THE PRODIGIOUS WOMAN
heather george of channel 13

Before I start writing an article after an interview, I normally pick one adjective that encapsulates that person's overall demeanor, and then open my handy-dandy thesaurus to the chosen word so as to arm myself with the vocabulary that will best allow me to bring out that person's personality. In the case of Heather George, manager of Access Productions LLC and producer of Telluride's Channel 13, the singular word I came up with was "unconventional." My tattered and frayed lexicon listed the following adjectives: eccentric, avant-garde, original, quirky, brilliant, outstanding, special, extraordinary. All of the latter, aptly portray Heather George,Telluride's risk-taking, media specialist.

Since Heather was 7-years-old she knew she'd "get out of the box" of Morgantown , West Virginia . She knew her life-vibes wouldn't be satisfied in her home-town. She just knew, as did her two sisters, Lisa and Megan, and her parents, she would wander out into the big blue yonder one day. Before she did so, however, she had some growing-up to do. "The saxophone, figure skating and entrepreneurial adventures were my hobbies as I grew-up. I lived with music everyday...voice and bell choirs, bands, recitals, plays...I was first chair for saxophone in my state for several years," Heather explains. "Now I think I need a music psychotherapist. I got burned-out on music, of all the competition, forced practices and styles I was expected to do. I have spoken to John Yankee (a well-respected, local music-man) about my problem," she jokes. "Maybe one day I'll come out of the closet and play and sing again." Heather competed, then taught figure skating throughout her younger years and always did what she calls free-lance jobs, which basically translated into propriety services like teaching skating or parking cars during the university's football games. She likes doing things under her own initiative, which, then again, is part of her "unconventionality," or thinking out-of-the-box outlook.

Heather graduated with honors from high school and college. She obtained an Elementary Education in an Honor's Program, which allowed her to explore other disciplines like philosophy, literature and psychology in depth. After a year of traveling, learning and teaching in Australia , she began scouting for a place to get her masters degree. Columbia and NYU were on her list, because she thought it was time to experience the big city. So, she moved to Manhattan . She had a lot of fun and great experiences there, but decided Manhattan had too many "distractions" there to really study; besides, she knew her passions were the mountains and oceans and they kept they kept beckoning her to their foothills and shores. So, after a bit more traveling, she enrolled in the " Land of Enchantment 's" University in New Mexico , and commenced her studies once again. This time, her degree would be in Organizational Learning and Instructional Technologies. While in the midst of thesis, just a stone's throw from obtaining her masters, Heather said, "I was over it." With a 4.0 GPA, Heather decided to walk away from the degree. Her heart was no longer into it. "After my over-seas experiences and my admittedly eccentric attitude, I realized that the mainstream Corporate America route, wasn't for me.

So, I started exploring again and made my way to an interview with a production company in Aspen , Colorado , where I would have been aiding them in business development and sales, which led me to a meeting with people whom were trying to build a local station in Telluride. I simply fell in love with it. They offered me an opportunity to work with them." So, she moved to Telluride in 1996. On the Edge Productions (her first DBA) was her in into the television community. She spent seven months doing free-lance work (and volunteer/internship work) with the local station and national production jobs. Then spent a year on one of Telluride's mesas doing only national production work, and locally she taught ice skating and volunteered as a mountain host. When the local station went out-of-business, her friends and family encouraged Heather to start a new station; Hence, Access Productions, which runs

the programming for Telluride's Channel 13. "I was able to launch Channel 13 with the support of an handful of individuals and businesses, which I will cherish forever - you know who you are!" she exclaims. National support from businesses like RSN and Tommy Hilfiger helped too. So, with the hard work of a few individuals like Patrick Ledwith and Sarah Humistons who helped right from the start, and sponsorships and advertising dollars, I began to build the foundation with venues based on local goings-on, personalities and such. "This summer we will take a huge leap forward. We are installing a $100,000 of professional production equipment into our newly renovated studio, thanks to our new Operations Manager Sequoia Sun. Sun has been in television and production for over 25 years with half of it being in resort television in Aspen," says Heather. She expects people to see a major improvement in their production and programming capabilities.

"The studio will blow you away!" she exclaims. "A good team is always the key, and we have a great one," Heather continues. Dino Pascarelli, James McCutcheo, Jeanna Idelson, Sequois Sun and Jenny Shen, among others, have been and will continue to be instrumental in helping Heather with her media venture. As she herself claims, Heather sees her current place in the media world as an extension of her creative-side. "I am very audio-visual oriented. TV is a natural fit for me." Being a musician, a teacher, a student and a globe-trotter of sorts, Heather's tries to "find the beautiful part of everyone," she says. "I work very hard in seeing the goodside of people and things." Heather further states that the one thing that inspires her most is finding "the Yin and Yang" in life. Her family taught her about love, and people like her eccentric father, Big Mike, and the many other special connections and experiences she has had, have taught her that life can be brilliant if you employ two simple things: Compassion for others and love. Currently, this dynamic and prodigious 29-year-old, says her balance will be complete she finds her life-partner and has children. It's part of the natural scheme-of-things; which may suggest she has some "conventional wisdom" as well.