I met Laura when she was a waitress and a real estate agent,
but have known her through many of her other careers as well. I remember when she took her
first class in film making (and was honored to be in her first 5 minute film
called The Party). I could see then that this was something that sparked a
great interest and am happy to see that she’s run with it. She's got smarts, drive, and an amazing laugh. Keep reading to learn more about how she got into her career.
The cast of The Party
1. What do you do?
Television Producer.
2. Why did you choose to do this? Have
you always wanted to do this? Did you fall into this career or actively take
steps to get here? Did you choose it or did it choose you?
I have always wanted to work in the television industry, but it always seemed
like the kind of fun job that was meant for lucky people, not really a job-job
for an ordinary person like myself.
About ten years ago I decided to pursue television production anyway, knowing
nothing about the industry or how to get started.
3. What did you need to do to get here?
Did you go to school? If so, was your degree related to what you are doing? Did
you do something like an internship or work your way up for years? Did you take
advantage of things like Informational Interviewing with those in the field?
Public Access television offers very inexpensive classes to learn hands-on use
of cameras and edit systems and access to equipment I couldn't afford. This is
how I got my start.
I tried a couple of college programs, but they just didn't offer what I wanted
or needed as far as curriculum; and the classes were time consuming and the
tuition costs were crippling.
I've figured out that not having a degree has not held me back one tiny bit. It
is my experience and actual work that potential employers are interested in. I
started making my own videos through public access and was offered a job at
Minneapolis Television Network, without even applying, based on the quality of
my work. How great is that?
Shooting
for Minneapolis Television Network covering "she rock festival".
4. What would you do if you weren't doing what you are? Would you do this out of necessity, because you happen to
have the skill sets, or because it is your dream job?
Someday I would like to pursue the world of filmmaking maybe as a Director or
Director of Photography, who knows? The skills I have gained in television
translate seamlessly to the film world.
So far I have been able to explore the Minneapolis film scene as an Assistant
Director on a comedy series, as an Extra on a few projects and a Casting Manager.
I love being on a film set. I love the actors, the crew, the energy.
On
set of "through dark glass" as an extra
5. If you could create a job description
of what you are doing what would it be?
A little of everything...producing, shooting, editing, directing and running
crews and hauling equipment. I teach classes, worked in the Programming
Department, attend meetings, work with clients, community outreach... stay
current and up-to-date on new technologies.
I like the work I do as it is never boring! Its full of variety and it has
given me the opportunity to challenge myself and be successful. Most of all, I
get to meet lots of super interesting and fabulous people that I would have
never ordinarily known.
On
set of "customer service" as assistant director
6. Tell me a little about previous jobs
you've had and if you have a degree/schooling in something that isn't related
to what you are doing now how did you make that jump?
Cook, Waitress, Cashier, Portrait Studio Photographer, Real Estate Agent,
Property Management, Video Production, Data Manager, Office Temp, Barista, Taxi
Driver, and many, many more jobs.
Before I made the final leap to Television Production, I was working as a Data
Manager at a statistics company. I loved my boss Michael and the evaluators,
who were always trusting me with interesting and challenging projects. Statistics
was the first job that I ever really loved, but after three years, I needed to
move on to my dream job in television.
Shooting
the "polar plunge" for the north star roller girls
7. If someone was interested in getting
into your profession what words of advice would you give them?
Skip the college/degree route, but take some classes to get started, then work
your butt off! You can do this without quitting your job.
Be around people who are really good at what they do...people of talent are
natural teachers because they are passionate about what they do. The best
teachers are found in the field, not in the classroom.
... be willing to make tons and tons of mistakes, because that's how you really
learn. Own your failures, wear them like a badge of honor.
Always be learning. Always be teaching. Love your life!
Thank you Laura for sharing your story!
One of the things I love about Laura's journey is that dipped her toes into a variety of careers. I'm not sure how much she loved trying all of them, but I think the fact that she gave them a try to see if they were a good fit has something to be said about it. Too often we don't even try something new. Perhaps we're too scare to make the change or have no idea how to make the jump, but sometimes these jumps can pay off in the end. To watch some of Laura's work click here.
Want to know more about this series? Click here. Want to participate? Email me: e.j.davis (at) comcast (dot) net.
