Amazing People Who Are Changing the World for the Better - Heidi Philipsen-Meissner!!!
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Heidi Elizabeth Philipsen-Meissner first began acting, writing, and directing in college while a student at the Residential College of the University of Michigan, focusing academically on an independent concentration liberal arts degree in Film, Theatre & German Literature.
Heidi's film HER TELLING HEART, a short, adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Telltale Heart” marked her post-film school premiere and was a project of the official Motion Picture Institute’s Alumni Directors’ Club. In the spirit of community and industry service, Heidi served and represented Upstate Independents -- Upstate New York's Ultimate Indie Film and Media member organization -- as a board member and Programming Chair, fulfilling another passion: bringing dynamic industry professionals together to exchange experiences, trade secrets and talk about the past, present and future of film, media, and communications.
In 2013, they held their first, charter meeting for a new chapter of WOMEN IN FILM & TELEVISION, a project under New York Women in Film and Television, called UPWIFT, or Upstate Women in Film & Television, for women professionals in the industry living and working in upstate New York.
Now in its ninth year, UPWIFT is going strong with new leaders, while Heidi serves on its Advisory Board as President Emeritus and Founder. It turned 10 on February 28, 2022.
Heidi also continued to freelanced in the upstate & NYC areas and worked as a SAG-AFTRA actress and precision driver on films such as THIRSTY, MARCY, THE OTHER GUYS, PREMIUM RUSH, HOBO HEYSEUS, SALT, TOWER HEIST, Germany's KATIE FFORDE series (shot in the Hudson Valley), and played a Car Rental Clerk opposite Vince Vaughn, Dave Franco, and Tom Wilkinson in UNFINISHED BUSINESS; she worked locally in production & producing in a wide array of projects.
From 2013 to 2015, Heidi teamed up with local upstate filmmakers, Jon & Tracy Cring, to produce her first feature film, DARCY, which she produced (receiving the esteemed "Produced By" p.g.a. designation from the Producers Guild of America), co-directed and starred in the micro-budget indie feature (shot on location in Palenville, NY) with an outstanding ensemble cast of actors. Please check out the DARCY's official website for more information: www.darcymovie.com -- or watch it on Herflix, Apple TV, Roku, Android, Chromecast & Vimeo-on-Demand!
After completing post-production for DARCY and while in Michigan, Heidi decided that what was missing in her professional background was a real education in business. Not long after, Heidi joined the new orientation class for graduate MBA students and dug into her new life as a College of Business graduate student at Eastern Michigan University, taking Accounting, Statistics, Data Management, Business Leadership, Corporate Finance courses, and many more. This is where our paths crossed...
Today, Heidi lives in Berlin, Germany, with her husband and two teenage children. Most recently, she graduated from Eastern Michigan University with her MBA in Management, finished penning her first feature-length RomCom, "Kidnapping Love," (designed for international co-pro), and is in post-production for the rom-com, Love & Vodka, inspired by the book written by R.J. Fox.
She is a member of Film Netzwerk Berlin, ProQuote Film Germany, the Alliance of Women Directors, The Director List, the Producer's Union, the Producer’s Guild of America (participating in both the Employment & International Committees), Screen Actors Guild/American Federation of Television & Radio Artists, Actors Equity Association, New York Women in Film & Television, Founder & President Emeritus of Upstate New York Women in Film & Television (UPWIFT), Communications Chair Emeritus of the Electricity Entertainment Board of Schenectady, Programming Chair Emeritus of Upstate Independents, Chicago Women in Film & Television, the University of Michigan Alumni Club and Columbia University’s School of International & Public Affairs Alumni Club.
For more information on Heidi and her new movie Love & Vodka, a sweet rom-com with Michigan and Ukrainian connections at https://www.love-vodka-movie.com/. Heidi's company is still crowdfunding for this picture. The article we refer to in the interview, Communication and Cultural Strategies Impacting Ukrainian Refugees and Others Involved by Kimberley Barker, Christine Day, and David Victor, can be accessed at https://commons.emich.edu/gabc/
Also, Kimberley Barker's latest book, with Harris Friedman, Culture, Change, and Leadership: Cases of Professional Dilemmas from Around the World is available on Amazon.
And, here is our complete conversation... 😃