The Midwest Chapter of AICP unveiled its first Women’s Forum on May 21 at Optimus.
The networking event for AICP members connected junior creatives and producers in the industry with their more senior or executive level counterparts.
The Women’s Forum was initially launched by AICP’s East Chapter, and has also been held in L.A., hosted by AICP West. Both events were led by East Chapter President Gloria Pitagorsky of Heard City and West Chapter President Yvette Cobarrubias of Cosmo Street.
Headlining the Midwest Women’s Forum was Chapter President Lisa Masseur, Founder and EP of Tessa Films, and Sheila R. Brown, AICP’s VP, Equity & Inclusion. In bringing the event to the Midwest Chapter, their goal was to continue to serve AICP members while providing an opportunity for women at varying stages of their careers to develop contacts and uncover mentorship opportunities.
“This is what AICP does for its members, beyond the business practices, contracts and guidelines,” says Masseur. “It’s providing a platform for professional growth, and finding ways for our members in our production and post community to grow their careers and to flourish in what’s become a challenging and fast-changing environment.”
The event kicked off with comments from Masseur and Brown, then broke into small group discussions led by a variety of local production and post leaders. The groups then swapped tables every ten to twelve minutes, creating a ‘speed networking’ style that created lively conversations and rapid exchanges of ideas, suggestions and contact info.
“The idea is that the juniors leave with between 50 to 75 new industry contacts by the end of the evening,” said Masseur.
The list of discussion leaders:
- Tracey Khan, Managing Director, Indigo Goodbit
- Heather Richardson, Executive Producer, Cutters Studios
- Jenny Schaye, Editor, Optimus
- Laurie Adrianopoli, Freelance EP
- Jenny Lumpkin, Global Director of Production, Laird and Good Company
- Ariana Ziae-Mohensi, CG Lead, Framestore
- Kat Pryor, Senior Editor, Utopic.
The event was open to AICP members and their freelance production and post production guests. The evening wrapped up with a raffle and closing remarks.
photo credit: M. Lamourt
