Meet Hannah Lindgren

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Hannah Lindgren. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hannah, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

I’ve been so fortunate in many aspects of my life. I had a great childhood, I have a loving family, incredible friends, and have been afforded so many fantastic opportunities in my life. But I also have lived with Endometriosis and Adenomyosis since I was 15 years old. Living with a chronic illness means waking up every day not knowing what experience your body is going to give you. That unpredictability and the unfortunate necessity of still having to live your life and do your work means you learn to just push through whatever you have going on physically. “Mind over matter” becomes the standard that you have to meet every day. You also have to go through a litany of appointments, tests and surgeries that test you emotionally and physically. Literally the only silver lining of a chronic illness – particularly a chronic pain condition – is that you develop a grit that could rival the toughest sandpaper. The only way for me to turn the cards I’ve been dealt into a positive is by channeling that grit into a resilience across all aspects of my life, including my work.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I’ve been in the field of video production professionally for twelve years, but I fell in love with digital storytelling when I was a freshman in high school. I wanted to take photography, but it was full, so I ended up in a video class. One of my first assignments was to interview a family member, so over Thanksgiving I interviewed my grandfather, who was a WWII, Korea and Vietnam veteran and helicopter pilot. I cut together his story, combined it with photos, and when I showed it to people, they had an emotional reaction! I was hooked. I wasn’t able to describe what I loved about it at that time, but now I know that it’s the creation of empathy and human connection that I couldn’t get enough of.

I went on to study film in college, with a minor in anthropology for the ‘people’ side of things. While I was at school, I was able to produce two documentary films, one for our local PBS station. When I graduated college, I couldn’t find a job I liked (it’s notoriously hard to find entry-level jobs in this field!) so my mother encouraged me to start my own video production company. I called it Deliberate Media. I had that business for three years, and during that time I helped over 50 clients – from nonprofit organizations, to cities and small businesses – tell their stories through video.

I then moved to Birmingham, Alabama for two years, where I worked for Time, Inc. producing food video content. While I did enjoy many things about it (I’m a big foodie) it didn’t feel as rewarding as other work I’d done in the past. I ended up volunteering to create videos for the Greater Birmingham Humane Society in my free time, to scratch that itch.

After moving back to Indianapolis, I found a job as a full-time editor for a production company that seemed to have the same values and do the same type of work that I’d done as Deliberate Media. I worked for Tilt23 Studios for three and a half years, and did some truly rewarding storytelling work – particularly for nonprofit organizations and causes such as addiction and homelessness.

During all of these career adventures, I was also producing, directing and editing documentary films. Mostly short films, but also one feature, called Food First, where I explored the intersections of food, economy, community and health in Central Indiana. I was also fortunate enough to receive two grants from Indiana Humanities to product documentaries about the stories surrounding our waterways in Indiana.

In August of 2022 I started in my current role as Post Producer for Bayonet Media. This was truly the perfect intersection of my experience as an editor and as a producer, and I was thrilled. I’d admired Bayonet’s work in Indy for years, so it felt surreal to be a part of that team. In early 2023, we began the process of branching off post production under the name Chop Shop. Over the last two years, we’ve grown our post capabilities in so many ways, and we’ve cut and finished so many incredible projects, in both the commercial production space, as well as short films and other types of short and long form content. I’ve never had a more rewarding job, and I feel incredibly lucky to do the work that I do, with the people I do it with. It feels great to be a part of a business where the leaders wholeheartedly have a growth mindset, and work every day to achieve that growth.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Consult with people who are more experienced and smarter than you. My mother helped instill this in me early on by connecting me with anyone she knew who was somehow involved in the video/film world, even as early as high school. Seek out time and conversation with people who have walked the path before you, so you can get clarity on what your own desires and goals are, and to learn as much as you can.

Say yes as much as possible. Don’t get me wrong, we all need strong boundaries and it’s never good to be a people pleaser (I would know!) But particularly early on in your career, whatever field you’re in, say yes. You never know when an opportunity that may seem like a bad fit will be incredibly beneficial to you in ways you can’t predict. Yes, some opportunities won’t yield much, but every single time you do work related to what you want to do in life, you build skills, even when it doesn’t seem like it.

Lean into what you are naturally gifted at. It took me a while to figure this out. I’ve always considered myself to be half creative, half “Type A.” As a director and editor I leaned into that creative side that sought to be a storyteller. I definitely still love to do that, but it wasn’t until I was at my current position that I realized that my natural skills with spreadsheets, schedules and organization would make project management a perfect path for me. In fact, it is often even more rewarding than the creative opportunities I get, because I’m good at it without over-indexing on effort, and the reward of feeling accomplished is high. If we’re all going to work for forty years of our life, we might as well do the things that already make us feel competent and worthy.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

When I feel overwhelmed or burnt out, I try to evaluate what are my current needs versus my wants. I may want to go to my friend’s game night, but I may need to stay home and take a bath and go to sleep early. Then again, maybe I need to go laugh with my friends to blow off some steam and get my head out of work mode. What you need won’t be the same every time, so it’s important to lay the choices in front of you and evaluate it each time. Also, and I cannot stress this enough: go to therapy!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hannahmlindgren.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hannahmyerslindgren/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahmlindgren/