Mairen Tierney is from the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. For a majority of her life, she has had a strong love and enjoyment of Film and Cinema, and is now majoring in Digital Media and Film and intending to minor in Gender Studies at St. Lawrence University.
Inside and outside of school she is involved with the Digital Scholarship Fellowship, club lacrosse, the Humane Society, Backcountry Squatters, Film Club, and the St. Johnsbury Heritage Center. She is also a member of the Scuba Club and is currently working towards becoming a divemaster in the hopes of diving with and advocating for sharks. In her free time she loves hiking and being outdoors, dancing, playing Catan, learning how to read Tarot cards, taking Korean lessons on Duolingo, and making short films, montages, and reels!
Although she is on the journey of figuring out what messages and intended impacts she wants to create, she draws influence from those closest to her. Topics she is passionate about are shark conservation; how to change perceptions of sharks in pop-culture and mass media; masculinity depicted in U.S film and international film; promoting healthy masculinity, healing, and self love in men; sexual violence prevention and education; transnational LGBTQ+ politics; family stories and lore as a form of identity; and a concept coined by John Koenig, “Sonder”– the realization that everyone around has their own life as vivid and complex as your own. Overall, empathy and unspoken emotions influence her personal projects.