Raquel Cepeda On Why We Need More Perspectives, Understanding In Storytelling
On November 19th, Her Agenda Insiders hosted Raquel Cepeda, documentary filmmaker, author, and journalist to discuss the importance of empowering others through storytelling – whether that means giving people the tools to share their own narrative or building meaningful relationships to express in films, on paper, or spoken word.
For an hour, Raquel spoke to the community about her upcoming projects, and focused on this month’s topic “Try Out Your Voice: Storytelling To Empower Others.” Her Agenda Insiders heard more about truly understanding communities’ perspectives, building relationships, and the conversations we need to move to a world where we respect each other.
Here’s one statement that resonated with many Her Agenda Insiders:
“I think being a parent, never forgetting my roots as a disenfranchised youth/student in New York City – all the things I did not receive as a kid growing up here – these are all the things I try and give.”
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On building trust with the teens in her film, ‘Some Girls’;
“I tried to empathize in other ways and asked them to educate me, in their own words, about what is going on with them. I listened. You will be surprised at how much you can pull out of someone you are interviewing with or trying to form a bond with, if you only listen.”
On diversity in film, literature, journalism, and communications;
“Journalism, which I have not done in some time, has been reserved for the gentry who often project on the communities they are writing about rather than try and understand them. Racial and biological diversity, by the way, is not enough.
We need different POVs, cultural producers that come from different economic and social backgrounds, too.”
“Journalism, which I have not done in some time, has been reserved for the gentry who often project on the communities they are writing about rather than try and understand them. Racial and biological diversity, by the way, is not enough.
We need different POVs, cultural producers that come from different economic and social backgrounds, too.”
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