{"id":98755,"date":"2020-12-03T09:54:32","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T14:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=98755"},"modified":"2024-07-29T11:37:48","modified_gmt":"2024-07-29T15:37:48","slug":"arriving-on-the-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2020\/12\/03\/arriving-on-the-scene\/","title":{"rendered":"Arriving on the scene"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Rajesh D. Felix graduated from Wright State with a bachelor\u2019s degree in economics in 2015.<\/p><\/div>\n

He recalls sitting in an empty classroom in University Hall a few years ago, texting his business partner about their fledging film company\u2019s first project.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember it was a passion project that had a super low budget,\u201d said Rajesh D. Felix. \u201cHowever, with the help of many supporters and people in the industry that wanted to see this dream come to life, we did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Rajesh and his wife, Sarah E. Felix \u2014 both economics<\/a> graduates of Wright State University \u2014 are rising stars in the film industry.<\/p>\n

Their new documentary film, \u201cThe Power of Movement<\/a>,\u201d follows radiation oncologist and choreographer Niraj Mehta on his mission to increase cancer awareness and treatment as he embarks on healing cancer through movement. The film, written and directed by Aaron M. Abelto, was picked up by Entertainment Studios, a major broadcasting company in Los Angeles. It began airing in 200 countries in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis current movie release has taken up much blood, sweat and tears to make a reality,\u201d said Sarah. \u201cIt also taught me to respect every single movie or TV series that is successfully brought to the public. Each release takes a massive amount of calculated and strategic effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rajesh is producer and program manager of the film studio company, Able 2 Film Entertainment, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Sarah is also on the production team, making time when she\u2019s not working as director of corporate development for Hot Head Burritos and Rapid Fired Pizza in the Dayton area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the film market is in season, I participate in building Able 2 Film Entertainment’s film content and brand,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Rajesh produced numerous television commercials between 2014 and 2017. He is known for executive producing the 2018 movie \u201cI Before Thee,\u201d a story about an out-of-work firefighter whose wife died in childbirth and whose only son is diagnosed with leukemia. Rajesh is now working on \u201cR.S.P. Documentary,\u201d to be released in 2021.<\/p>\n

Sarah says she has been influenced by the Jason Bourne films, which help her reflect on the virtues of perseverance, and the movie \u201cInception,\u201d which enabled her to visualize abstract art through film.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe make movies with a strong sense of meaning,\u201d said Sarah. \u201cWe also enjoy raising awareness about world issues and supporting the solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rajesh was born in Fort Lauderdale and moved to Puerto Rico as a child because of his father\u2019s tool-and-die job. Then he moved back to Fort Lauderdale in high school. He became interested in filmmaking at an early age after getting movie opportunities as a child.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was placed in front of a camera as an extra or a side role character with a line or two for classroom scenes,\u201d he said. \u201cI eventually built a curiosity about how the set was organized, how everything was funded, what happens next in the film process, how films make their way to cable or streaming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah grew up in Spencer, Ohio, and spent her teenage years in Toledo. She played classical violin and sang classical opera as a mezzo soprano. Today, she records smooth jazz as a pop singer. She also holds a black belt in Taekwondo.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sarah E. Felix graduated from Wright State with a bachelor\u2019s degree in economics in 2016.<\/p><\/div>\n

Sarah and Rajesh attended McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland, then came to Wright State, where they both majored in economics.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking prior to college gave me a ton of experience in learning different career choices, which ultimately taught me that an economics program would match my career objectives,\u201d said Rajesh.<\/p>\n

Rajesh said Wright State had an environment that equipped him for continuous learning, with each economics course relevant for the base of his existing work. He said that as a nontraditional student he came to college knowing why he was being taught certain skills such as graphical analysis and communicating clearly or gaining real-world exposure through fundamental courses such as mathematics, science and the arts.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single course \u2014 whether in liberal arts or a core class \u2014 was an asset to not just my career but also to my personal life choices,\u201d he said. \u201cI will always be grateful to my alma mater and the Economics Department<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rajesh, who graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree in economics in 2015, said the highlight of his experience at Wright State were his economics electives such as Law and Economics taught by Evan Osborne, professor of economics, and Cost Benefit Analysis and Social Project Evaluation taught by Thomas Traynor, professor of economics. Equally beneficial, he said, were courses taught by Zdravka Todorova, professor of economics, and G. Thomas Sav, professor emeritus.<\/p>\n

Traynor said Rajesh and Sarah shared their plans and sought advice from him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth were smart, hardworking and mature students,\u201d said Traynor, who is now dean of the Raj Soin College of Business<\/a>. \u201cIt was a pleasure to have them as students in the economics major and it is great to learn about their accomplishments since they graduated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rajesh was also a frequent visitor to Wright State\u2019s Motion Pictures Program, attending many events and befriending faculty member Steven Bognar, who along with filmmaker Julia Reichert won the Academy Award for best documentary feature for \u201cAmerican Factory\u201d in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was so kind to lend me his time over coffee, discuss ideas and even led me to a film opportunity,\u201d said Rajesh.<\/p>\n

Sarah said the highlight of her Wright State experience was studying with Hee Young Shin, associate professor of economics, in Intermediate Macroeconomics and Berkwood Farmer, associate professor of economics, in Managerial Economics.<\/p>\n

\u201cWright State had some excellent professors who turned commonly misunderstood topics into classes that were priceless lessons and practical tools for the real world,\u201d she said. \u201cThe life lessons I learned in those particular classes have helped me countless times in my current position.”<\/p>\n

While at Wright State, Sarah interned at the corporate headquarters of Hot Head Burritos and Rapid Fired Pizza. After graduating with her bachelor\u2019s degree in economics in 2016, she was offered a full-time job.<\/p>\n

Sarah said Wright State equipped her to make better business decisions and to look at situations from an economic point of view.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current COVID-19 pandemic has forced me to dig out my textbooks and read them again, with economics being applicable in every imaginable way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The documentary \u201cThe Power of Movement,\u201d produced by Wright State economics alums Rajesh D. and Sarah E. Felix, was released in November. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":98775,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,733,4309,4299,2037,748,4906,725,715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-alumni-association","category-alumni-profile","category-arts-scene","category-business","category-finance-accountancy-management-information-systems-and-economics","category-home-news-sidebar","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98755"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98791,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98755\/revisions\/98791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}