Merridee Book

I think my success has come from understanding where my aspirations really meet with reality. I look at what I personally want, my own personal goals, and what I would consider a success, and hit those certain benchmarks. But in a leadership capacity for this film festival and really for a nonprofit in general, a lot of that success has come from putting together and establishing a team, hiring the right people and surrounding myself with those that basically can do their job better than I can do, and really giving them the free rein to do that. I've surrounded myself with people who are like-minded, that have the same work ethic, and that draw their inspiration and really take pure joy in the work that they do, because that really reflects as a team in everything that we do. I think success attracts success, and your energy sort of attracts the same energy, so we don't do a lot of drama.

One of the best pieces of advice that stuck with me, which I got even before I launched my career back in college, was from my dad who said never burn a bridge. It sounds so generic, but it has served me well because I have learned you really don't know where someone's gonna land, or where you're going to be. If you can resolve a professional relationship in a very positive manner, it's just gonna serve you well. We all know that we've had to go back to people that we've known in life, professionally and personally, and I'm like, oh, I wish I hadn't burnt that bridge. I go back to that advice even to this day, and I would say relationships are always more valuable than a short-term win. It really is all about relationships. Another piece of advice that stayed with me was from a conference I attended, where they said your reputation enters the room before you do. What you've built, and how you've gone about building it, matters more than anything else.

For anyone entering the film festival, art, entertainment, or nonprofit cultural space, I would say first and foremost, set your expectations accordingly. There is a lot of unglamorous work to this. During the festival, people see me running around and standing in front of a microphone quite a bit, but there's a lot of unglamorous work, and you're handling logistics, budgets, timelines, sponsors, crisis management. It's not just all creative and fun. Understand that you're probably going to be wearing multiple hats. People always see the parties and the fun things and the finished product, the red carpet and the media, but really, truly, it can be a grind, it can be unglamorous. Your reputation is your currency, don't blow it. In the creative industry, it really becomes relational, so make sure that you follow through with what you're gonna say. Stay calm under pressure. Build those genuine professional relationships, and don't ever take anyone for granted. Don't disregard anyone's talent. This is a crazy world. Some little filmmaker that comes in might be directing a blockbuster two years from now. Build genuine relationships, not superficial ones. Don't be dismissive of anybody. Everybody is going to matter to you at some point.

The biggest challenge is just creating every year, creating that space and creating a bigger and better festival. For us, it's really tangible, like how are we gonna outdo what we just did the year before. Those are more internal goals, we want to keep growing. But as a nonprofit, some of the biggest challenges are always funding, and as you expand, finding the resources and the connections and the network that aligns with yours and comes alongside and really supports that. That can be changing all the time. It's always a challenge to put yourself out there. A lot of what I do puts me in vulnerable spaces as well, because I have to try new things. When you're always expanding and evolving, you're always kind of redefining what those parameters might look like. It's always finding those people who are gonna jump on and grab it as passionately as you do. On a grinding level, it's nonprofit, it's always funding. On a really down and dirty level, it's like finding the donors, writing grants, doing all those things that really continue to push the vision forward financially.

I would say, first and foremost, integrity. I find that those that really operate on a very high level of integrity, everything sort of flows from that. There's a lot of respect. There's integrity in how you communicate with people and your follow-through. If people know that you're going to say something that you're gonna do it, I really find that integrity is way up there for me. Respect is also very important. Respect for people's professional journeys, and what they bring to the table, and honoring those, honoring preparation, and what they've done. If you're going to bring someone on, then you're bringing them on for a reason, hopefully, expecting their opinion, respecting how they work. All of this is not only in my workplace, but also personally as well. Building that community around art and culture and shared experiences is important. Loyalty is a huge value. Integrity, loyalty, and respect are all right up there in the trifecta of values that I work within, and definitely the values I expect from those that I work with or partner with or sign a contract with. Authenticity is another core value, but that really comes down from integrity. It's very easy to become very superficial in this industry, because it's all about image. When you have those core values in place, it's easy to cut through that real superficial level very quickly. When you do that, other people respond directly to that, and suddenly it's more meaningful, it's a lot deeper. You leave your ego out the door.