How Tiffany Rodriguez is charting her own course in the film industry
Tiffany Rodriguez knows how to trust her inner voice. Her unconventional path to the film industry began after she discovered her passion for film production while studying music at Franklin Learning Center High School in Philadelphia.
In her junior year, Tiffany won a Mid-Atlantic Emmy as a student producer for a documentary on asbestos contamination in Philadelphia schools. The film exposed the district’s negligence, and highlighted student walkouts, as well as the closure of ten schools.
“It was such a surreal thing that we were actually being listened to for the first time in a very long time,” she recalls. “I felt a sense of accomplishment, like I gave a large body of people a voice.”
Tiffany’s mentor at her local PBS station WHYY, Brianna Spause, then introduced her to SRL’s prompts on how COVID-19 reshaped education. Tiffany shared her experience balancing family support while sick with the virus, and her story aired on PBS NewsHour. This was the start of her work with SRL.
Tiffany attended the 2022 SRL Summer Academy in Phoenix, Arizona before enrolling at the Community College of Philadelphia. But she soon realized college wasn’t right for her.
“The stress of high school and then going into the bigger stress of college was terrible for my mental health,” she says. “I hated it, and I was just like, I can’t feed into that anymore. I’m just gonna do my own thing.”
In 2022, SRL brought Tiffany to Washington D.C. to host We the Young People: Moments of Truth, a live special on youth engagement during the midterm election. She then joined the Google News Initiative to create digital content before taking a break from college to freelance and gain firsthand experience. 
“And then I kind of had a realization,” she recounts. “Like, okay, I’m older now. I was 18, 19. I was like, let’s get into the business. Let’s do the industry. Let’s do me. Let’s finally create the things that I wanna create.”
In 2023, WHYY asked Tiffany to create a documentary of her choice as part of their Youth Set the Stage program. She produced Making Film Black and Girly, which interrogates Black women’s lack of representation in film, and will be out soon on their YouTube.
“It was so much fun to create because for the first time, I was creating something that was for myself,” she explains. “ I really want my art to speak for other people as well.”
Currently, Tiffany works as a studio assistant at REC Philly Studios, where she does contracting and freelance work. Most recently, she wrapped season 2 of Tires on Netflix as a camera PA.
“It was such hard work, some 60 hour days, but it was just so fulfilling.”
Tiffany describes her ideal projects as “weird, wacky, imaginative content for people with overactive brains.” Her north star is creating art that uplifts overlooked communities. She’s now working on documentaries focused on the tight-knit, niche communities that give life to her city. She’s most proud of the connections she’s made in these spaces.
Tiffany believes that though the film industry can feel stagnant and “gatekeepy,” inventive young people can rework that environment. She encourages those with fringe perspectives to find resources dedicated to platforming young people— like SRL— and keep putting themselves out there.
“The new generation is here, and we’re ready to, like, come into the workplace, come into the environment, and shake some stuff up.”
Tiffany’s career has been defined by self-assurance, avoiding stagnation, and following her instincts instead of her fears. In uphill moments, Tiffany looks to her inner child for the fire to continue:
“I feel as though she would think I’m so cool, and I think that she would be so proud of me right now for the fact that I keep going. I’m setting myself up to make my future self proud.”