Elizabeth Derstine

I grew up in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We were there until I was 9, and then we moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We were there throughout my middle school and high school years. I went to Goshen College and graduated in 2016 and have just hung around since then. I have grandparents who live in the area and an aunt and uncle, so I used to come here for Christmases and things growing up.

I work part-time for Mennonite Central Committee. I’m their multimedia producer, so I create all of their multimedia content, which mostly means video. I also co-own a film production company, Lost Creek Media, with my fiancé David Leaman-Miller. With that, we’ve done a lot of wedding videos, we’ve done some instructional videos. We’ve done a little bit of this and that for Art House, where I’m part of the board.

Art House has been one of the highlights of being in Goshen. I love Art House! I’m obsessed with this place. I love being part of this place and seeing the way it’s transformed. Even in the couple years I’ve been here, we’ve really figured out who we are as a non-profit, as a place that accepts everyone in the community, and how we can celebrate different forms of art and what it means to be art. I love working the Monday Night Movies here. Everyone just seems happy to be here.

One of the reasons David and I created Lost Creek Media is to generate funds for us to make our own ‘passion project’ kind of stuff. We made a short film, ‘Honeysuckle Whiskey,’ for the Art House fundraiser last year. It was shown at the River Bend Film Festival, which was fun. Currently, we’re doing a documentary on the DisDress Dolls, the burlesque group in South Bend. I’m directing and producing, and David and Riley Mills are filming.

I go do trivia at Constant Spring religiously. I do that on Tuesdays, and sometimes my friends and I host. I love the River Bend Film Festival and I like going to concerts at Goshen Brewing Company. I really like Common Spirits. David really enjoys biking, so around this time of year we start biking on the Pumpkinvine or go to Fidler Pond Park.

I never anticipated being here as long as I have, but Goshen has just never given me a reason to leave. Every time I’ve looked at other places to live, I’m always like, ‘But I just want them to have everything Goshen does.’ The small businesses, I think, really make Goshen what it is. Going to those places, you see people who maybe you don’t know, but you know you’ve seen them there before. So there are a lot of people you can smile at and who will smile back, which always feels nice.