Jesse and I used to go camping more often. Actually, we used to vacation more often, but now that we have a kid vacations and camping are much more challenging. Luckily, Riley is at that age that we feel braver going somewhere for a couple days. As you might recall we attempted camping a few weeks ago with mixed success. It sucked at first, but then became ok. That trip taught us a few things... such as the need to have a reliable (non-leaking) tent and after a lot of research (on Jesse's part) we settled on a new Marmot. Jesse found a deal on a floor model and ordered it right away. It came damaged as did the second one they sent out. Finally, they sent us a brand new tent which arrived 2 days before our departure date to Gooseberry Falls along the North Shore in MN.
Once again, I've posted a ton of pictures and probably put together far too long of a post, but I hope it's worth reading through to the end... especially since I think this trip turned out far better than the last one even with a few hiccups.
Riley's first view of lake Superior as we drove into Duluth.
I worked until 3 pm on Thursday, but really should have taken a half day so that we could get to our camping spot and enjoy it while it was still light. We made good time, but still needed to stop for some food in Two Harbors. Remarkably I made it all that way without having to stop to use the bathroom (that's 3 hours people). This is truly a miracle for me. A MIRACLE!
We stopped at Subway where I thought I might end up in a brawl with a littering, smoking teenage girl, but instead Riley walked away with 41 cents when a nice lady dropped some money and let Riley have it if she'd help pick it up. Oh, the teenage girl? She was outside smoking and threw garbage out her car window. Apparently, my adult mom face with raised eyebrows came out when I saw her blatantly littering. I don't think she liked what my face was telling her and gave me a dirty look back and then had her friend check me out. It was weird. I felt like I was 14 again and was about to get into a fight at the end of an alley. Not that something like that ever happened to me when I was 14, although I was challenged once. Let's just say I think fighting is dumb and just walked away. At any rate, before we left Subway teenage girl came inside to talk to one of her friends who worked there and continued to give me an incredibly snotty look. I wanted to say "look, little girl, you don't want to mess with me. I've got the law on my side and littering incurs a fine!" That would have told her.
Riley was also surprisingly good in the car. She's been known to completely
break down after 20 minutes or so which has kept us from making road
trips in the past. Between her higher tolerance for the car and her
ability to play with the iPad taking a trip of 3+ hours is now
apparently doable.
We finally made it to the Gooseberry Falls campground around 7:30 - 8:00 pm. We were taking a huge risk because all of the sites that could be reserved were taken. They had a ton of drive in sites and the hope was that since we came in on Thursday there would be plenty to choose from. We did not take into account the people who camp for a week or more - the kind that bring their entire household, bikes, flags even... We found one last spot next to the bathroom (yes!), but it was only open that night.
Our other issue was the weather. We knew there would be some rain which we weren't too worried about, but it was also going to get cold. As in 35 degrees cold. Jesse and I knew we could handle it, but we were worried about Riley. We made a backup plan to make sure there where hotel rooms available nearby. We luckily got the tent all set up just as it got dark. It was already chilly at this time, but I was hopeful that we were prepared for the night even if I was bummed that we made it here so late.
All bundled up watching a little "Woody Buzz" aka Toy Story 2 while holding my hand.
Riley is not a huge fan of blankets. She has a small, light one at home that usually sits off to the side of her in bed, but she always grabs one when she wants to play sleep. I was hoping that if she was cold she'd have no problem using one. She initially let us cover her up, but later was a different story. When we finally turned the DVD off I let her snuggle in my super warm hiking sleeping bag. My sleeping bag is clearly contoured to hold one person. Luckily, I'm a little on the claustrophobic side and bought a more spacious bag so I was able to squeeze her in it. Two hours later I woke with her feet in my face. She had moved up out of the bag with her butt in the air and her head up against the side of the tent. I moved her to the pad in the middle of Jesse and I and she was fine... until I attempted to put a blanket on her. It was really cold and that blanket was really needed, but Riley wasn't having it. Perhaps she has a bit of claustrophobia as well (the blanket was heavier than she's used to). Perhaps she just likes to feel free. She just wasn't having the blanket. At all. As in she started blood curdling screaming at 11:15.
After feeding her Goldfish pretzels (the only thing that seemed to calm her down) she fell back asleep only to wake up screaming again a couple hours later. This kid REFUSED to be covered by a blanket and I am sure was FREEZING. She freaked out when we'd try and put the blanket on her. She'd freak out when we even reached in her direction (I'm sure she thought we were trying to put the blanket on her). We decided to pack up much of our stuff and head into Two Harbors to find a room at 2:00 am.
