By NICHOLAS SNOW
Both Lisa Thrasher and Stacy Codikow—the duo at the helm of POWER UP (the Professional Organization of Women in Entertainment Reaching Up) concede they were introduced by a friend (Dr. Alicia Burke), but Stacy provided more details.
“We met at a POWER UP pool party,” she explained. “My chiropractor had been trying to set us up for a while. I’m sitting at the pool party and I see this girl walk across the party in what I thought was a three-piece black suit in 100 degree weather. I remember thinking to myself, ‘Who the hell would wear a black three-piece suit to a pool party? This girl must be dying.’ I just thought she was insane. Lisa spotted me and as always I was wearing pajama bottoms. Lisa thought to herself, ‘Who the hell would wear pajamas to a pool party?’ We said, ‘Hi.’ The next time we met, again at a POWER UP event, we realized we had been running in the same circles for years and had a lot of friends in common. The rest is history.”
According to Lisa, it was love at first sight, but they have no plans to get married, as she explained, “We are both hippies at heart and enjoy the unconventional path,” and added, “My father was a civil rights attorney and Stacy’s father was a holocaust survivor, so individual freedoms and equality are exceptionally important to us both.”
POWER UP, the only 501(c)3 non-profit film production company and educational organization for women and the GLBTQ community. It was conceived in October 2000 with the mission “to promote the visibility and integration of gay women in entertainment, arts and all forms of media.” Beamed Stacy, “Challenging perception through film” is one of POWER UP’s greatest accomplishments and gifts.”
POWER UP, “develops, finances, produces and distributes award winning films; conducts tremendously successful educational programs through our hands-on filmmaking mentorships, classes, workshops and seminars; provides career, script, television and film counseling; publishes a magazine; awards notable contributors to the arts, entertainment and our community; bolsters our community; and unifies and validates GLBTQ persons all around the world via our films.”
Over the past 10 years, POWER UP, its films, and awardees have garnered much respect and media attention as have POWER UP’s “10 Amazing Gay Women in Showbiz.” These awards were even spoofed on Saturday Night Live by host and POWER UP awardee Ellen DeGeneres. Moreover, the awardees were even congratulated directly by Vermont Governor Howard Dean while he was running for the Presidential nomination for the Democratic Party.
The one thing that has changed about POWER UP in its eleven years history is that, in 2009, they officially brought men into the fold at every level of the organization.
As for Stacy and Lisa, they’re very busy beyond the organization as well. Lisa produced Cherien Dabis’ “Memoirs of an Evil Stepmother” teaches, and is producing a film about South Africa, while Stacy is writing a book, a script, runs another business, and also teaches.
I was surprised to learn during the interview that the couple now calls Palm Springs home in addition to L.A. Lisa shared, “We love the pride and graciousness of Palm Springs and its GLBTQ community. We decided to set Palm Springs as the location of our next film and look forward to integrating POWER UP into this wonderful oasis.”
“Die, Angelo, Die,” a black comedy thriller, Stacy explained, “was written to be shot in Palm Springs, and we have been scouting locations and landmark sites to use in the film. We want to tap into the local community to be a part of this project as well, from extras to crew and, of course, donors and supporters are always encouraged.”
Among their accomplishments, Stacy explained, “I am so proud of our mentorship program, which is the only program out there that teaches on the set of a professional movie. It’s 50% boot camp, 50% university and 100% awesome. The POWER UP Filmmaking Mentorship Program is not for the faint of heart. I overheard on the set probably the best expressed sentiments of the mentees, explaining, ‘There’s no other place where one can get this much access and education. It’s like film school meets the Universal Studios tour with a trip to Fantasy Island thrown in!’”
For more information about everything POWER UP, visit www.powerupfilms.org.
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