'My passion for film and photography has always remained'

For over 25 years, we have been connecting organizations with the best marketing, communication and content professionals. We find suitable assignments or positions for junior, medior and senior professionals. In Spot On, we would like to introduce them to you. This time, Spot On: Cynthia Schild, Communications Advisor ai at the Province of North Holland

“I am happy with my assignment, because in this way I can contribute to the climate.”

At the University of the Arts, Cynthia Schild learned all about digital media. She now finds websites 'boring', but film and photography continue to fascinate her. For the province of North Holland, she filmed the carports with solar panels in Bloemendaal with a drone.

“I’m going to make a documentary about my roots. My family on my mother’s side comes from Indonesia. My mother was born there, but I’m from the first generation in the Netherlands. I know their stories, but I want to experience what it’s like there myself. I’ve been to Indonesia five times now and during corona I learned the language and did a lot of research. During my travels I found a lot of missing puzzle pieces of myself and made new friends. Ultimately I want to go there for three or four months to film. So that all the stories about my family are preserved for future generations.”

Film

“Filming and photographing are in my blood. I got my first camera when I was ten. Before that, I had been borrowing my parents' camera for years. We also had a really old 8mm film camera. You could film three minutes with it. My grandfather from Indonesia also liked to take photos and film. That's why my family has a lot of photos, slides and even 10mm film from that time. So it wasn't so strange that after high school I went to study Digital Media at the Utrecht School of the Arts. That study was new at the time. There I learned everything about 'new media' and I was also able to work with videos.”

Japanese

“When I left school, there were few jobs available. I also discovered that the Netherlands was not yet ready for the internet. ‘What do you mean, a website or e-mail, you can just send letters or call?’ I was told things like that. In addition, it was not easy to find a job as a woman with a migration background in a man’s world. In 2004, I was able to start working at NTT Docomo, a Japanese company that worked with KPN. There I learned to program and create apps for mobile phones, which hardly existed at the time. After three years, the Netherlands was still not ready for digital media. It remained difficult to find work in my field for years.”

I find it important that I can contribute to society in my work and really mean something to people.

“The funny thing is: now I don’t really like making websites anymore. In the end I really did everything: coming up with concepts, design, programming, advising. Especially in government, because I think it’s important that I can contribute to society in my work and really mean something to people. In the beginning I was one of the few female website builders. When it got boring, I started giving training. That’s how I discovered that working with people is much more fun than sitting behind a computer all day. I met a lot of communication consultants and thought: that’s the direction I need to go, communication advice is really something for me.”

Passion

“My passion for film and photography has always remained. I made websites part-time for years and still earned enough to pay the rent. In addition, I had time to do my own film projects and money to finance them myself. Initially, I did it myself, because there was no permanent job to be found. I also made a lot of videos for friends who are musicians. I really enjoyed that. But I also made videos for magazines and events. Later, I got more paid video assignments and there were more and more jobs in which I could do more with video. For example, I made all kinds of promotional videos about the city for the Municipality of Haarlem.”

Province or State

“I think it’s great that I can also make videos for my latest assignment. I found this assignment after a nice conversation with Wesley, Recruitment Consultant at Babbage. He introduced me to the Province of North Holland, where I am now a communications advisor for the Regional Energy Strategy (RES). Among other things, I advise municipalities on how they can create support for sustainable energy. I also filmed the provincial executive for the start of a new campaign in collaboration with an agency. This also includes a toolkit for municipalities to make their own videos, with which they can answer questions from residents. For example: How can I install solar panels on the roof of my rented house? Like this!”

Drone

Itineraries

“I am happy with my assignment at the province, because in this way I can contribute to the climate. Actually, I have always been involved in sustainability. For example, about ten years ago I set up an organic plant-based café in Leiden together with friends. There I cooked Indonesian food – of course. What I also like about working at the province is that there are relatively many people with a foreign background working there, it is a reflection of society. So I am enjoying it, but if I get the chance, I will travel the world and only make films. That is really my dream job.”

Are you also looking for a new challenge? We would love to talk to you and find your next step together.