Hello! I’m Elaine Fernandez. I’m available for a wide range of projects, with experience in producing, planning, organizing, and administration. I also have a small photography studio, portable equipment, and a powerful Canon EOS with great lenses, which I often incorporate into my work. You can find samples HERE.

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Elaine Fernandez. Freelance Professional Based in New York.

Contact me HERE.

My Eclectic Career:

• My career began in human services with the Kingston Cares project, a community-based collaboration designed to strengthen high-risk neighborhoods through education, mobilization and prevention.

• I merged my experience in human services with my media training and co-founded The Citizen, a monthly civic magazine that examined the impact of national issues in the Hudson Valley region of New York. You can find samples HERE.

• A dedicated and unbiased section for local legislative input led to my appointment as a Legislative Analyst for the New York State Assembly’s Standing Committee on Social Services (and later the Senate’s), where I spent a significant amount of time reviewing, assessing, and making recommendations for State funded social policy initiatives.

• When I left the Legislature, I spent a year traveling across the state to interview people about the impact of the recent recession on their economic well-being and subsequently produced thirty-five short video interviews on a Vlog created for this purpose.

• When I returned back home to the Hudson Valley, I ran for local office and worked in both state and municipal government. During that time I also rekindled an old passion and became involved with the local playhouse, which led to the creation of Hudson Valley Playwrights, a thriving lab for established and aspiring playwrights.

• As founder and director of the lab, I marketed and produced dozens of short plays developed in the workshops, including a few of my own. Photos from lab sessions, staged readings, and full productions can be found HERE.

• I left public service to pursue a freelance career in 2020. I love using my multi-faceted experience as a free agent and enjoy the challenge of new projects.

Accomplishments

• Community and artistic endeavors featured in the Daily Freeman, Kingston Times, Poughkeepsie Journal, River Chronicle, WAMC’S The Roundtable, Pacifica Radio, Marist Radio, WKNY Radio, and Trinity Broadcast.

Awards

• Outstanding Community Service: “Heroes In Our Backyard.” Kingston Cares project, Kingston, New York.

Civic

• AmeriCorps VISTA
• Certified Instructor, Adult Basic Literacy and English as a Foreign Language

Volunteerism & Memberships (past & present)

• Dramatists Guild of America
• Women’s Enterprise Development Center, Planning Committee
• Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley, Grants Committee
• WKZE Listener Advisory Board

Personal Interests

• Film
• Community theatre
• Photography
• Healthy living
• Wildlife conservation
• Camping
• Kayaking