Know Your HBS Staff: Avital Brodski
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Avital Brodski completed three co-ops at Northeastern University before heading to Moldova on a Fulbright grant. Now, in her first job out of college, she supports communications and marketing for the Digital Data Design Institute. We caught up with her to talk about her role, her time abroad, and her passion for documentary filmmaking.  What is your role, and what does it look like day to day? I mostly focus on content production and do a lot of video-based projects. I help film and edit projects for different groups within the Institute. We’ve been working on testing footage for an AI platform, which we use to create AI avatars of people. I work on our emails, social media, some press releases—anything content and communications related. Day to day really depends on what we’re working on. Right now, we’re heavily focused on South by Southwest (SXSW). We’re hosting a panel on whether AI will create a utopia or a dystopia, so we are making promotional material to advertise the panel, get attendees to come, and prepare people on social media. We’re recording the full session and will be posting it online afterward. What are your favorite aspects of your job? What was your path to HBS? I had three co-ops, and after graduation I did a Fulbright in Moldova, where I worked on a documentary about the environmental impact of the Soviet Union. When I came back, I started job searching and found this posting. I got the job mostly because I was well-versed in taking complex scientific research and translating it into general media and content—making it accessible for people who don’t have PhDs or master’s degrees. I’m really grateful for Northeastern’s co-op program—it prepared me well, so the transition to my first full-time job wasn’t dramatic. What got you interested in documentaries and science communications? That first documentary was about how the Philadelphia Public School District was cutting funding for arts programs in favor of sports. I never got the administration to comment, but the documentary was impactful. It was about six minutes long, and I interviewed teachers, students, and community leaders. The second documentary I did was about a public photography program for high school students to learn photography for free, in which I highlighted their work. Those were my two big high school documentaries, and ever since then, I’ve continued working on documentaries. Tell us more about your Fulbright in Moldova—what was your project and why did you choose Moldova? I was fascinated by how the Soviet Union was all about industrial revolution—they focused on production and put people’s and the environment’s health to the side. I considered Ukraine but ultimately chose its neighbor, Moldova, because of its rich agricultural economy. I focused on soil health, water pollution, and even learned a lot about the wine industry. It’s my first-ever feature-length film and 4K project. I’m still technically working on it—it’s been two years. It’s hard to work on a 90-minute project, especially since 4K takes a lot of processing power. What was it like living in Moldova for nine months? I was walking home from a film conference one day and saw her wandering. She was just a tiny kitten—about eight weeks old. I stopped to watch her, and she kept circling the block. I waited a full hour to make sure she was truly alone. Then I picked her up, and she didn’t protest or cry—she just curled up in my scarf. I never looked back. What do you like to do outside of work? |
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