Sydney's experiences vary due to her attempts to work in all fields that interest her, but she has spent a large portion of her writing career as a journalist, both broadcast and print, as well as script writing for both video production and the stage. Sydney also has a strong academic writing and research background and, as member of the millennial generation, has a wealth of experience in multimedia composition for such platforms as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Sydney is a film nerd with an insatiable thirst for noir mysteries and thrillers. Her favorites include The Prestige, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Dark Knight and The Lord of the Rings. Considering her youth spent watching Alien, The X-Files, and Batman: The Animated Series, it comes without shock that Sydney also enjoys reading and has a particular weakness for science fiction novels as well as comic books and graphic novels. A fictional character she most identifies with would be Liz Lemon from 30 Rock married with Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings. She loves the Atlanta Braves and listening to podcasts like IGN's "UK Podcast" and Kevin Smith's "Fat Man on Batman".
Berry College is a small liberal arts college in Rome, Georgia, featuring a renowned student work program and an eight-to-one student-to-deer ratio. At Berry, Sydney worked in the scene shop of the theater, on the newspaper staff as an assistant features editor and at Berry's student-run multimedia website, Viking Fusion. In the communication department, Sydney studied multimedia production, news and feature writing, as well as narrative script writing and academic visual media criticism. As a senior, Sydney was awarded Best Review, Third Place from the Georgia College Press Association for her review of "The Master" and presented a textual analysis entitled "Futuristic Firearms and Characterization in Looper" at an undergraduate panel for the National Pop Culture Association in Washington, D.C.
Sydney has written a number of short films and PSAs, including the narrative short "Routes and Routines", which was nominated for a PCA's "Best Student Script" in 2012. She was a contributing writer and editor for the College Broadcasters Association's "Best General Entertainment Program" winner "Going Up", and co-wrote the Berry College 2011 48-Hour Film Challenge submission, "Stranger in Town". Sydney also compiled and adapted a collection of Shakespeare's sonnets as a one-act for her senior project, a presentation she titled "Good Buddy Shakespeare", as well as co-wrote "The Big Jump", a submission to the Berry College 48-Hour Playwriting Competition as a part of her playwriting class.
As the news producer for Viking Fusion, Berry's student-run multimedia website, Sydney wrote video news packages, web stories and blurbs for photo slideshows in addition to writing the scripts for Berry's bi-weekly student newscast, Beyond the Bubble. As the Assistant Features Editor, Sydney wrote weekly profiles and other articles for Berry's student newspaper, The Campus Carrier, as well as contributed to the page design. She also contributed as a columnist to the Entertainment page, writing personal experience pieces and film reviews, including her review of "The Master", which placed Third in Georgia College Press Association's 'Best Review' category.
While fulfilling the role of news producer and executive director at Viking Fusion, Sydney's responsibilities often included posting to the organization's various social media platforms, such as Facebook. During her career at Fusion, Sydney promoted dozens of news updates and breaks as well as wrote social media content for the original narrative projects that were posted to the website each semester. Considering that students were the target audience for such posts, Sydney often embraced a less formal approach to these promotions, often writing in a tongue-in-cheek matter that effectively circulated the information throughout the Berry community.
In addition to some occasional blog writing in college, Sydney now maintains a personal film critique blog, The Reel Feed. She regularly reviews films, promotes trailers she finds interesting and writes personal experience pieces.