'Uptown Girl' Brings Local Storytelling To Washington Heights

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Uptown Girl Productions is more than a business for lifelong Washington Heights resident Franchesca Feliz.

Uptown Girl Productions is a website that Feliz created to use videography to tell the stories of residents in the Washington Heights and Inwood communities.

"A business and blog that was born out of my emotion towards the changes that are happening in my neighborhood," Feliz told Patch. "Those changes are gentrification, high-rise buildings getting constructed, and people getting kicked out of their apartments."

Feliz has spent all 25 years of her life living in Washington Heights.

"To see how the neighborhood has changed, it makes me think about what I can do about it. So that's how I started Uptown Girl Productions, as a way to preserve the culture of the neighborhood through videography," she added.

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Making a one-woman-band look easy, one day at a time. All jokes aside, who shot this? sent to me by @rosarinat47 #uptowngirlproductions #inwood #rezoning #press #pressconference dyckman #community #unity #producer #uptown
A post shared by Franchesca Feliz (@uptowngirlproductions) on Dec 20, 2019 at 9:30am PST

Feliz most recently created a video about the Black Lives Matter protests going on in Washington Heights. Previously, she has used the Uptown Girl Productions platform to create stories about the Dyckman Farmhouse, the Inwood Rezoning Plan and the Dominican Cultural Community Center in Washington Heights.

Feliz manages the Uptown Girl Productions business while she works full time for the TV news network Bronx Net. She also previously worked for Spectrum News NY1.

While she is not sure whether Uptown Girl Productions will ever become her full-time job, she has felt "overwhelmed" by the support of the platform from the Washington Heights community.

"It's [Washington Heights community] been so supportive. I'm overwhelmed with the support," Feliz told Patch. "Honestly, I was a little scared about what was going to happen when I started out, but my fellow creatives and people that are not even in the realm have been very supportive and open to what I'm doing."

Feliz might love what she's doing with Uptown Girl Productions, but the workload for the one-woman shop can still be strenuous.

She finds the projects herself, shoots the projects herself, produces the projects herself, and edits everything herself. Feliz describes herself as a "one-woman band."

However, she did collaborate on her most recent project about the Washington Heights Black Lives Matter protests with Estefania Chavez, a fellow neighborhood creative.

Feliz plans to work with Chavez again on Uptown Girl Productions' next story about educating Dominican people on their Black roots.

She is not sure what Uptown Girl Productions will grow into, but Feliz knows she wants to continue with it.

"I'm getting a lot of good feedback and support, so it is definitely motivating me to continue," she told Patch.

You can find all of Uptown Girl Productions' stories on its website.