Jennifer White

Director of Special Events

Jennifer White is a television producer, art lover, and avid volunteer. Born and raised in Michigan, she has lived in Chicago, Los Angeles and now calls New York City her home.

Jennifer graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in Interdisciplinary Humanities, focusing on art history, theater, and film. Prior to her studies at Michigan State she also studied theater for two years at Columbia College Chicago. She spent three summers in London as a teaching assistant for the British Studies film program at University College London and the British Film Institute in conjunction with Michigan State University. During this time she had the pleasure of meeting such notable filmmakers as Mike Leigh, Mira Nair, Mike Newell, John Madden and Gurinder Chadha to name a few. During this time she also spent endless hours in the dark at the acclaimed Edinburgh International Film Festival, a life-changing experience.

Jennifer’s love of film led her to the East Lansing Film Festival where she began as a film programmer. Traveling to festivals in both Europe and around the US she sourced all genres of film for the eager audiences in East Lansing, MI. In 2001 she had the honor of becoming the Director of the organization, taking the place of its founding Director for the fourth year of the festival. During this exciting time Jennifer had the opportunity to work with filmmakers from around the world to bring their work to the ELFF, consult on a Children’s Film Festival, program and organize weekly screening for the Film Society, lead the organization’s Board of Directors, and work with a team of tireless volunteers to bring quality, educational, and entertaining films to Michigan.

For the past decade Jennifer has worked in the television industry. As a producer, she has been involved with many genres of non-fiction programming from game shows ("Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?") to international competition shows (Emmy Award winning "Amazing Race") to feel-good shows ("Oprah’s Big Give") and just about everything else in between. This exciting and challenging work has taken her around the United States, to nearly 50 countries around the world on seven continents and, most importantly, produced unforgettable experiences along the way.