Sydney Spaeth

​POWGirls Alumni: Sydney Spaeth

I attended my first POWGirls workshop in my freshman year of high school. I was just getting into film at this time. POWGirls was a low pressure space for me to feel out the entire process of filmmaking and get my hands on some equipment. It was so great to get to experience this in a community of girls and non-binary youth. There was never any pressure to be at a certain skill level and I always was comfortable enough to ask questions. I felt that I could explore all that I wanted to. ​
Now I just finished my freshman year at The Evergreen State College studying film. In this year I made a short film titled "The COLOR Pink." I decided to host a screening of my film to a community of women when I was home for the Summer. It ended up being an amazing event, better than I could have ever planned. As I got to share my proudest work from the year with these great women, I asked them to share with me what they were proud of from the year. This group of 20 women opened up and shared some incredible experiences. One woman had traveled to a new country and forced herself to attempt to learn a new language in a couple months. Another had left her good paying job in New York to travel across the United States visiting as many national parks as she could. One of the most inspiring was a mother who simply spoke of her eighteen year old daughter as what she was most proud of. All these amazing stories were shared because we all felt comfortable to do so. Just like in the POWGirls workshop I experienced four years prior. I hope to keep finding myself in and creating these spaces full of women and feminine who are connecting and exploring because anyone who experiences this knows it's powerful.
In seeking this space and an internship for the Summer, I reached out to Tara. She was just as excited as I was to be an intern for POWGirls. I'm so lucky to have my first real experience in the field of business and filmmaking as part of such an amazing organization. One that allows me to help young girls and non-binary feel confident and comfortable. When women are given a comfortable and safe space, from my experience, something great will always come of it.