Romelia S. Leach '94

Major: Sociology

Minor: Government

Where do you currently live? Hollywood, California.

How did you arrive at the geographical location where you are? I moved to Los Angeles in April 1998 from Boston to break into the entertainment industry. Since I graduated from Bowdoin I was determined to try entertainment. I had learned to operate a video camera through my work for the Audio-Visual Department and I learned to edit while working on the senior video at the end of my sophomore year. That project peaked my interest in editing and after doing it for two more years I felt a pull to the business. Unfortunately, it took me another four years before I could make my way to L.A.

What is your current occupation? Please describe what you do. I am currently a Production Manager for a small television company, Gay Rosenthal Productions. My boss, Gay Rosenthal, is best known for the series VH-1 Behind the Music, which she co-created. We no longer produce those shows, but we have had much success in similar types of documentary shows. Currently, we are heading into the reality genre with one pilot in the works for CBS and another for Bravo. My job as Production Manager is to take care of all of the logistics for each of our productions including booking the crew, travel and everything required to have a successful production. I supervise a small staff of three who oversees our office facilities and production spaces. I also manage our vendor relationships and all production and corporate accounts. The majority of this business is made up of freelancers, but I have been a core staff member since I joined the company in January 2002. As a result, I end up with more responsibilities then would normally go to a Production Manager who would only come in for the duration of the production.

In three months, however, I will be leaving the entertainment industry and the West Coast behind to begin law school in New York. I have not officially decided on which school I will be attending, but it's looking good for Fordham University School of Law. Law has always been a career that I've cradled in the back of my mind, but I hadn't been ready to pursue it until now. While I am still in awe by the magic of the business, I can no longer see myself working in the industry. Practicing law can give me a certain sense of fulfillment for having touched someone's life that my involvement in entertainment cannot. At this stage I believe law is the career I was meant to have. At least it feels right.

Why did you choose this work? When I moved to L.A. to break into the industry, I didn't have a specific direction that I wanted to follow. I had some ideas, but I started where most people in this business start, as a Production Assistant. PA's are the backbone of the entertainment industry. They work long hours and are paid very little, but without them the industry wouldn't survive. As a PA you can observe all of the various positions on a set or in an office and determine which position best fits you. My first few PA jobs were on film and television sets. At first I was pursuing a course that would eventually lead me to a highly visible and responsible position on any set, an Associate Director. While working as a set PA on the cops on bike show, Pacific Blue, I realized that I would be on the set a minimum of 12 hours five days a week. The work was exhausting and it left little time for anything else. I also realized I wanted to be involved in the whole process from beginning to end so I started to switch directions. I ended up working as a corporate PA for Carsey-Werner-Mandabach (creators of The Cosby Show, Roseanne, That '70's Show and many other successful tv shows). At the same time I joined, CWM Oxygen Media was beginning it's ascent into the densely populated cable network. I joined the Oxygen family six months after I started at CWM as a PA and quickly became involved in the administrative responsibilities of setting up the L.A. based office. This lead me to being a Production Coordinator which is a step under Production Manager. I was good at the work and I enjoyed it. My work as coordinator at Oxygen led me to my current position at GRP. In actuality, my boss at Oxygen is also my boss at GRP.

What did you do after graduation? The first year after graduation I worked in the Audio-Visual department at Bowdoin. I was hired to be Assistant Director of AV, but ended us as the Acting Director of the department for the first semester because the director went out for heart surgery. That was a big job because I had a student staff of about 20 and a full time staff member whom I had to fire within the first few months of me starting. I learned quickly how the real working world operates. I only stayed in that position through June 1995. Afterwards, I worked as Assistant Manager of Summer Programs. That was a department I had worked in during the previous two summers. In August of 1995 I moved to Boston to pursue some connections in the production world. It didn't quite pan out as I had hoped so I ended up temping at various financial companies including the then Bank of Boston (now Fleet Boston). I also worked for about three months at the Harvard Coop Bookstore. It was a tough year and a half. Life was not always kind to me, which was a real eye-opener after having lived a very comfortable existence at Bowdoin. I struggled for a long time, hitting rock bottom. I'm glad that it happened when it did, however, because I got an early start to polishing my survival skills. I have a greater appreciation for the fight back from downtrodden to strong and secure. It wasn't until November 1996 that I was able to land a full time job working in the customer service department of an insurance company that sold annuities. That couldn't have been any further from my goals, but by then my goals shifted to accommodate my then current situation, shear survival. I got that job after temping at the company for a week. I loved it because I learned about investments and the market and I earned my Series 6 license (license to sell annuities and mutual funds). These were things I knew very little about, if anything at all. I enjoyed the stability it provided me. After having been there for almost a year, the company decided to reorganize and that was my cue to figure out if I wanted to stay or pursue what I had been attempting to do since graduation. I decided that it was the right time to head West. I resigned from my job, sold my furniture, packed up my car with most of my worldly possessions and drove out to L.A. with a friend in April 1998. Although I was armed with lots of people to contact once I reached sunny L.A., I had no job and only a place to crash for a short while. I remember standing on the street saying goodbye to my friend and thinking "What the hell do I do now?"

