Michele Spitz of Woman of Her Word is a voiceover artist, public speaker, and philanthropist most passionate about advocating for media accessibility and disability awareness. Michele is dedicated to ...Show More
Michele Spitz of Woman of Her Word is a voiceover artist, public speaker, and philanthropist most passionate about advocating for media accessibility and disability awareness. Michele is dedicated to selectively funding audio description post production accessibility grants to ensure that media content is equally accessible to low vision and blind audiences. She has 8 years experience of producing, narrating, consulting, and project managing audio description assets for film, broadcast, digital media, film festivals, museums, educational content, promotional and fundraising media. Woman of Her Word funds audio description production for a significant percentage of the 80+ hand selected media projects to date with which her company has chosen to be aligned. Michele promotes media accessibility awareness and audience inclusion through ongoing public speaking engagements, thought provoking panels and educational settings. Michele has guest lectured in the film department for NYU Tisch, Disability in Media Department at Montclair University, Film Exhibition Department and Department of Visual and Media Arts at Emerson.She has taught the Respectability Summer Lab on audio description for the past 3 years for students with disabilities in media. A partial list of panels and presentations include the 2021 Sundance Film Festival Panel, Gotham, DOC NYC, IDA Getting Real '20 Conference, Film Independent, New York Film Festival, MVFF, ReelAbilities NY & LA Film Festivals, Women in Film Los Angeles (WIF LA), SAG-AFTRA LA, New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT), Diamond, PBS and Women in Tech Hollywood. Michele is often called upon to participate as a presenter conducting media accessibility workshops or seminars for multiple film and media organizations. Michele was the impetus consulting with the Motion Picture Academy that resulted in the 1st ever Audio Described Broadcast of the 93rd Academy Awards.Woman of Her Word was the first to initiate and fund British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) scholarships for graduate film students with disabilities, originate and fund annual finishing film media accessibility grants for NYWIFT and WIF LA, instate and underwrite tuition for students with disabilities to attend the bi annual American Council for the Blind Audio Description Institute, as well as fund assistive performing arts audience technology. She produced and narrated the audio description for the 41st and the upcoming 42nd Media Access Awards ceremony making the virtual event platform equally accessible to visually impaired audiences. She consulted with the upcoming 2021 SOVAS Awards aligning the first time ever audio description narration categories and will be curating and moderating a panel for their Career Expo. Michele's forthcoming endeavors aspire to design media accessibility impact campaign fellowships.Michele is unique in that she is committed to working very closely with every film client to enlist their participation in advocating and promoting their film production's accessibility assets and furthermore advise on implementing and incorporating the audio description deliverables throughout all distribution and exhibition platforms for the shelf life of the film. For 8+ years, Michele has traveled extensively between San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York to ascertain and merge together East and West Coast media and cultural arts accessibility philosophies and methodologies. She will be expanding her travel to the UK periodically to further her research and experience in media and arts accessibility approaches.Some of the few highlights of Michele's media portfolio include Lucy and Desi, Carole King and Jame Taylor: Just Call Out My Name, Dealt, Oliver Sacks: His Own Life, The Great14th: Tenzin Gyatso, The 14th Dalai Lama In His Own Words, Pavarotti and The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.Michele has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, NBC, SF Examiner, PRN.FM, KWMR, and multiple podcasts to name a few.Woman of Her Word's pledge is unwavering in the pursuit for inclusion in media and the arts. Michele's very presence is a unifying force which results in equality for the communities that she serves.website: www.womanofherword.com Hide
