A couple weeks ago I went to a seminar with a line-up film industry professionals on the panel.

The whole experience was cathartic because I released a few deeply ingrained fears through listening. Funny thing, I almost didn’t go because the organization which hosted it is a little intimidating to me as a filmmaker.

But, I’m working through that.

Anyway while producing my last short film (which I paused on), I worked with producers to further understand what we needed to hire and discovered that was – union actors. As they turned out to be the best ones we auditioned.

Unfortunately my content proved ‘uncomfortable,’ for many. There is still alot of shame in this country concerning LGBT affiliation, and the actual LGBT community tends to be highly skeptical if you’re not one of them speaking on one of them (as a filmmaker). Then, I threw in fundraising…

The producers and I soon came to the conclusion that people would watch it, explore the issues via a story, quietly as an onlooker, but they didn’t want to be called on to figure out whether they’d support LGBT issues or if they were in support of the LGBT issue touched upon in the film I was fundraising for.

Soooo Kickstarter was a nightmare. But my God….the learning curve about this society we live in!!

Anyway, LGBT individuals are still likely to incur gobs of discrimination in certain situations. Still. There is the sea of bias which still exists due to miseducation and a tendency to cling onto old narratives within external communities.

And I just don’t want to shrink from addressing what I see. I was raised to be respectful and to be gracious as a woman, but also strong and capable of discussing difficult issues.

In film school, I tended to be much more on the nose about it.

Now, I bury and aim to ‘bring the experience,’ to an audience.

However as I made efforts to produce the film, I realized that, my experience resonates with some, while others would like to put it to rest.

As an artist, I need the ones with whom my work resonates.

So I was happier than happy to find one such person, on that panel.

She began speaking on problems for a person of color, then a woman in our industry, speaking about the specificity of issues for that combination in a leader, and about the alienation one attracts being both.

I thought….wow…

So I approached her, soon as I could, beginning a discussion. And she was very open.

One of the things she said to me? “You need to start looking for your tribe. Find your tribe.”

And I knew what she meant instantly.

Those interested in a discourse beyond the basic, who are committed to furthering it by supporting others as well as inviting support, who are interested in building a voice that speaks to the collective experience.

Together with them, each individual’s contribution valuable, a furthering of women, people of color, LGBT, the conscious, can happen on a national and global scale.

So I know my tribe.

And I do need to find them, everywhere. In collaborators. In viewers. In friendships. In love. In life…