• Film & Digital Media

Emily Ackerman

  • Costumer, IATSE Motion Picture 705

    Industry: Education

    SUSD Schools Attended:

    Desert Mountain High School

    Graduated: 2016

    How did SUSD prepare you for success?

    "I was in fashion classes in high school which prepared me to go to FIDM. Wilkins was so inspiring and encouraging in helping me chase my dreams. I believe if I wasn’t at Desert Mountain, I would have not ended up in the film industry."

Annie Fitzsimmons

  • Writer, National Geographic; Open Invite Trips

    Industry: Education

    SUSD Schools Attended:

    Cochise Elementary School, Cocopah Middle School, Chaparral High School

    Graduated: 2000

    How did SUSD prepare you for success?

    "The Scottsdale public schools–all the friends I made there and my teachers–are forever a part of who I am. There were so many teachers who made me believe I could do anything: Chris Marsh, Greg Basila, Ken Van Buren, Renate Mousseux for French class, my counselor Ann Evans (who helped with my favorite club All-Stars!), and more. I now live in London after a decade in New York City and my job in travel and media has taken me around the world. I've held various roles at National Geographic, including as their first and only Urban Insider, Luxury Editor, and now writing NatGeo's Hotels of a Lifetime book. I've been an editor for other travel media and recently started a Europe trips company with a friend. I was taught to see the world with curiosity and empathy, that books could take us far away, that anything was possible. Childhood is short, but if we are very lucky (and I was), what we learned and who we met are with us forever."