Keep checking back for new volunteer profiles as we continue to add!
Each Newsletter, we profile a new volunteer so that we can show you how critical our community is to making Press Pass TV a reality.

Here are just some of the people that have given their time to make media that moves:

Bill Willis

Violeta Ikonomova

Susanna Kim

Lydia Mulvaney

Rene Dongo

Sam Powell

Mimi Watstein

A few years ago, local police officer Bill Willis made headlines around Boston for producing the documentary “Shot in the Hood.” Gabe and Joanna had met Bill on separate occasion and had been impressed both by his commitment to ending the cycle of violence and to his perseverance in completing the project. His dedication and his prior experience as a youth counselor made him a perfect fit for working with Press Pass as Bill put it: “I feel I bring my experience as a film maker, and my ability to communicate, inspire and encourage young people to push themselves. I like for them to take the challenge to experience new things.”
It was with that in mind that we brought Bill Willis on this session to work with youth at our Project RIGHT site based program. The young women that Willis worked with created a powerful piece about the word “ghetto,” its applications, its overuse and its meaning to them and their community “I liked seeing the final project come together, and the sense of accomplishment they got from seeing there film being shown on the big screen” says Bill about his experience.
His innate ability to connect to young people and engage them in the process has allowed him to be both a film teacher and a mentor “ I feel I got to know some really amazing teens who are intelligent and wonderful human beings. I hope that I have impacted their lives forever, because they have impacted mine.”
The piece is in the Press Pass TV Season 5 DVD along with another story from Project RIGHT on the meaning of community in Roxbury, as well as stories from the City School, BYOP, and a Press Pass TV team working with the ACLU of Massachusetts.
To learn more about Bill and his work please visit: www.williamwillis.com

Each Newsletter, we will feature an opening letter from one of our Co-Directors, and we’ll also introduce you to some of the other amazing people who keep Press Pass TV running each and every day.

This Newsletter, we introduce you to Violeta Ikonomova, a mentor with our Freelance Program and new teacher for our Perkins Community Center Site Based Program. Violeta is a 21 year old Emerson student and aspiring journalist. She was born in Bulgaria, and has lived in Israel, Massachusetts, and Michigan.

How did you get involved in Press Pass TV?
I came across Press Pass TV when someone in the journalism department at Emerson College forwarded me an email that said they were seeking mentors for student producers. I’d worked at the YMCA in Detroit, my home town, as a camp counselor a couple years earlier and I really missed interacting with kids. I thought this would be a great opportunity to not only do that, but also to teach them media skills that I was lucky enough to learn in high school. Learning those skills at such an early age is what put me on this career path.

What is your favorite thing about Press Pass TV?
My favorite thing about PPTV is the people. I love my bosses, it feels strange calling them that now that we’ve become friends. I also love the kids, especially my group from the Boston Youth Organizing Project.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
In five years I expect to be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big lake. I hope to be living in New York and working at a major news network in a position where I can move up. This all sounds very boring so I’ll just go ahead and say where I see myself in 30 years: running a news website free from the influence of private interests, one that actually reports the truth through its own news gathering, not another organizations’, and one that organizes stories based on actual importance, not just what people are most interested in hearing about.

Why do you work with Press Pass TV?
Press Pass TV is important to me because because it allows me to put my skills to use in a socially productive way. I assist in producing media that actually has meaning. There is a particular goal with every product produced and sometimes even a government official who we’re targeting in an effort to generate some sort of change. In addition, passing on my knowledge to youths is socially productive in and of itself.