Bridgette Powell is a software engineer at Industrial Light & Magic, currently developing pipeline data tools and workflows for artists. Prior to working at ILM, Bridgette began her career in R&D for the feature animation industry. The creative collaboration between artists and engineers is what inspires her to work in film. Bridgette’s curiosity motivates her to reach out to production departments, learn their workflows, and develop tools to improve artist efficiency. Bridgette holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Georgia Tech and an M.S. in Computer Science from U.C. San Diego.

What do you like to do when you’re not working?

I’m a huge fan of restaurants and cocktail bars. My husband and I have been to Michelin-star restaurants as well mom-and-pop joints. Before Covid, we loved traveling and would get to as many unique places in the city we were in. We miss the storytelling that a great, in-person food experience gives you, but we’re supporting local chefs/bartenders and their pop-ups as much as we can 🙂

We want to start a remodeling project on our house, so I’m looking forward to working with an interior designer and construction company b/c I have a passion for learning new things and collaborating with people that don’t do what I do. I have an appreciation for design, architecture and the engineering that goes into building homes is really impressive! Even though it’s a different industry, the design/engineering collaboration reflects a lot of what we do in the film industry, so I can appreciate the process.

Also trying to get into gardening, but currently struggling haha. However, I have managed to keep 2 meyer lemon trees thriving, so lots of lemonade so far!

Do you have a personal motto or other words to live by?

If you don’t do it, someone else will.”
This can apply to your career goals, general life skills, relationships, etc.

Favorite snack food?

Donuts

What else would you like us to know?

I have a passion for outreach because I do believe that the baseline involves purely educating people on what career options are available. I had no idea what the technology roles in film did. Showing people that there’s variety to what we do in film is a great starting point–it gives them the opportunity to decide if it’s something they want to pursue, rather than completely writing it off because they didn’t know about it or fully understand what those roles entail (regardless of which studio they end up at!).