Meet Lindsay Sunada | Director / Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lindsay Sunada and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lindsay, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
Most people would probably look at my planner and say that I don’t have a work life balance haha. But I take care of my mental health, and am honestly the most fulfilled when I’m super busy. Between a full time job, writing/directing my own projects, and co-founding a tech startup, it feels like every day is a battle to find enough hours to get through my to do list.

I know there’s somewhat of a toxic mindset in the film (and startup) industries that makes everyone feel the need to “out-hustle” or “out-suffer” each other in order to be successful. And I agree that that’s toxic and not a goal that anybody should have. But I think there’s a difference between working for the sake of putting in the hours, and spending late nights working on something (or multiple things) that you are extremely passionate about. I’m lucky in that most of my work doesn’t feel like “work”. That being said, I have learned that there’s a line between working in a way that’s productive, and overwhelming myself to the point of being so fatigued that the work I’m doing isn’t my best. Recently, I’ve been better about recognizing that point and putting aside the time to surf, see friends, and go outside. Camping trips are my favorite way to unplug since there’s not internet and if forces me to let things wait until Monday. 🙂

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Reelfolio.com is a place for everyone who works in the film industry to come together. Although it’s also a resource for building your network and finding jobs, we want it to very much feel like a supportive community. My co-founder and I come from two different sides of the industry – the studio world, and the freelance crew world. We are approaching this app from two different sides with the hopes that we can create something that will help bridge that gap and make the industry feel a little bit smaller and less intimidating. This journey has been so full of ups and downs. To start, neither of us had experience building an app prior to this. It’s been a long road to find the right team and develop our brand, but we’re lucky to have an amazing network of advisors and friends to offer support and insight. We’re super excited to finally share this with everyone!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
San Onofre weekend camping trips Venice waterfront for drinks and brunch
Hiking Sandstone Peak in Malibu
The Last Bookstore DTLA
Surfing Sunset, Venice Breakwater, or Huntington Beach Pier
Huntington Dog Beach

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Wow, this list could go on forever! Of course, without the support of family and friends at an early age, I don’t think I would have had the courage to dive into this crazy world of filmmaking. I also need to shout out to NFFTY Film Festival in Seattle – it’s the largest youth film festival for creators under 24, and that festival was the first place I had ever seen a film of mine screened in front of an audience in a big theater. After that, I was hooked! My Reelfolio co-founder McKenna is also an amazing collaborator and we always help motivate each other to keep pushing ourselves to do our best work. Finally, I love Brendan Leonard’s book “Make It Til You Make It”. It’s a short and sweet little guide that reminds creatives to stop making excuses and just do it!

Website: lindsaysunada.com

Instagram: @lindsaysunada

Image Credits
BTS from Alix + Nezza “Good” music video Directed by: Lindsay Sunada Producer: McKenna Marshall DP: Griffin Voth 1AC: Jamal Reeves Production Designer: Nick Golowko PD Assist: Enyi Zhu Editor: Enyi Zhu