What is your name, age, and location?
Melissa Silverstein, 43, Brooklyn, NY.
What is your profession?
Founder, Women & Hollywood. Co-founder and producer of Athena Film Festival.
What did you study in school and what degrees do you have?
I studied American Studies as an undergraduate and have a MFA in theatre management.
What was your first job?
My first first job was at a pizza parlor. My first real job after graduate school was working for a Broadway theatre owner. But I also had many internships while I was an undergrad and a graduate student.
Who or what inspired you to break into your current line of work?
I had started to work online and discovered blogging and realized that I could combine my two passions in that area, feminism and entertainment so I just decided one day to go for it and now it’s been three years.
Name/describe what has been your most rewarding project so far?
It’s not one project per se that has been so rewarding. What’s been so amazing to realize is that Women & Hollywood inspires women to keep going in the business and has created a place for people to communicate about issues that are important to them.
Name/describe one incident when being a woman has helped your career?
I couldn’t write what I do the way I do if I wasn’t a woman.
Name/describe one incident when being a woman has hindered your career?
I think that because my site is about women it will always be a niche site. Earlier in my career I was treated with blatant sexism and not given promotions just because I was a woman.
Who is your role model or mentor (alive or dead)?
I have always admired director Jane Campion for her unabashed feminist vision in film. I have admired Barbra Streisand for what she has accomplished in her career. I have admired Gloria Steinem for her consistent ability to stay on message and for always standing up for women.
If you could give one piece of advice to a woman starting out in your field, what would it be?
Be fearless, trust your voice, believe in yourself and don’t give up.
Links:
– Interview by Elena Rossini
