Rachel Feldman’s superpower is storytelling. She discovered it as a little girl growing up in a household marred by conflict and emotional pain that she could block out by living in her imagination. She developed it as a child actor who made up characters and voices while appearing in hundreds of TV commercials and cartoons. And she polished her gift in college and graduate school creating scripts and award-winning short films.

So, of course she took her superpower to the capital of storytelling—Hollywood—with dreams of making it big. And there she hit the “celluloid ceiling” that says filmmaking and scriptwriting is a man’s world, honey: No women need apply.

Years of disappointment and frustration followed. But this story has a happy ending: In 2024, Rachel Feldman released her first feature-length film—an independent production that she co-wrote and directed called “LILLY.” It tells the story of equal pay activist Lilly Ledbetter, an unassuming Alabama grandmother whose fight for economic justice went all the way to the Supreme Court before it became the basis of the Lilly Ledbetter Equal Pay Act of 2009—the first piece of legislation President Obama signed as he took office.

“I believe strongly that those privileged enough to be storytellers should use our voice to make an impact,” says Rachel. “Because I really do believe that love is the answer.” Read more about Rachel’s inspiring story here.