What is the most worthwhile academic/professional experience you have had? Please explain. There are three things that come to mind. The first would be my study abroad to Kenya. That program was a profoundly rich experience for me. The year that I was there was the first time the people of Kenya could participate in true multi-party elections. It was an incredible experience to be there and watch the whole process unfold. The program was designed in a way to maximize learning from field experience and not so much in-class work. That approach allowed us to get close to the people and experience how they live. That trip will always stay with me. The second experience was doing my honors thesis. It was an oral history on the life of Lucille Young, a sixty-something-year-old woman from the south. The experience of writing about Lucille's hardships growing up in Jim Crow Mississippi and eventual successes once she migrated to Portland, ME was the perfect culmination of four years of women's study, anthropology and sociology. I am very proud of that work. Lastly, I look back at my first year at Oxygen and I also feel proud to have been part of a new vision for not just women's television, but television in general. A team of us worked very hard to provide the network with enough programming for it's winter 2000 launch. How many chances does one get to be on the ground floor of a brand new company?

What are the one or two events, courses or people that stand out in your mind from your experiences at Bowdoin? Please explain. There were two events that were staged by students that remind me of people's potential to affect change or to stir up dormant emotions in those surrounding them. During my first year, a large number of students blocked the entrance to the administration building, which because of the design also blocked the entrance to the library, in order to make a statement about the college's degree of diversity. Of course, it wasn't greeted well, but it got the school's attention and more discussions were held as a result. The other moment was after the not-guilty Rodney King verdict was handed down. A then visiting professor, Becky Thompson, galvanized a group of students and the press to come to a rally the next morning. Students spoke from their heart about their reactions to the verdict and Becky gave an impassioned speech about the message that verdict sent to our society. It was one of those moments that made you step back and think how much even just one person could accomplish with a little passion and some vision.

One course in particular stands out for me. It was a sociology class that I had taken the second semester of my sophomore year with Becky Thompson The class was about race, gender and sexuality. The class made everyone truly uncomfortable because it forced all of us to step out of our skins and attempt to understand the experiences of those in the class. It also challenged us to examine our own life experiences through the selected reading assignments. Our final exam was not an exam, but an anthology that the whole class worked together to produce. It was comprised of written pieces by class members which a small group of students edited. This was an opportunity for all of us to take more away from the class and to contribute to the work we were studying.

As for people, many of them stand out. I am still able to turn to a number of individuals after having graduated for almost nine years, most specifically Susan Bell, who has been a big supporter of mine since advising me on my senior thesis. She was one of my recommenders for law school and her recommendation, in no small part, played a roll in my acceptance to 11 out of 12 law schools to date.

Has studying sociology and anthropology impacted your perspective? If so, how? Absolutely. I've been managing people in a professional capacity for a number of years and I've discovered that my background in sociology has helped me understand how they interact with me and with each other. I believe I'm better equipped to handle interpersonal relationships because of sociology. I find myself trying to get a better sense of situations, reactions and problems with friends, family and co-workers which would give me better insight to that individual.

Is there a piece of advice you wish someone had offered you while still an undergraduate student in Brunswick? If so, what is this piece of advice? I would say that not everything - job, apartment, money - will automatically fall into place the way we believe they would while in college. It takes a lot more work once you're out in the real world to make your world work smoothly. There are many directions that you could take, so don't feel compelled to settle into one immediately. I've met many people who have lived many lives and feel richer for having done so. Do what you love and everything else will eventually fall into place.