January flew by and February is well underway... might have been because of unbearable cold and snow of NYC this winter! The United Nations actually shut down once and closed early / opened late a few times, due to this crazy weather.
Many things are always happening here at the UN Headquarters including daily committee meetings, General Assembly plenary, country's Mission events, brief diplomatic meetings, Security Council debates, international remembrance days, or cultural bazaars in the HQ lobby. Everything that occurs in the UN really is quite interesting, even if I am just walking by checking out the posters or tables.
A few months ago, David Guetta and Stevie Wonder ventured into the UN for various events, studio records, and meetings... for the "International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust" (as officially named by the UN), many Jewish-related organisations and genocide prevention and awareness groups hosted / attended the ceremony to remember and honour the Victims of the Holocaust. The keynote speaker for the event was filmmaker Steven Spielberg and Holocaust survivor Rena Finder, both speaking about incredible stories of resilience, survival, and continuing education. Spielberg then came into our studio to record an extensive interview discussing his Jewish roots, filming Schindler's List, meeting survivors to hear their stories, and attempting to continue educating today's youth before all the survivors are gone! One of the best parts about having such incredible talent and "celebrities" come into our studio, is that I am on the opposite side of the wall from them or often in the same room as them (operating the camera, setting up lights, stage managing, or simply watching the interview).
In addition to my full time position at the UN, I recently picked up a freelance gig with Dick Clark Productions for crew at the NFL Honors which was held 1 Feb 2014 at Radio City Music Hall. As I was crew with various live event and award show productions in Los Angeles during my time there, I was able to reconnect with some of the managers and supervisors to land this gig. It was really an awesome experience to work again in a live award show production; to make it even more interesting, I ran into Hugh Jackman, Andy Samberg, Alec Baldwin, and lots of NFL players and coaches!
