Meet Natalie the Producer

I’m what some would call a triple threat: not only do I have the classic “quiet girl finds her voice in film production” story, I also have the “Asian kid grows up in a 2% Asian hometown and discovers the importance of representation in media” story, AND the “filmmaker leaves the big movie industry for personal creative fulfilment” story!

This didn’t happen overnight, though. As a child I wanted to be an illustrator for children’s books, in high school I wanted to be a stage manager, going into college I wanted to animate for Pixar, then finally landed in film production after my first semester of college. Apparently I was always meant to be a filmmaker because I was dubbed “Director of Land Before Time: Part 10” when I graduated Pre-K. I have no memory of this, just a cute lil’ picture.

I graduated college in 2015 and spent the next few years freelancing on movies, commercials, and film festivals. I had a great time learning about what goes into making movies and live events, but I was working in logistic-exclusive capacities. Occasionally crossing paths with A-list filmmakers became much less impressive after I realized I was not growing creatively. That’s when I officially joined Good For You Productions.

Here’s the short version of my Good For You story: I started as an intern in 2012 (see: landing in film after my first semester), stuck around as a production assistant and assistant editor, worked up to editor, dabbled in some production coordinating, and finally became a producer in 2018.

On top of organizing logistics and communications like I was in my freelance days, I’ve been able to tap back into my creative side by filming, editing, and animating again. I even have time to see my friends and family more than once a month! I am THRIVING here.

Even more, I finally got the time to create Chowdy Media with my best friend, Sofia. We had been trying to form this creative duo since we were in high school, but after college I was never around long enough for us to get it off the ground. We began posting webcomics in 2018 and then in 2019, launched a podcast called Late to the Party, where we review popular movies we didn’t see when they first came out. As of May 2021, we’ve posted over 100 weekly episodes and hit our 2 year mark! You can find our latest episodes below: