This week on 8111, Michaela Calanchini Carter! Michaela was born in San Francisco and grew up in the Bay Area. She is the second youngest member of a huge family with seven brothers and sisters. Incredibly shy growing up, she found community playing soccer and a creative outlet in photography, which had been a hobby of her father’s.
She attended UC Santa Cruz where she studied fine art photography. She took a semester leave, travelling with a friend to Africa. It was a journey that wound up having a profound impact on her personal beliefs and world view. After a really cool senior show, Michaela graduated and travelled to Thailand.
Back home in the Bay Area she landed a job working for CP Shades in Sausalito. The company was expanding nationally and she traveled around the United States opening new locations and training employees. But her heart just wasn’t in the retail trade.
In 1996 Michaela jumped at the opportunity to work as a production assistant at ILM on 101 Dalmatians. She would go on to serve as a PA on Flubber and The Phantom Menace as part of the Knoll team. But after working on The Perfect Storm (ironically) she decided to move out of production and into a more creative discipline. With the kind and generous support of Jack Mongovan and Susan Kelly she transitioned to roto/paint. Michaela worked at ILM for fifteen years before leaving on disability after a long struggle with RSI.
Michaela and I discuss family, being a parent, work life balance, the importance of good friends, and the difficult pain of loss. Michaela is a fun, brilliant, and empathic person. It was fantastic to reconnect and hear about her journey through ILM to today.
