A few years ago I went to a conference, QCon, in London, where among the speakers, there was one who told her personal story of how she wasn’t taken serious in the tech field, until she cut her hair. That was my first encounter with Alexandra Qin.

Since hearing her talk, I’ve followed her work. She founded Emergent Works (as Code Cooperative) in 2016 and ran it until 2021. Emergent Works is a NYC based organization which does amazing work helping formerly incarcerated people, through training and mentorship. I highly recommend supporting them, if you have time and/or funds to spare.

From being the CEO of Emergent Works,  Alexandra Qin went on to write a short film, and raise money for it through Kickstarter. It was Thirstygirl, which was funded and made.

After it was produced, the short has been shown at a few film festivals. I went to a screening at the Aesthetica Short Film Festival in York, UK, where I also got the chance to say hi to Alexandra Qin.

Currently, the short film is being screened at the Sundance Festival, which obviously is fantastic. To read about how Alexandra Qin felt when she heard about the selection and to hear more about the background of the film, go read Unpacking sex addiction: Director Alexandra Qin talks about her deeply personal Sundance short film

Disclaimer: I have helped support Emergent Works financially, and I was one of the backers of Thirstygirl on Kickstarter.