Vanessa Ellis is a student at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. At Smith, Vanessa is double majoring in English and Film and Media Studies (with a focus in production), as well as taking individual courses in various fields to earn a Latin Honors designation.

In Smith's production courses, she has produced two narrative projects: "Unboxing" and "The Fool," as well as a documentary titled "Smith College Hairstory." She has also produced a handful of video essays for her classes, including a critical deep-dive into the world of Harry Potter and a birds-eye investigation into a local beaver habitat, which she filmed from a drone.

Vanessa is from Danvers, Massachusetts, where she first started working with digital film in high school. After using a couple of camcorders to co-produce an egregiously long mockumentary about a cryptic monster lurking behind the school, she knew she had a future in media production.