There are some people you meet in college who you talk to for a hot minute freshman year and then you never see again. Then, there are others who seem to float in and out of your little college universe, eventually joining your ever-growing constellation of friends and connections.
Chloe and I were introduced by my roommate Natalie, who just so happened to have three classes in a row together with Chloe. Sometimes she would swing by our room to hang out with us and other times we crowded into Chloe’s single before heading out for the night. We would randomly cross paths and eventually after enough chance encounters and nights crawling through Allston we got to know each other a lot better. Now, the two of us are living together in an apartment in Brookline with Natalie and our friend Sarah. It’s been an absolute blast living with the three of them this semester and they’ve made being here through the pandemic so much easier. Chloe and I have had lots of bonding time together since the two of us have shared passions for cooking and classic vinyl. We’ve made our fair share of banana breads and we’ve created plenty of elaborate feasts to share with our little apartment family.
Aside from her talents in the kitchen and her excellent music taste, Chloe is a wiz when it comes to all things PR and film. She’s majoring in advertising and despite not double majoring or minoring in film, she has an encyclopedic knowledge of horror movies and classic 80s cinema. While I’m not one for scary movies, she’s convincing me little by little to dip my toes in the water (we’re midway through The Haunting of Hill House and I haven’t chickened out yet). Chloe is the kind of person who can light up a room instantly and get everybody excited about what she’s talking about whether it’s an ice cream flavor she adores or a not-so-well-known Grateful Dead track. Chloe’s infectious energy is only one of many amazing traits about her, aside from her immeasurable talent and extreme kindness. I had a conversation with her after we finished eating dinner the other day about her passions, her debut as an associate producer, and how she keeps the creative juices flowing during quarantine:
Q: Tell me a little bit about your background in advertising. Why did you choose your major?
A: I always wanted to make commercials as a kid. Not because I particularly liked them, I just thought I could do better. Especially car commercials—I always thought those were the worst. I always knew advertising was something I was interested in, but I just didn’t fully understand what advertisers did. Turns out they do a lot more—both strategy and creatively—than I thought. I’m really enjoying the creative side of it right now in my classes. It’s also not inherently sleazy or a scam.
Q: I know you are super interested in film and recently produced a short feature. Can you tell me about how you got involved with this project and what it was like to shoot a movie during the pandemic?
A: Yes! I recently worked on a short film as an assistant director and associate producer. I met the director in The Redlist, a short film production club. The first time I heard of the project, we did a table read of the script and I fell in love with it. I told Vanesa (director) that day I wanted to work on the film any way I could.
It was difficult to shoot during quarantine. Sets have a lot of moving parts and are stressful enough already without the threat of coronavirus. It was my responsibility to make sure we were following COVID-19 guidelines. Shooting the film was definitely more stressful and took a lot longer than a normal short would usually take. We had to be very strategic with how many people could be in a space and make sure everything was constantly disinfected and safe for the cast and the crew.
Q: How do you stay creative during quarantine? Do you have any methods for finding inspiration?
A: This semester all of my classes ended up being creative classes so I really have to be stay creative there. But outside of class projects, it’s hard to stay motivated. I tend to get a little burned out from my classwork so I try to be creative in different ways. Cooking or playing an instrument helps. I got really into baking banana bread (like everyone else) and tried a bunch of new things I’ve never made before too. I learned what a genoise sponge cake was so that’s pretty cool..? I taught myself how to play the ukulele so that kept me entertained for a while too.
Q: Who were your favorite artists to listen to growing up?
A: When I was a little kid I was really into the Talking Heads. My dad had one of their live concert DVDs that he would always play on the TV. I feel like that makes me sound really old lol. I’ve been told before that my music taste is like 75% old man music. My other favorite bands were the Bright Eyes and Vampire Weekend. I saw Vampire Weekend for the first time when they went to Agganis last year which was pretty great.
Q: Name three songs on your quarantine rotation.
A: Guilty Conscience – 070 Shake
Sundress – A$AP Rocky
Dunno – Mac Miller
Chloe also put together a summary of her music taste in a bite-size playlist. It’s got some rap, some Grateful Dead (of course), and a few chill alt-indie jams in between.
I am so lucky to call Chloe my roommate since living with her has been an absolute breeze. Despite not knowing each other so well in the early years of college, we’ve grown exponentially closer since the awkward freshman days. To many more movie nights and cups of spiced hot cocoa!
xoxo,
Emma
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