Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece, and welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. Today I have Tracy Schott with me. Hi, Tracy.
Tracy Schott: Hi, Toni. How are you?
Toni: I’m great. How are you doing?
Tracy: I’m doing great. Thanks for having me.
Toni: Absolutely. So Tracy, take a moment and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Tracy: Well, I am a filmmaker, and some people in this community might remember me as being a social worker, because I started my career as a social worker as a child and family therapist for a lot of years. Somewhere in the middle of my life I decided I wanted to do something a little more creative and ended up going back to school for video production. I’ve spent the last 15 years or so doing various forms of video production and recently made a documentary film called “Finding Jenn’s Voice.”
Toni: Wow. That certainly is a career change, isn't it?
Tracy: It is.
Toni: Congratulations as well on your documentary.
Tracy: Oh, thank you.
Toni: So let’s go into the Project.
Tracy: Okay.
Toni: What does inspiration mean to you?
Tracy: I thought a lot about this question. For me, inspiration is really the spark behind creativity and energy. It’s what helps me move forward in the face of obstacles and opposition, and it helps me stay optimistic and find solutions to problems.
Toni: Oh, I like that it helps you to stay optimistic, too. Is it a physical feeling?
Tracy: Yes. Yeah.
Toni: So you know when it’s happening.
Tracy: Yeah. Yeah. I feel more alive when I’m inspired.
Toni: Oh, that’s awesome. That’s a great way to feel, isn't it? So, how do you take that creative spark and that feeling of being alive and put that into practice here in Berks County?
Tracy: Well, I believe in always moving forward. I don’t believe in luck. I believe in working hard and just putting one foot in front of the other. In doing my documentary film, which is about domestic violence, I’ve faced a lot of challenges in getting the film produced, financed and distributed. I try to stay positive and look at all of those challenges as opportunities. I’m really stubborn, and I tend not to give up.
It helps to feel inspired, and that inspiration comes from the people around me. Every time I get a little, “Oh, this film is just so hard, and I’ve spent so much time on it,” I look at the women who are in my film who survived homicide attempts, or family members who lost a loved one to domestic violence and I go, “Oh, yeah. Your problems are so bad.” So I’m inspired by them. The women in my film, there’s 11 survivors, and they’re on social media. They’re out there fighting for other survivors and fighting to get the message out, and working really hard in the face of much more opposition then I face. I get my inspiration from others.
Toni: Tracy, when is the last time you remember being inspired?
Tracy: I was inspired a couple of days ago. I was sitting having a conversation with a colleague, and we were talking about something that had to be done. I was drudging through it. “How I am going to get this done? It’s another thing I have to do.” He said, “This is easy. We can do this.” Suddenly it went from drudgery to a creative idea that was fun, and we’re producing something that’s very cool that we’re going to be sharing with the universe soon.
Toni: It really sounds to me that when you are inspired, it almost turns a mindset around as the examples that you give.
Tracy: Yes.
Toni: Something that might have felt flatlined now all of a sudden feels exciting.
Tracy: Exactly.
Toni: And I think that’s something that people can learn from you as well, that if I’m going through that myself and I feel that inspiration and I turn that around, I think that’s a great lesson for people to learn from this interview.
Tracy: Oh, thanks. I hope so.
Toni: Absolutely. So who in Berks County inspires you?
Tracy: Can I talk a little bit about the ReadingFilmFEST?
Toni: Yes, you can.
Tracy: So one of my inspirations, one of the people who really inspires me is Santo Marabella, who is Reading Film Commissioner and volunteer extraordinaire. I mean, he just works really, really hard for this community. He has incredible integrity. If he says he’s going to do something, he does it. He gets it done, even if it means he’s not sleeping, which happens a lot. He has really a great attitude, and he’s very positive and creative. He’s also my friend, and I love working with him.
Even though others may feel really disheartened about some of the changes that have happened in Berks County over the last 40 years, Santo and I kind of share this belief that these changes are opportunities for something better than we had 40 years ago, right? I didn’t live here before the 80s, so maybe I’m not as wetted to those changes, but ReadingFilmFEST and Reading Film Office are examples of how we’re changing this community. The ReadingFilmFEST is a film festival that is being run by the Reading Film Office. I’m directing it, and Santo is producing it. He really inspires me to just keep going and make it great. Last year, George Hatza from the newspaper called the Festival “Sundance on the Schuylkill,” which I’m sure was tongue in cheek, but I believe our festival will ultimately have the positive impact on this community through the economy, our reputation, and also our own self-esteem as a community, because I believe that our self-esteem as a community is really important if we’re going to have positive change. Santo is one of those people.
I’m really inspired by all the creative doers in Reading. The artists, chefs, musicians, small businesses, and community leaders who understand our need to embrace the changes and move forward. They really inspire me. One of the people that really inspires me is Sandy Solmon. Sandy is somebody who is a friend of mine who created Sweet Street Desserts more than 35 years ago and turned chocolate chip cookies into an international business, and it’s been extraordinarily successful. I’ve worked closely with Sandy on several projects, and I’m really inspired by her attitude. Her motto is, “Stay amazed.” She’s really determined. She’s very creative, and she has a desire to always keep pushing herself. She’s always learning new things. That helps her experience her life in a really vibrant way. She’s someone who’s so successful that she could easily just sit back and stop, and she will never stop. She’s like, “I can't even imagine stopping, because it’s so much fun to keep going.” That to me is really inspirational. I really believe in keeping going.
Toni: It’s contagious.
Tracy: It is.
Toni: Why work on something or do something if you’re not having fun at it? And to stay inspired or turn it around so that you are having fun and there’s joy in it, that’s contagious.
Tracy: It really is.
Toni: That’s what I’m hearing as far as who inspires you and why they do.
Tracy: Yeah.
Toni: That’s amazing. So what do you want your legacy to be, Tracy?
Tracy: That’s a really hard question. I have two talented sons who are just starting their adult lives and their careers. They have two very different models in their parents for how to approach their careers and their lives. My husband, Boyd Wagner, is a veterinarian that many people know. He knew he wanted to be a vet when he was 15, and he lives his life in a straight line. He just knows what he wants to do, and he just keeps building on it. He’s so steady and predictable.
I’m not. I’m not very predictable. I’m on my second career, and it’s probably not my last career, because there’s other things I want to do. I kind of want my kids to understand that it’s okay to change and evolve, and that life is long and that’s okay. It’s also great to be the steady guy who stays the course, because we all need that, too. There’s just a place for both types of people in this world. I guess I want to be remembered as somebody who was open and accepting and positive, and got things done.
Toni: And wasn’t afraid of change.
Tracy: Not at all.
Toni: Well, you’re walking the talk. Thank you so much for showing up for the Get Inspired! Project.
Tracy: Thank you for having me.
