“The Empowerment Project” Documentary Crew Hits Los Angeles!

Hey GirlTalkHQ readers! This is Sarah Moshman, Director of “The Empowerment Project” and ringleader of this amazing all female crew about to embark on a journey of a lifetime. How do I know it’s going to be so epic? Well the 5 of us (Me, Dana, Alana, Ashley and Vanessa) just spent the last 3 days together completing our LA shoot days before we depart and let me tell you – this has already been such an empowering experience!

Tuesday night (Aug 27) we all met up for the first time at my place and ate some delicious hor d’oeuvres made by my super supportive new husband Ryan as we chatted about equipment, camera housing, all being stuck in one car for a month and the inspirational women we plan to meet along the way. Asha K joined us as well to witness the start of something truly special. We all wore pink sparkly heart crowns in fact to commemorate the occasion the way girls do!

Wednesday (Aug 28) we had our first official shoot day and had the pleasure of interviewing Ami Radunskaya, a mathematician that teaches at Pomona College in Claremont, CA. She taught us that math is everywhere – and it is the foundation of so many incredible things in life. She also compared math to music, which I thought was fascinating! She is an accomplished cello player and she played for us an improvised song and it was delightful.
She told us about how she didn’t have any female role models in math growing up and the struggles she faced along her journey. She clued us in to the point at which girls in middle school often get discouraged from continuing in math, something that needs to change to advance women in mathematics across the board. She was an excellent first person to interview as our crew got used to working together, using the gear and
understanding what this project really can be.

Thursday (Aug 29) was a big day for our crew! We interviewed the television powerhouse Ellen Rakieten who helped create “The Oprah Winfrey Show” back in its inception in 1986. I was pretty nervous going into her interview, with one goal in mind – to impress Ellen with our project, our crew, and our professionalism.
And I know we did that by the end of the day with her which makes me very proud. Ellen’s interview was captivating. She told us about how hard she worked during the 23 years she led “The Oprah Show” and today as she leads her own production company – Ellen Rakieten Entertainment. She told us about all the incredible people she has met and all the lives she has impacted through that prolific show. When I asked her if she ever felt like she had to sacrifice anything to maintain her success, she responded very honestly that no she has not. I admire her tenacity, her drive, her passion and how aware that some people are born to do something in life and for her – producing television is her comfort zone that she excels at tremendously. What an honor and a privilege to sit down and talk with someone like that!

We also had our first mentee that day – Rocio Ortega. She is an incredibly accomplished young woman and I think she learned a lot hanging out with us on set.

Friday (Aug 30), our last shoot day in LA was really fun in that we got to interview each other to get to know one another. We set up for the documentary exactly why each of us wants to be a part of this crew at this point in our lives.  Our mentee for the day was this lovely young lady named Rachel who was very articulate about her feelings about women in the media and how they are portrayed. I think she enjoyed observing us for the day and it was fun to have her around.
During my interview I got pretty emotional talking about why this project means to much to me, and so did Dana – my partner in crime! It has been a long road of planning, casting and fundraising up until this point so now we get to live the dream in all of its glory. It was a powerful day just being reminded of how special this scenario is to all of us and how excited we all are to go on the road.
I was excited for the journey earlier this week but now that I know the other 4 women joining me even better I am 10 times more excited to go! I learned so much about them in interview and now I can’t wait to learn more!

30 days. 10 inspirational women. 5 female filmmakers. 1 dream. The journey begins Tuesday Sept 3rd when we head to San Francisco, stay tuned!