Biography

Michele Spitz of Woman of Her Word is a producer, narrator, public speaker, and philanthropist most passionate about advocating for media accessibility and disability awareness. Michele is dedicated to selectively funding audio description post production accessibility grants to ensure that media content is equally accessible to low vision and blind audiences. She has 12+ years experience of producing, narrating, consulting, and project managing audio description assets for film, broadcast, digital media, film festivals, media award ceremonies, museums, educational content, promotional and fundraising media. Woman of Her Word funds audio description production for a significant percentage of the 150 hand selected media projects to date with which her company has chosen to be aligned. Michele promotes media accessibility awareness and audience inclusion through ongoing public speaking engagements, thought provoking panels and educational settings. Michele has guest lectured in the film department for NYU Tisch, Disability in Media Department at Montclair University, Film Exhibition Department and Department of Visual and Media Arts at Emerson and SF State.

She has taught the Respectability Summer Lab on audio description for the past 5 years for students with disabilities in media. A partial list of panels and presentations include the Tribeca Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Gotham, DOC NYC, IDA Getting Real Conference, Film Independent, New York Film Festival, MVFF, ReelAbilities NY & LA Film Festivals, Women in Film Los Angeles (WIF LA), SAG-AFTRA LA, New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT), Diamond and PBS. Michele is often called upon to participate as a presenter conducting media accessibility workshops or seminars for multiple film and media organizations. Michele was the impetus consulting with the Motion Picture Academy that resulted in the 1st ever Audio Described Broadcast of the 93rd Academy Awards.

Woman of Her Word was the first to initiate and fund British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) scholarships for graduate film students with disabilities, originate and fund annual finishing film media accessibility grants for Tribeca Film Festival, ReelAbilities International Film Festival, NYWIFT and WIF LA, instate and underwrite tuition for students with disabilities to attend the bi annual American Council for the Blind Audio Description Institute, as well as fund assistive performing arts audience technology. She produced and narrated the audio description for the Media Access Awards 2020 through 2024, now being broadcast on PBS. Michele consulted with the 2021 SOVAS Awards aligning the first time ever audio description narration categories and both curated and moderated a Media Accessabile Panel for their career expo.

Michele is unique in that she is committed to working very closely with every film client to enlist their participation in advocating and promoting their film production's accessibility assets and furthermore advise on implementing and incorporating the audio description deliverables throughout all distribution and exhibition platforms for the shelf life of the film. For several years, Michele has traveled extensively between San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York to ascertain and merge together East and West Coast media and cultural arts accessibility philosophies and methodologies. She will be expanding her travel to the UK periodically to further her research and experience in media and arts accessibility approaches.

Some highlights of Michele’s media portfolio include documentaries such as: Barbara Walters, Wilder, Liza Minnelli, Lucy and Desi, Oliver Sacks, Bee Gees and The Beatles.

Michele has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, NBC, SF Gate, SF Examiner, PRN.FM, KWMR and multiple podcasts to name a few.

Woman of Her Word's pledge is unwavering in the pursuit for inclusion in media and the arts. Michele's very presence is a unifying force which results in equality for the communities that she serves.
- IMDb mini biography by: Michele Spitz

Woman of Her Word