Encouraged by a mentor in New Jersey while assistant directing a stage play, Monica Macer decided to follow her dreams and move to L.A. with her future husband. Starting as an assistant at Nickelodeon Movies on the Paramount Lot during Sherry Lansing and Joe D’Ambrosio’s tenure, she got her start as the writer’s assistant on 24 and then went on to work on such shows as Lost, Prison Break, and Nashville before becoming a showrunner on Queen Sugar. “I’d been looking for a place to get involved with,” she says about discovering MPTF, “that really had values and interests that aligned with mine.” Encouraged by her friend Yvette Nicole Brown, she was moved by meeting the residents on campus: “I was hooked.” After she got involved, she turned to MPTF four years ago when her father was diagnosed with cancer and had to go into hospice care. MPTF’s social workers gave the answers she needed.
That experience ignited Monica to become an active member of MPTF’s NextGen and soon she joined the NextGen Board. Keeping our mission alive for younger generations is an ongoing goal with NextGen, a diverse group of young industry professionals playing their part to spread the word. Monica helped come up with a tagline for NextGen: “We educate. We celebrate. And we serve.” At our 100th anniversary celebration on June 18, 2022, Monica took the stage to talk about how she got involved with NextGen and why it’s so important to give back now and for workers who will need help in the future.
