Meet Savannah Power

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Savannah Power. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Savannah below.

Hi Savannah, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
When I was just barely 18 years old I was cyberstalked pretty severly online through the popular blogging site Tumblr. The messages were anonymous, really graphic, sexual, creepy and mean. It went on for the better part of a year and completely destroyed my mental health, my image of myself and some of my closest high school friendships. It culminated in a physical letter than came to my house saying there was video footage of me naked that was going to be shared online. My Dad took on the role of criminal investigator and with little help from police eventually sued Tumblr in small claims court to get the IP address of the perp. Low and behold it was actually a 65-year-old Uncle, who is a retired Assistant District Attorney, who was behind the messages all along. Learning this nearly destroyed me, there were times when I thought I might take my own life, but ultimately I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t going to let his actions define the rest of my life. The police called it a “non-crime” because I was 18 so our family felt we did not get any justice from the criminal justice system, so I started making a personal documentary about the experience to better understand what had happened and give my family the opportunity to tell our story. Since then I have done Forgiveness coaching and all kinds of self-development work to re-discover my self-worth and take back my power. They call is post-traumatic growth – sometimes the worst things that happen to us can be a great catalyst for growth and resilience.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’ve been making videos and films since I could hold a camera. I was always the family documentarian on every vacation (must to my siblings dismay!). My Mom was a journalist and photographer so we had a family video camera, and seeing myself on the TV at home amazed me. I lost sight of my connection to film in my early adulthood, I worked long hours in the film industry, got burnt out from the culture and started to think it wasn’t for me. I freelanced on and off for years, never quite making enough money to sustain myself. Somewhere along the way I stopped producing the stories my heart wanted to tell. Then, in 2021 just when Covid was calming down, I went on a retreat where I met 5 individuals and mentors who would change my life forever. They gave me a safe space to be seen, loved and held in a way I had never experienced before. I went into that retreat engaged to a man and came out knowing I needed to call it off – one of the hardest things I have ever done. After I called off the engagement I simultaneously realized I was more attracted to women than I had been in my youth. So I came as queer and since then I’ve been on a mission to make sure I never lie to myself again. Around that time I also listened to a powerful contemplative series called Time Management for Mortals – it’s all about how finite our time is as humans and how it’s both so important yet cosmically insignificant and that really set things in motion. I knew it was now or never. So since then I’ve been diving more into the type of content I really want to make, the stories I want to tell and launching my Youtube channel as a place for me to be the filmmaker I’ve always wanted to be.

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?
I think the most important things as an artist is to know thyself. I was re-watching Chef’s Table last night and one of my take aways from that show is that these great chefs are infusing their childhood memories and their experiences into their food – along with all the technical and intellectual skills they learn in culinary school. My goal with my work is to make people feel as deeply as I do. I’ve always been a sensitive person, I was an over-the-top, “way too dramatic” kid with really big dreams. If I can give people a real glimpse of my unique human experience, even for a moment and make them think a bit different or feel a bit different than they did before, then I have done my job. So, learn all the technical things yes and get good at your craft but at the end of the day lean into what makes you uniquely you, I think that’s the secret sauce.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
My parents have been an incredible support system for me my entire life. I think it’s important to recognize how much privilege they have given me. My Mom homeschooled us for most of our elementary school, providing me a safe place to dive into all my special interests (and I had a lot of them!). My Dad has worked so incredibly hard and is the most financially generous person I know, he helped me and my ex buy our first home which I would have never been able to do on my own. Those things aside I think most importantly my parents both instilled in me belief in myself. I have met so many people in my adult life who were never told that anything is possible, or that if you want it you can go after it, that it’s safe to pursue dreams and passions. They gave me a safe and solid foundation to build upon and continue to do so to this day.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Sav Power / @myrromedia

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