They provided a lifeline to worlds that I dreamt about. We moved around a lot as kids, so films were the constant for me. I was completely obsessed with films, particularly A League Of Their Own, still my go-to comfort film - I just watched it on a flight last week.
When I worked in film festivals, I constantly reached out to my peers at other festivals, trying to build community, share knowledge and ask questions. Mentorship is key but having a lateral support network is everything. Who helped you most when you were first starting out? I worked in theatre, I taught theatre and dance classes to other kids, I kept finding my way into projects as a producer and discovered I had an affinity for putting all the pieces together.
I started in the business as an actor as a kid. What was your first job in the film industry? I try to give myself a set time that I sit down at the computer with my coffee, work through my emails and read all the trades. What is the first thing you do when you start work each day? We have one designated ‘on-camera workspace,’ which is in front of the carefully curated bookshelf with the good lighting, and otherwise I switch between working outside on the patio and a cosy corner of my living room. ReFrame has a beautiful office in the Women In Film offices I can’t wait to get in there and share real-life space with my team. I started this role in early 2021, so have had a completely pandemic-era employment experience so far, working from home in the studio I share with my wife in Eagle Rock, and spending lots of Zoom time with my colleagues. Mirza was previously the executive director of Toronto LGBTQ+ festival Inside Out and the International LGBTQ Film Financing Forum. She shares her writing at jensoriano.Los Angeles-based Andria Wilson Mirza is the director of ReFrame, a gender equality initiative that aims to mitigate bias during the creative decision-making and hiring process, celebrate successes, and measure progress in the film industry.įounded by Women in Film LA and the Sundance Institute in 2017, ReFrame’s key programmes include the ReFrame Stamp, which is given to productions that demonstrate gender-balanced hiring practices. In addition to being a mom and communications strategist for social justice, Jen is also an essayist and fiction writer. The Center for Media Justice has helped build a nationwide grassroots movement for digital equity, and has been instrumental in mobilizing leaders from communities of color to secure Net Neutrality and defend civil liberties in the face of unprecedented digital surveillance. In 2002, Jen co-founded the Center for Media Justice in Oakland, CA along with CMJ’s Executive Director Malkia Cyril. Initially incubated by the Center for Story-Based Strategy, ReFrame is now an independent project that develops the next generation of social justice communicators. Jen is a co-founder and programming co-director of the ReFrame Mentorship Program along with Director Joseph Phelan. In this role, Jen helped design and launch RoadMap’s Weathering the Storms crisis preparedness and response project and now leads its communications arm. Jen joined the RoadMap Consulting Network in 2011 as its strategic communications coordinator. Through her consultancy Lionswrite Communications, Jen has strengthened the effectiveness of dozens of environmental, immigrant rights, racial justice and workers’ rights organizations at the local, national and international levels. Jen Soriano is a leader in the field of progressive communications, with more than 17 years of experience building the persuasive power of social justice groups across the country.