Luckily, the Country Inn had a spot for us. We settled into our room, but Riley started crying heavily again. I'm sure it was because she was absolutely exhausted. Beyond tired. I agreed to allow her to watch some Toy Story until she calmed down. Then Jesse made her turn it off and she flipped out again. I'm guessing the guests next door were probably cursing our names. I probably would be.
Riley allowed me to pick her up without freaking out too much more. So there I stood with one hand under her butt, one hand on her back and rocking back and forth with her almost 30 pounds. I did this for a long time. She eased into me, but didn't fully let go. I had to adjust her, to change hands... but I didn't dare put her down. I was determined to do this until she fell asleep as I feared she'd start crying if I tried to put her down. The bouncing while standing thing brought me right back to when she was a colicky baby. Only this time she weighs 3 times as much. And even though it felt like I was rocking her for hours it was probably only 20 - 30 minutes (as opposed to hours when she was a baby). At some point I had to sit down and eventually, I let myself fall and twist into bed between two pillows we propped on the sides for safety. She fell asleep on my chest and eventually rolled off of me. And after being kicked a few times I made my way to the other bed with my sleeping husband. I vaguely recall the clock saying 3:40.
We all slept in although it really wasn't enough to make up for the interrupted sleep. We were going to go out to eat breakfast, but after smacking down an insane amount of money for a half night of a hotel we decided to opt into the continental breakfast. This was the second lame food choice we would make this trip and certainly not the last.
After breakfast we headed out to Gooseberry Falls to gather our tent and remaining belongings, and to check out the falls - one of our main reasons for coming. Before we got into the car, though, Riley ran over to the free mini golf area provided by the hotel. It was in rather poor shape and was littered with garbage, but I thought it was a nice idea to have for guests. And if the conditions were different I would have liked to play.
It was sort of sad that we didn't really get to camp, but I know this is a good tent that will last us years to come so there will be many more trips. We didn't get to spend much time at the campground, but I would recommend it to others. The sites were private and the bathrooms clean.
After the tent was packed up we headed down to the Falls. I wasn't sure what to expect for water flow. Earlier this year there was a lot of flooding in Duluth and the surrounding area. Another state park is actually closed due to significant damage. But recently it's been rather dry and it turns out that was evident here. There is an upper falls and a lower falls and we initially thought we walked to the wrong one since the water flow was so light.
There should be water flowing down behind us.
I am pretty sure this is the most photographed child in the world.
Jesse and I went camping over Memorial Day weekend in 2006 and stopped at Gooseberry Falls then. It was my first time there so it was worth the stop even though there were a gazillion people there as well. We took a picture that day (below) that amazingly did not include any other people in it. Check out the water flow - multiple water falls even!
Fast forward 6+ years where we decided to replicate the picture, but this time with Riley. It probably would have helped if we had the original picture with us so we knew where to stand. I have to admit we were a little confused as to if we were even in the right area since the water falls were, well missing for the most part. And even though it wasn't nearly as busy we still have several people in the background. I might have to go back in and Photoshop them out. At any rate, it was still a fun photo to capture and to have Riley be in it with us.
Throwing rocks off a bridge
One of the highlights of this trip for Riley was going through tunnels. Riley is quite the fan and was quite delighted each time she saw one of these. There are two of these tunnels through rock between Gooseberry Falls and Two Harbors (and then 4 in Duluth).
After the Falls we stopped at Betty's Pies for lunch (and pie, of course) and then took a nap back at the hotel. It turns out the hotel was full for Friday, but they were able to switch some things around so we could stay (and stay in the same room).
Friday night I was looking forward to eating out (even if the camping thing worked out). We headed into Duluth and went down to Canal Park. It's a touristy part of town with restaurants, hotels, shops, the lift bridge, etc. I was hoping for a good meal and a glass of wine. Instead, we settled on splitting a sandwich and salad due to busy restaurants and an antsy child. I drank water. (But I made up for it Saturday after I arrived home.)
After dinner, we headed over to the water. First, to throw rocks in the water. And then to walk down the pier to the old lighthouse.
