Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rose Gaffney. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Rose thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

When you tell the stories about the strangers around you, they are no longer strangers. They become your friends, people you want to rally around and support.

That was the driving mission behind Loving Local NYC, a video documentary project I created in 2023. Loving Local NYC is a series of short video profiles on the local businesses within New York’s five boroughs, giving small business owners a chance to tell their story and educate people about the importance of small businesses.

I moved to Ridgewood, NY in 2018. Around the corner from my apartment, there was an antique store that just opened up in a new location. I found myself at Ridgewood Antiques all the time; a good amount of my furniture, home goods and jewelry came from that shop. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I had a conversation with the owner. She told me that she was uncertain about keeping the store open due to the financial strain the pandemic was causing. I was heartbroken. I remember thinking: “If everyone knew Margaret like I know her, no one would let her go out of business.” I dedicated a portion of my paychecks through the pandemic to shop at local businesses like Ridgewood Antiques and got to know many of the locals who ran the shops and services in the neighborhood.

The ability to tell stories is what brought me to pursue filmmaking as a career. As I thought about Margaret’s store and everything it meant to her, I saw an opportunity to tell stories about the passionate individuals behind the restaurants, boutiques, services and handmade goods of NYC. I started interviewing small businesses and posting 5-minute video documentaries once a week on Instagram, centered around one featured business.

I do not charge local businesses to be featured and always give the final video back to them for their own use on their social media and website pages. I worked with a local NYC music company to produce original tracks for the videos so business owners don’t have to worry about music licensing. I collaborate with the local businesses on their feature so they have control over how their story is told.

I have often joked that this project “clears the acne from my soul’ but it’s an honest sentiment. I enjoy helping owners capture their businesses in an authentic way at no cost. I feel honored to get a chance to tell their stories. I have had some of the best conversations, relationships and opportunities come from Loving Local NYC. It was through this project that I discovered that behind every local business in NYC, there are people who make this city rich in diversity, imagination, entrepreneurship and love.

Rose, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve loved telling stories since I was a kid! I always had a camera in my hand and started participating in summer film camps and freelance opportunities. I received my AA with a focus on Mass Communication from Rock Valley College in Rockford, IL at 19 years old.

I had originally wanted to pursue working on major studio narrative films and freelance as a way to make money in the meantime; but in 2020, I was diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia, a rare facial pain disease that prevented me from working the long hours that was required by the traditional film industry. It was a major blow to my passion and dreams. I wanted to work in filmmaking badly but the stressful environment was leaving me in pain. Instead of leaving the industry altogether, I turned towards freelancing more and being able to make my own hours so I could work with my disease instead of against it. My love for storytelling has never waned.

When I started Loving Local NYC, I thought it would be a fun way to get behind the camera and tell fun stories. I was excited to get to know a variety of industries and have captured everything from a forager who infuses native New York plants into her herbal products (Glam Gardener NYC, Staten Island), to a handmade soap company that has the vibe of a 1940s postcard (Mainland Vintage, Brooklyn), a DIY candle making spot that was created to bring business back to Asian communities (Lanterne Candle Lab, Chinatown) and a no-kill pet shelter that is running on a third of the budget of a bigger city facility (Puppy Kitty NYC, Queens), just to name a few.

After doing these videos for over a year, this project had a profound effect on my mental and physical health and the way I live in NYC. It was through these stories that I learned about the importance of local businesses and non-profits and how they support our economy, our supply chain, our environment and, most importantly, our community. In a world where most of our purchases are made from large, faceless companies that drain our resources and prey on our self-confidence in order to keep us buying, supporting local businesses is a radical way to fight back against the system that actively tears us down. Local businesses encourage us to thrive, not just survive. In a city as large as NYC, everything you could ever want in being made on the local level, from clothing to glasses to candy and they need our support more than 5th Ave department stores ever could.

I want potential fans of Loving Local NYC to see this project as an opportunity to hear the stories of small businesses in their own words. Weekly features are posted Friday mornings on Instagram and each video is under 5 minutes, making it a perfect way to pass time on your morning commute or your lunch break.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

“Outliers” by Malcom Gladwell has had a profound effect on my entrepreneurial thinking about success. His thoughts on building 10,000 hours to become an expert in your craft is one of the reasons I have kept doing Loving Local NYC videos and film as much as possible. I’m a better filmmaker and artist with each project I do. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to see the patterns in people we deem “successful” and how we can build up communities to be more successful.

One of my favorite TED Talks is from filmmaker Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, called “How to Borrow Male Privilege in Hollywood”. It’s a must watch for women in filmmaking and anyone who wants to know what it feels like to work in this male-dominated industry.

One of my major inspirations for Loving Local NYC is the documentary work of Les Blank and Maureen Gosling and their ability to showcase pockets of American culture with heart and soul woven into the stories they tell. They never make their subjects feel like outsiders and by the end of their films, you feel connected to them even if you have a completely different cultural background. My personal favorites are “Gap-Toothed Women”, “Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers”, “In Heaven There is No Beer?” and “Sprout Wings and Fly”.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding part about being in a creative industry will always be the ability to connect to others. Empathy runs deep in the human experience, it’s a part of us we can’t escape. The paintings we like, the movies we watch, the products we buy are all indicative of our own story and experiences. Filmmaking is a storytelling medium that has a profound ability to let us empathize with characters and plots no matter the genre and show us the actions, the words and the emotions of the fictional or documented people that help us relate to them. It is through films that we are reminded of our inherent goodness – it’s why we think the Grinch became his ‘true self’ after his heart grows three times in size, or why we feel compelled to take action when we see a moving documentary.
I love reminding people that they are human through storytelling. That there is nothing new under the sun; our experiences are universal. It’s a beautiful reminder that we are not alone.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovinglocalnyc

Image Credits

Supporting photos image credits in order of appearance w/Instagram handles:

@brooklynshoespace

@lovinglocalnyc

@glamgardenernyc

@jonathancastrodesigns

@mainlandvintage

@rueduparadislingerie

@sandrinebjewelry