Please share more about your heritage.

I share a blended heritage between my Mexican mother and my Haitian father. Within the context of a hyperlocal life, my other heritage involves this hot, muggy suburban-ish life with a heaping amount of Catholic School banality.

When did you decide on this career, and why? Was there a movie that inspired you?

There's a lot to it, ha--

In 7th grade we had an English assignment to make a group horror story and we decided to film a movie (something about a serial killer girl in a girl-friend group). We rotated between the different roles, so I had a hand in acting (can't remember lines to save my life), directing (have a hard time making choices), and writing. All of them felt like work to me, until the end of the day I used two VCRs to put the scenes together. It was technically reel-to-reel editing, and I loved it. I felt especially proud showing it to my class (even though I had a lot of gaps between scenes lol). So I've wanted a career as an editor since I was 12 or 13.

In high school I had an English teacher as a wonderful mentor who gave me a safe space to learn filmmaking and learn to write scripts. I also credit my mom for pushing me to apply to HS film workshops and eventually filmschool, while my oldest sister gave me access to lots of Entertainment Weekly magazines (RIP). Also— my middle sister helped me to appreciate cultures outside my own with anime, and my dad was just always a guy who had really great taste in music.

Within my family, I was a pretty shy kid. We were big TV watchers so I had a lot of exposure to almost every type of sitcom that was out in the 90-00s, so I've always wanted to be the one making episodics because I love the storytelling of the TV craft.

Please share why this opportunity is essential to you. Please list 2 or 3 obstacles you keep facing to achieve your goals.

Where do you want to be as a professional editor in the next 3-5 years?

I'd like to be able to hire an agent or manager in the future. I realize that I do feel more capable and confident in interviewing for jobs, but I really hold myself back when it comes to asking for more money. A few years, I realized that my rates for short films/projects were still at "hobby" level-- a few hundred bucks and generous friend discounts-- and learning what I should regularly earn has definitely taught me that I can do better if negotiation is done on my behalf instead of just by myself (this is obviously why I love unions).

Besides that, I'd like to see myself either

a) full-time editing on indie shorts/long forms to gain my reputation in the indie circuit, or

b) working closely and consistently with other editors on TV shows (as AE or editor).

Ultimately I want to keep following my intuition (and hopefully my expanded professional network), so if things don't go exactly to those plans, I can still go with the flow with what shows up for me in 3-5 years.

What challenges and opportunities have you faced as an editor.
When I see films and shows like I Saw the TV Glow, The Silent Twins, Rotting in the Sun, PEN15, This Fool, Reservation Dogs, etc, I can really see myself being able to work with these kinds of filmmakers, but I don't think I stand much of a chance without an agent or manager right now (that in itself feels like that's 6-8 years away).

When I went to film school, I let myself hide my imagination behind other people and projects. I very much had imposter syndrome, but it took a lot to unlearn that (and unhelpful people-pleasing), and now I feel ready to bring out more of my creative personality to people. Now in my 30s, I’ve become more proud of what I do and how I do it.

I think my natural desire to make great things with people is still there (and it's what makes me a good editor), but I want it to be with people who know how to trust me with their vision.

What types of projects (fiction or documentary) have you worked on, and how have they shaped your approach as an editor?

I think editors who started in reality TV and later get into docs and narrative are amazing people. We're tasked with taking a story and working with it from all its angles, sometimes completely changing the linearity, and if things call for more granular detail work, we can see the scraps for how helpful they can be. So when I started work in reality after college, I really took advantage of getting to explore a different format than what film-school traditionally called for.

My favorite types of story work is the kind that feels like an essay that you're shifting around like paragraphs in an essay, and this was a turning point for me to know that people could trust that I could do that competently and even beautifully.

So for a few years I worked in post production on an obscure Cooking Channel show, then Bravo, then a true crime docu-series, a little bit of stand-up, etc. I was constantly learning new things and kept cutting my teeth on different types of stories until I was connected through a friend to work on union narrative projects.

I've learned a lot from an editor I worked with for about 3 years, Alec Smight. He still has the same excitement for the craft as I do and so we've always been a great fit. I do look up to him not only for his experience, but his patience and eagerness to work with younger editors so that they can be ready for the edit chair. I've felt really lucky to be able to work with him because he's helped me with being able to say that I'm editor with all of my chest. He's possibly my biggest influence in why I've still wanted to stay in television. He and I have totally different backgrounds but he's helped me visualize the possibility of being as much of a happy and seasoned editor as he is.

Since then I've felt more confident that I belong in this realm, and I've had more experience crafting my own process as an editor.

Not only that, but being in a union really changed my views on my own self-worth and has helped me to recognize when the work environments are not conducive to making a good piece of media.

What specific skills or areas of editing do you want to improve? (e.g., storytelling, technical expertise, creative collaboration)

I'd like to improve my creative collaboration with people, not only with directors/writers/showrunners/etc, but also with fellow editors and assistant editors. I think sometimes it's still hard to speak up when there's an idea I want to present or explore.

In terms of editing teams, I still feel too green when it comes to asking for help in the form of having my own assistant editor. I feel like I'm still developing the process in terms of what I need and what I prefer in an assistant's work.

I feel like I've really improved my ability to receive constructive criticism in the last few years, but I do think I want to work on the give-and-take between different editors. For me, it's just as important to be able to work with people in lateral positions as it is to work vertically.

Finally, I want to give myself grace as I learn to acknowledge and work on other shortcomings that I may need pointed out.

What editing software do you primarily use?

I use both Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro. Very rough knowledge of Davinci Resolve.