It's hard to imagine that the last time I was here Riley was actually in my belly. Hard to imagine that she ever fit in there. I was 7 months along, celebrating Jesse's birthday, and quite uncomfortable as I was having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions.
We watched the lift bridge go up and down a couple times for boats. One was a significant size boat with a significantly loud horn. It startled Riley and she proceeded to say "I want to go home" on repeat until we finally got her calmed down. Then she let us know that the horn "scared me". In fact, since then she continues to let me know that the horn scared her. It seems she just recently started to understand the concept of being scared as she is using it quite a bit these days.
Distraction is often the key when our kid gets upset and Jesse stepped up to the plate.
Saturday morning we skipped the continental breakfast and checked out the Vanilla Bean Cafe. It was good. Not great, but certainly better than the hotel food. We walked around town a little, but most places were still closed. There was an art festival of sorts, but even they were just getting set up. It was far too cold to continue wandering around so we went back to the hotel to pack up.
Before we headed back home we had to make one more stop. Kitchi Gammi state park is a favorite of Jesse's and he was excited to show it to Riley. The North Shore is really a great place for a kid who likes to throw rocks into the water since the shore line is nothing but rocks. We probably could have spent the entire day here. As it was I think we spent a couple hours throwing rocks in the water or crawling over the larger rocks.
We kept piling rocks up next to her, but after awhile she wanted to get them herself. At first she grabbed what was close, but then started exploring and carrying her rock bounty back to her main throwing rock platform.
Rock jumping was also a favorite thing to do this day.
After the birds were gone we walked across this area. Riley reach down to grab what she thought was a rock. It was fresh bird poop. Luckily there was a lot of water around to wash her hands in.
Since we replicated the photo at the Falls we decided to add to another photo collection of ours. It all started when we snowshoed Tettegouche in January of 2006 and took a picture of our feet. Then on our honeymoon in St John, USVI we took another foot photo. This one was a bit more difficult because toddlers aren't great at taking direction, but I think we still got a picture worth keeping.
(Jesse has a better picture of this, but this one will have to do.)
All in all it was a successful trip. The thing I most loved was that we were always together and present. There weren't multiple rooms to escape to (like our house), no computers to waste time on (ok, I had my iPad that I checked in brief moments while at the hotel), no work to worry about... just lots of each other. And all that getting in touch with nature helped too. Plus, since Riley did so well in the car I think we might be brave enough to drive 4.5 hours to Grand Marais next year. I can't wait!
It wasn't exactly the first thing I saw that morning, but the first thing I saw once I checked the prompt for the day. And it was pretty early yet. Good morning, Dragonfly.
9/16
Strange
We decided to check out a park that we don't normally go to. It's near the favored 'orange' park so it often get passed up, but it's a toddler park so it's the perfect size for Riley. Going to this park was strange enough, but there was this large, gangly tree nearby that warranted a strange title as well.
9/17
In my fridge
Apparently, I not only like red, but I like red food. We always have Pink Lady apples in the fridge, but also love our strawberries and grapes. We usually do a mix of organic and non-organic food. We'd love to do all organic, but just can't afford to do so. These strawberries don't appear to be organic which is weird because we started buying only organic strawberries after reading they are one of the worst carriers of pesticides.
9/18
Price
We were planning for a camping trip and the weather was looking a little chilly. I ran out and got Riley a new hat and found some sturdy looking gloves for playing in the snow once it starts hitting the ground. So glad I got the hat because she needed it. (I'll write more about our trip in another post).
9/19
Underneath
Quite a while ago I wrote that it was time to get rid of the highchair. And that we did - I just hadn't written about it yet. We found this one on Target.com and it's a perfect fit for our kid and our chair. So easy to clean up too. And Riley loves to be able to sit at the table like a big girl.
9/20
Man-made
Our new tent from the inside! We were surrounded by a lot of nature made things so the man made things stood out more than usual. Here we pretty much just got settled into camp after getting a late start heading out to the North Shore (again, more on that in an upcoming post).
9/21
Sometimes
Sometimes we play hide-n-seek (which is what was happening here). Sometimes we are super happy. Sometimes we are cold. Sometimes we wear red and pick together. But never before have we all been to Duluth together (unless when you count when I was 7 months pregnant and having a ton of Braxton Hicks contractions in this very spot). I look forward to many more of these trips together.
