Hello! My name is Christian Tharp I am currently studying Human Relations at the University of Oklahoma. For two years I felt lost at OU, pursuing a degree in something I was not passionate about just so I could please my parents. I stumbled across a brief biography of George Henderson and from that point forward I knew I wanted to graduate Oklahoma with an HR degree and a passion to make a difference.
Through my Human Relations journey I have had the privilege of developing better interpersonal skills from tough open discussions with classmates and teachers. Being from a predominantly white bubble most of my life, these conversations burst that bubble and helped me empathize, understand, and communicate with people who are struggling. I know to check my privilege at the door and help be an agent of change.
After I graduate I plan to get my MBA at University of Oklahoma then work for a film production company. My dream is the be a Location Scout, who get to pick filming locations for shoots. However, there are a lot of issues in film regarding race, sexuality, or gender that I want to address. I am currently interning at a casting agency and once COVID settles we plan to start projects helping those who struggle from these issues. One project that we worked on last semester sought to help Native Americans get more exposure in film so we collected thousands of casting auditions and stored them in database that all directors can look at when casting for a movie. I personally want to make a documentary next summer about Sexism in Hollywood, the history of when it started and hopefully stories from people who have are willing to share so they can give advice to those who don’t have a voice.
Thank you for reading!
— Christian Tharp
Christian.d.tharp-1@ou.edu