The MFJS Reporter — Winter 2020 T-R

Manda Wittebort has dedicated her life’s work to humanitarian efforts and volunteering to ensure that students and youth have support they may be lacking and are better set up to thrive in society. Wittebort worked to broaden her perspective on youth issues locally, nationally, and globally.

Wittebort studied at Rollins College for her undergraduate degree in Developmental Psychology. It is during this time that she found a sense of belonging and purpose within the humanitarian and youth support sectors. 

During Wittebort’s time in college, she began volunteering for JUMP or “Join us in making progress” as well as the organization, “Give kids the world.” These programs pushed Wittebort out of the ‘Rollins College bubble’ and enabled her to understand the world around her a little bit better.

“We were a group that had different issue areas—I had chosen youth and families, there was also health and environment, youth and homelessness. We would plan monthly service events for all of campus, throughout the Orlando area,” said Wittebort.

Mornings are early, nights can be even later. Sometimes its vice versa. One day on set, another one in the office. Piles of scripts, files of rough cuts; hours of reading, editing, analyzing and by that time your sipping a fourth cup of coffee. Likely even a fifth. Off the phone to be on it again. Hours of research, meetings, people managing and teamwork. Finding the resources, financing the ideas and bringing to life the story that’s never been told.

And this is just some of the magic that goes into film and television production.  

If you’ve ever watched television, there’s a good chance you have seen the work of Kelly Conway, a commercial wardrobe stylist with nearly 30 years of industry experience. Her job requires a broad range of skills including a deep understanding of fabrics, patterns, and tactical skills as well as sewing, drawing, and a strong sense of style. 

Kelly Conway’s work routine includes a plethora of different tasks and responsibilities. On an average day you might find her meeting with clients about wardrobe requests, tailoring costumes on set, or shopping for fabrics in Downtown Los Angeles. As a veteran stylist, Conway knows how to execute and exceed the desired aesthetics of her clients. 

[DENVER] With developments in digital technology people today can now take high-quality photos with minimal expertise. This shift in photography has made aspiring photographers doubt the viability of photography as a career.

Careers in photography have many different avenues ranging from wedding photographers to documentary photojournalists. The average photographer makes between $51,793 to $733,651 a year, but finding a reliable job in photography is becoming harder with each iPhone update. 

There are no routine days for Minneapolis based documentary film maker and Emmy Award recipient Norah Shapiro. Some days she could be out and about in the city, trying to find a story to cover, while the next day she could be flying with a nationally recognized politician to film a caucus or a speech. Basically, Shapiro lives a hectic, but extremely exciting life, but nobody ever said it was easy.

Greenwood Village – Monday mornings are hard! But, attending The Fab Methods 9:15 a.m. advanced Pilates class with instructor Kadi Bain turns my mundane Monday routine into a physically challenging and adrenaline pumping start to the busy week ahead. 

It’s sunny and bright in Los Angeles, the mountains are glowing, and the hills are shining. Across the country, it’s gray and cool in New York City, the lights are flashing, and the streets are booming. For Screenwriter Allan Loeb, he gets the best of both worlds, living half the time in each city. Screenwriting isn’t a typical nine-to-five office job, in fact, it’s just the opposite. 

At 35, Allan Loeb sold his first script in 2004 for his drama-infused film, “The Only Living Boy in New York”.  Since then, Loeb has built up a successful career as the writer of many different films like “Just Go with It”, “Here Comes the Boom”, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”, “21”, and “Collateral Beauty”. 

It’s 8 am on a Tuesday, and Kareem El Damanhoury has just arrived at the University of Denver to prepare for his 10 am Politics and Media class. He checks his slides, makes sure everything is up to speed, and adds anything he feels is necessary.

As you turn on the radio in Denver, Colorado you might hear a familiar voice on the airways talking about the Broncos game of even introducing the next classic rock song on cue. 

Whether on your commute home or in the car trying to catch the score of the game, Susie Wargin in the voice that thousands in the area recognize, or even call a friend. 

“When I hear from people that are like ‘oh my gosh, I love listening to you! I fell like I know you’ when I get that I’m like, I resonating on a different level with people,” Wargin stated.

Nestled in the broadcast booth on the top floor of the Pepsi Center is Ted Jenner’s second home. The Colorado Mammoth professional lacrosse team and their opponent are on the floor below warming up for their 7:30 p.m. game. While the music plays and the players shoot around, Ted Jenner prepares his hits for the broadcast presentation of the game.

Entrepreneurship is much more than a difficult word to say, and it comes in a variety of different forms. In the media today notable entrepreneurs such as Andrew Yang and Elon Musk grace headlines, but what makes an entrepreneur? The truth is that there is no standard for path on how to become an entrepreneur. For Phil McCarthy, the entrepreneurial spirit is part of his lifestyle and the result of a culmination of learning experiences, he calls ingredients.

Recently declared an Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Denver, currently McCarthy works as the Director of Operations for 3D Lacrosse Colorado. Entrepreneurs are required to wear many hats, this is no clearer evidenced than through the various projects McCarthy has in motion at all times. McCarty is also head study Director of Failure Research on Athletes at Columbia University. While doing this he maintains being a professor of entrepreneurship at DU and running his blog on the athletic approach to life athelete2lifelite.com. 

“Some of [what I do] doesn’t seem very entrepreneurial, but to an entrepreneur, it all relates. You can see the patterns in how they relate,” explained McCarthy as he connected the dots of his current works.

It’s 9:55 a.m. on a sunny Wednesday morning inside the 9News station in Denver, Colorado. People with headsets dash all over in preparation for the next show at 10 a.m. Meteorologist Becky Ditchfield is unfazed by the high energy surrounding her, as she calmly pushes the door open with a Coke in hand and greets me for the interview. 

I cursed myself for not leaving enough time to find parking on a blistering cold morning in Cherry Creek. I frantically swung open the door to a quaint little breakfast spot. I found a gentleman that was dressed to the tees patiently waiting for me while responding to emails. He could see the embarrassment on my face and quipped, “Five more mins and you would have ate alone.” He said with a smirk.