Take Five with Meera Menon ’06

Meera Menon ’06 is a New Jersey-born, Los Angeles-based filmmaker whose directing credits include the films Equity (featured at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival) and Farah Goes Bang (Nora Ephron Prize winner, 2013 Tribeca Film Festival feature), and television shows such as Glow, Halt and Catch Fire, The Magicians, Outlander, The Terror, The Man in the High Castle, The Walking Dead and Snowfall. She is a graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and was a 2014 fellow of the Fox Global Directors Initiative.

What were you like when you arrived at Columbia?

I was like a character out of the musical 42nd Street. Having grown up in New Jersey, New York was my Emerald City. I was completely doe-eyed about finally getting to live there.

What do you remember about your first-year living situation?

I lived in Furnald because it looked the nicest. I wish I lived in John Jay because all my friends ended up living there! It was on the Broadway side so I remember spending a lot of time walking on Riverside Drive and renting movies from Kim’s.

What class do you most remember and why?

Two classes: “Feminist Art from 1960s–Present” with Christina Kaier and a seminar on the Beats with Ann Douglas. I still think all the time about the works I studied in those classes when putting together my own work.

Did you have a favorite spot on campus, and what did you like about it?

The Hungarian Pastry Shop. Me and my friend Marc DaCosta ’06 would meet there in the morning before class to discuss the difference between being happy and being content. It was deep.

What, if anything, about your College experience would you do over?

I wish it could have lasted eight years. There were so many classes I wish I could have taken, but didn’t have the time. It went by all too quickly. If I could do it over, I would have tried less hard to be cool enough for New York City and realized that Columbia liked me just the way I was.