked in the classifieds, wrote and re-wrote my resume, and finally found an ad for a "production assistant" at Brooklyn Handknit. This was a Williamsburg-based company that designed, produced and sold hand knit hats, scarves and mittens to high-end stores like Bergdorf Goodman and Harvey Nichols. I managed all levels of international and domestic shipping and managed the schedule for the production team. It was during this time that I took a trip to Kathmandu, Nepal with my boss to meet with Nepalese knitters and to test wool and dye development strategies.
While I was working at Brooklyn Handknit, I was still searching for what I really wanted to do. I knew it had to involve story telling of some kind. At some point, I had the idea to make a short documentary about where I was working and partnered with a professor at Parsons School of Design (Karen Nourse) and together she and I (and her class of 20 students) filmed and edited a short 20-minute portrait of Brooklyn Handknit. That kick started my desire to work on documentaries and soon made the switch.
Shortly thereafter I left Brooklyn Handknit and started a 3-month unpaid internship at Big Mouth Productions, a production company that produces independent documentaries about social issues. I loved my work during those three months. I was transcribing interviews recorded for the documentary film, Deadline - and soon was able to work as the Assistant Editor. The film was a dramatic documentary about former Governor George Ryan’s decision to grant blanket clemency to 167 death row inmates in Illinois in 2002. At the same time, I started applying to Documentary Film Schools - and miraculously, I was accepted into Stanford University's Documentary Film graduate program. In the summer of 2003, I drove across the country to begin the program.
I was 30 years old.