Nicole Solomon was raised in Ithaca New York She has worked extensively in education and media production frequently partnering with nonprofits and community organizations to make justiceoriented projects and teach empowerment through filmmaking Nicole has a Masters in Film from City College of New York and currently teaches film production at SVA and BRIC Her short film Small Talk enjoyed a successful festival run and won multiple awards including the Golden Kleene Award from the Arse Electronika Festival on Sex and Tech the first film to be given that honor Since then she has directed the awardwinning horror short Mare the Joan of Arc segment of the Bring Us Your Women anthology project historical drama Sanctuary codirected with Small Talk DP Jeanette Bears and the vampire thriller Its Normal among music videos PSAs and other projects In 2017 she was awarded the Mary Pickford Award for Women in the Art and Business of Film and has served as a producer on projects ranging from campy horror film The Gaze for Congested Cat to the recent documentary Catastreophe for The New Yorker She currently cohosts and coproduces The Celluloid Mirror podcast with Sean Mannion and is in postproduction on her next film Reveal