Neardey Trinh
Neardey Vanny Trinh, the second daughter of three girls was born September 1, 1978, in the midst of one of the worst genocide in human history: The Pol Pot regime, a regime in which she and her family later escaped and found refuge in the United States.
Neardey and her family settled in Northern Virginia where she attended Fairfax High School. Shortly after graduation, Neardey joined the United States Navy as an Operations Specialist, a choice that would allow Neardey to have the ability and means to travel the world. The experience deeply colored her understanding of world politics and later propelled her to pursue a BA degree in Political Science. She graduated from George Mason University in 2004.
Neardey has since then worked at L-3 Communications (Titan Group), Booz Allen Hamilton, System Research and Application (SRA) International Inc., Knowledge Consulting Group (KCG), where she supported a variety of government clients specializing in Continuity of Operations (COOP), Emergency Planning/Management and Information Assurance. She also consults to General Building Services (GBS) Inc. as an Account Manager with the Business Development Team and leads the proposal process to capture business opportunities to expand the company.
In 2010, Neardey completed her Master’s of Science (M.S.) in Conflict Analysis and Resolution at the Institute of Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) from George Mason University. During her graduate studies, she became passionate in the topic of the Cambodian Genocide. Going back into her ethnic roots, Cambodian history and conflict became center of all her studies.
Caylee So
Caylee So was born in a refugee camp in Thailand on September 17th 1981, just after her parent’s escape from the reign of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. When she was just three years old, her family immigrated to the United States. She grew up in Northern Virginia where she spent most of her youth.
In 2000, soon after her high school graduation, Caylee joined the US armed forces and served in the Virginia Army National Guard for the next eight years. There, she wrote for a little column called Caylee’s Corner, a newsletter that was sent out to friends and families of deployed soldiers.
In between tour of duty, Caylee attended Northern Virginia Community College where she discovered her love of writing fiction. She later transferred to George Mason University to pursue a degree in creative writing. Creative writing led to theatre, and theatre led to film; all mediums that had one thing in common: they all captured stories.
In 2011, Caylee was awarded the Zonta’s Women in Film grant for Most Promising Young Filmmaker. In 2012 Caylee received her MFA in Film Production at Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, having won the Best Picture and Best Director at her school’s Cecil Awards that year. She is also the winner of the Director’s Guild of America’s 18th annual Best Female Student Director award. She is the co-founder of the 1st Cambodia Town Film Festival in Long Beach, CA and the winner of the Linda Mabelot’s New Directors/New Visions Award. Caylee is currently developing her 1st feature film.
Combining the 14+ years of business development experiences of Neardey Trinh and the artistic talents of Writer/Director Caylee So, they hope to unite and bring an innovative voice and vision to the cinematic storytelling of greatly inspired compelling works.