Between waking up at 6 a.m., taking meetings for her jewelry and production companies, working toward her Columbia degree, and walking her dog for 40 minutes, actress, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Bailey Bass, GS ’27, is booked and busy.

In diva-like fashion, Deborah Paredez, associate professor of professional practice in writing at the School of the Arts and chair of the School of the Arts Writing Program, captured the attention of the audience in the Katharina Otto-Bernstein Screening Room.

When actress Madison Hu, GS ʼ24, isn’t starring in a Netflix series alongside Academy Award-winning actress Michelle Yeoh, she spends her time chatting at her kitchen island with her roommate or enjoying a Ferris berry salad. She will graduate from Columbia this spring with a degree in creative writing.

If you were to ask actress and singer-songwriter Kacey Fifield, CC ʼ27, to describe her sound in three words, she would tell you “nostalgic, euphoric, and haunting.” When Fifield is not in the studio working on new music, she is likely hanging out with friends, at the gym, or in the Schapiro or Carman Hall practice rooms.

With the Cathedral of St. John the Divine as the backdrop, the future of Harlem’s cultural legacy gathered for a night of conversation.

In the era of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” critiques of translating women’s unrealistic expectations in a patriarchal society onto the silver screen have resurfaced. Feminist films are often flagged for their surface-level depictions of female empowerment and lack of queer representation. Yet Molly McGlynn’s coming-of-age dramedy “Fitting In,” screened on March 2 at the Athena Film Festival, unapologetically explores the struggles of womanhood in the modern world.

When Sophia Olmeda, SEAS ’24, walks into a Columbia elevator with another student present, she will likely start shuffling through Spotify to queue a song on her phone, intent on avoiding awkward eye contact.

The early beginnings of Kaija Saariaho’s composing career were characterized by sexist and derogatory criticism. Nevertheless, Saariaho still became the “pathbreaking” contemporary composer she is remembered as today.

When Bella Williams, BC ’26, started their first year at Columbia, a classmate asked them who their favorite director was. Williams’ answer: Spike Lee. In response, their classmate challenged their love for Spike Lee in a way Williams said felt shaming.