Conversations with Meredith Chin

Today we’d like to introduce you to Meredith Chin.

Hi Meredith, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started my career at Facebook (now Meta) right after college. The company was very small then, fewer than 100 employees, and I learned a lot during my time as a fast growing startup. I focused on product communications on the PR team. I stayed at the company for around 9 years and then left to explore other pursuits. I worked at music startups and produced a documentary and all of those experiences led me to wanting to become an artist myself, so now I am a writer and filmmaker focusing on queer coming-of-age stories.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road certainly hasn’t been smooth. I never planned to join a tech startup before I did. I was a journalism major and left college quite adrift. I didn’t even know what type of job I was looking for. I was sent a job listing from a friend, applied, interviewed, and moved to California two weeks later.

And then when Facebook took off, I could have never predicted what it would mean for my future. I knew I’d never be on a ride like that again in my life, but it took a lot of trial and error to find a new path that feels fulfilling and meaningful.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My most recent film, Retreat, centers around a woman who is going through a divorce and decides to attend a meditation retreat in the woods to work through her grief.

I’m extremely proud of my script for it as I was pushing myself with its dialogue. My films tend to be very quiet films with very little talking and focus a lot on performance of the actors and their internal worlds. With Retreat, I wanted to balance my usual style with having more active communication between the characters.

Because all of my work focuses mainly on women – specifically queer woman – I make it a point to hire as many women and non-binary folks on my crew as possible. I’ve been really lucky that I’ve always had women as my heads of departments and I think it really informs the end result and the experience on set.

What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
No matter what you do, surround yourself with people you trust, with people who uplift you, with people who push you, and people who allow you to make mistakes. If someone doesn’t let you at least TRY, they’ll never let you grow.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.meredithchin.com

Image Credits
Ruth Finch