Paige Williams, founder and CEO of Audience Awards, launched her business by googling "how to start a tech business" five years ago. With three degrees, one in philosophy and two in the arts, she launched a company specializing in connecting aspiring filmmakers with sponsors, festivals and media outlets.
"At the end of the day what we are really doing is we are democratizing entertainment, we are giving everyone a chance to get discovered and we are letting the global audience say: 'This is what we love,'" Williams says.
Williams launched Audience Awards in 2013 as a platform to support short-format filmmakers honing their craft. By focusing on advancing “unheard and diverse voices,” Audience Awards has enlisted the funding support of companies like Hilton Worldwide, Univision, Kodak and GoDaddy.
Williams shares her journey from social worker to award-winning filmmaker to art-meets-commerce matchmaker in this episode of “Can Do: Lessons from Savvy Montana Entrepreneurs.”
Tune in to learn about the benefits of creating an LLC; how to make an income with your art; and how to connect from small-town Montana to the greater business world.
"The Journey of Water" is one film competing in the Audience Awards 2018 Wild And Green Shorts Film Festival
This podcast is made possible with support from the Greater Montana Foundation.