Write Your Own Story /// Natalie Christensen /// EP135:Part 1

More In Common

“My goal is not to feel like a good person, my goal is to make sure they're okay right now.” - Natalie Christensen

The power of investing in yourself and your identity is truly powerful.

But do you know how powerful it can be?

Our guest Natalie Christensen demonstrates this power in her chosen domain of film. As a film creator she reimagines ways in which she can implement characters of diversity not typical of their common stereotyped characters. But rather give them a role that redefines the way we previously viewed them. As a woman of mixed ethnicity, Natalie demonstrates the power of identity through her compassion and desire to share her love of film. As for the wider audience, the call for change and creativity to be brought in the world is something that calls for a listen.

Today we are with Natalie Christensen. Natalie is a second-year film production student in the School of Film and Television at Loyola Marymount University.

Her films and screenplays have won and been selected in festivals and screenplay competitions across the United States.

Along with her film, she has been a pianist for fourteen years, and produces music scores as well as solo work. In 2020 she released her sophomore album "Accidental Wine" under the artist name Renaissance Woman.

She is also an activist who organized and created a protest group in 2020 called Henrico Justice in her county in Virginia, which held three successful protests until she returned to school. More recently, she planned a Black-Asian Solidarity March in Los Angeles and formed an API Student Coalition at her university.

Her art focuses around pressing issues in the world today, and stories she believes can change the world for the better.

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Topics we discuss:

• Compassion
• Defining difficult conversations
• "Making others feel a certain way"
• Emotional IQ
• Directing
• Being a leader and being vulnerable
• Vulnerability
• Racism…not just teaching white people
  • Mixed Race
  • Internalized Racism
• Her experience with racism
• Dynamics of API and the monolith of API

References:

• Her Movie
• Non-Violent Communication (Book)
• Takada Rooks' episode with M.I.C.
• Episode with Dr. Grant
• Green Book (Movie)
• Perspective Readers
• Model Minority