MEMBER FOCUS: Gentry Wilson
Founder & Creative Director of Waken Creative Studio
REFUGEES FACE EXTREME ADVERSITY when resettling into the United States. Factor in a pandemic, and the multitude of obstacles are compounded, with many folks experiencing hunger, unemployment, alienation, PTSD, and a lack of basic resources. Since moving to Charlottesville last year with her husband and son, Gentry Wilson utilizes her breadth of knowledge in filmmaking and communications to share the stories of our town’s refugee community. “We were coming from Houston, which is one of the biggest refugee resettlement cities in the country. Upon moving here, I began doing work with International Neighbors, which is a non-governmentally funded agency that helps people build new lives and equips them for success.”
Through the power of personalized narratives, Gentry uses film, photography, design, and other digital media to amplify the ongoing work of social impact businesses, like International Neighbors. Much like the work she did in her hometown (see Houston Welcomes Refugees: The Journey), Gentry is driven by the organization’s mission to provide essential supplies and resources to refugee families, especially during this time of COVID-19. As she notes, “On top of the challenges we are all facing, they are running up against language and cultural barriers. Disparities, like technology gaps, are more pronounced given that everyone is having to interact, work, and do school on laptops.” Now more than ever, her work is critical. Without storytellers like Gentry, socially-driven brands and businesses would not be able to communicate and spread their missions to others at a large scale.
Her passion for humanitarian-based efforts first began while attending UT Austin, where she majored in Advertising. Halfway through undergrad, she interned at Krochet Kids Intl., which is a company that helps people in developing nations rise above poverty by offering employment opportunities to make craft goods, like beanies and accessories. It was there that she learned about Slow Fashion (an emerging wave of ethical and sustainable manufacturing processes), which drove Gentry to fine tune her advertorial skill sets and work alongside other brands who are also making a positive impact. Over time, she started taking on her own clients and building a robust portfolio. By 2018, Gentry founded her very own digital media firm called, Waken Creative Studios.
Her client work has taken her around the world, where she has documented stories on wildlife conservation in Kenya, on family reunification in Uganda, female empowerment in Cambodia (and more). With international travel being cancelled due to the pandemic, Gentry expanded her offerings beyond primarily film production and began to provide more consultations on communications strategy for social impact businesses. She, too, has placed more emphasis on her local environment; “I think if the pandemic has had any sort of silverling for me, it has been learning how to lean into your own community and see what difference you can make there. Digging deep roots, and blooming where you are planted, is just as powerful and effective as traveling across the world.”
When discussing the photo-journalism she has done for Charlottesville’s International Neighbors and her ongoing work for refugee families, it is clear how motivated she is to use multimedia to illuminate our shared humanity. Even though people might have different customs or beliefs, Gentry points out how “people may be coming from across the globe but when you zoom in and hear their stories, you see that they want the same things for their lives as you or your neighbor. We really are more similar than we are different.” In the coming months, Gentry and her family will likely be relocating to New York City, following her husband’s graduation from Darden. She will continue doing communications for grassroots organizations, but also plans to attend NYU’s Journalism School to do long-form documentary work through an investigative and holistic lens. In the meantime, Gentry is grateful to be able to make an impact locally, encouraging people to get involved in refugee resettlement any way they can.