NEW YORK – “Ladies of colour within the twenty first century have a singular and unprecedented alternative to always evolve. And we owe it to ourselves, our kids– particularly our daughters– to benefit from that as a lot as we presumably can. Hopefully, I can lead by instance.”
These are the phrases of Caribbean American businesswoman Lisa Franklyn-Zaidi, former Wall Avenue dealer and present Chief Monetary Officer (CFO) of the award-winning movie and manufacturing firm RFSwolf Entertainment LLC.
Lisa Franklyn-Zaidi -Photograph courtesy of Zaharah Zaidi
Based in 2004 by Lisa’s Trinidadian born enterprise partner- Emmy nominated tv and movie producer/ director Randy Simon- RFSwolf Leisure is a movie and manufacturing entity that produces socially related content material for non-profits and varied firms. Lisa joined Randy in 2012, and since then the corporate has expanded its resume to incorporate tv actuality exhibits, function movies, artwork installations equivalent to New York’s African Burial Floor and an Off Broadway musical.
“In case you had informed me years in the past that in 2024, I, somebody with a finance background, could be deeply immersed within the leisure enterprise, managing the manufacturing of movie, tv, and stage tasks and pitching them at main festivals, I’d’ve sworn you have been joking,” says the Columbia College graduate, who pursued a level in Economics. “However I feel my journey proves that you just don’t need to be static– ever. There are at all times different challenges to aim. And life is most satisfying if you emancipate your self from psychological boundaries and embrace all of your potentialities.”
As robust advocates for human rights, racial equality and justice for ladies and the LGBTQIA group, Lisa and Randy see their work as not only a job however a duty.
Lisa along with her longtime enterprise associate Randy Simon, founder and CEO of RFSwolf Leisure. Photograph courtesy of Lisa Franklyn- Zaidi
“Randy and I really consider that we are able to increase consciousness, enlighten minds and alter hearts with our tasks. And I feel that my monetary abilities, newly acquired manufacturing data, and chatterbox character can mix collectively and permit me to contribute in very significant methods, particularly with the listing of the whole lot now we have arising in 2024.”
Upcoming Productions
On that listing is a actuality present that includes a star dentist, the discharge and distribution of their impartial function movie Third Week and a remounting of their 2023 Off Broadway musical, The Duchess Of Les- An AI Musical from LittleUkraine, which loved its world premiere on the Kraine Theatre within the East Village final fall.
The latter two tasks are emblematic of the work that Lisa and Randy are most keen about, the place artwork is used to current new realities to numerous audiences.
In Third Week, written and directed by Spanish born auteur Jordi Torrent, a younger second era Caribbean American man tries to rebuild his life after rising from a 3 12 months jail time period, utilizing his jail abilities to construct a spot for himself and his group. The movie not too long ago had its European premiere at American Movie Fest in Madrid and Barcelona, with potentialities for U.S. distribution within the close to future.
The Duchess of LES is an LGBTQIA-friendly musical that follows the story of Simon, a younger breakdancer, who falls in love along with her psychotic brother’s spouse. The musical is described as “encapsulating all of the damaged goals and grand hopes that make America the nation it’s, with music that can transport you again to the dance sounds of the 80s, as imagined by AI.” It’s written by Ukrainian playwright Dennis Woychuk. After a stable reception throughout its run final fall, Lisa, Randy and their workforce are in negotiations to remount the manufacturing later in 2024.
Lisa Franklyn-Zaidi The Early Years
For the unique New Yorker who now resides in North Carolina, and but nonetheless maintains her deep “Trini” roots, it has been a winding and unlikely path that has introduced her to her present vacation spot.
She was born in Manhattan to folks of Trinidadian descent, and partially raised in Trinidad for a number of years by her maternal grandparents. She was 4 years outdated when she and her two siblings returned to the US the place her mom, Jacklyne Cecelia Franklyn, a single mum or dad after her divorce from Lisa’s father, made schooling a prime precedence for her kids. She made enormous sacrifices, as Lisa places it, to have her kids attend non-public college, the place Lisa and her siblings proved to be gifted and gifted college students.
Whereas learning at Columbia College, Lisa reconnected along with her highschool buddy Azeem “Malik” Zaidi, who later grew to become her husband. After graduating, Lisa labored as a commodities dealer and analysis analyst on Wall Avenue at established corporations together with Firebird Capital, Wyndham Group and UBS Securities, finally changing into a advertising and marketing guide. And but, at this exact second, Lisa elected to develop into a stay-at-home mother to her brood of three, which finally grew to what she affectionately calls her “Implausible 4”– daughter Zaharah and sons Arshad, Arman and Azahn.
Lisa and her household. Again row left to right- Husband Azeem, daughter Zaharah, and son Arshad. Backside row left to right- Son Arman, son Azahn and Lisa. Photograph courtesy of Zaharah Zaidi.
Reflecting on that a part of her life now, she says, “It was a tough resolution to make. My thought course of nonetheless, was that I may at all times come again to a profession in a while, however my kids will solely be kids now. So I deferred my goals to present my kids the nurturing they deserved. And I stand by that call to this present day.”
Initially, she labored part-time with Randy at RFSwolf whereas nonetheless elevating her younger household. She dealt with accounting earlier than slowly coming into the inventive sphere as a Manufacturing Supervisor and Coordinator for impartial movies, commercials and several other PSAs sponsored by organizations such because the Nationwide Park Service and Nationwide Institute of Well being.
“It’s not the place I assumed I’d be in years in the past, but when my story proves something, it’s that evolution is typically a welcome, if sudden factor. You begin in a single profession and wind up merging it with one other. Above all else, this century presents ladies like me the chance to maintain changing into. And that,” she concludes, “is an excellent factor.”
