I keep in mind it clearly: my first freelance gig, again in 2005. On the way in which there, I’d see Freelancers Union posters within the subway, and it felt like a lowkey means of seeing my future residence — that’s precisely what I’m becoming a member of, as soon as I get began on my profession. I’d look across the practice and marvel what number of different passengers have been additionally freelancers, constructing their lives quietly in parallel.
That day’s work was low wage avenue intercept — stopping folks, displaying them large studio film trailers, and asking how seemingly they have been to observe the movie. It wasn’t the foot within the door I imagined for filmmaking, however like most freelancing, it constructed actual abilities: the right way to speak to strangers, the right way to translate artistic concepts into language folks can really hear, and the right way to hear for what’s beneath their solutions.
For extra steady work, I took a “momentary” job as a author and aide of an area metropolis councilman. And that position taught me one thing tougher – the distinction between having a voice and having a say.
I didn’t have a lot of a say again then, and I knew too many individuals who didn’t both. Not as a result of we have been unvoiced (there’s no such factor), however as a result of we have been strategically ignored — hierarchically hushed — saved outdoors the rooms the place selections have been made. No matter you name it, I didn’t prefer it. I couldn’t unsee it.
So I put a few of my artistic goals on maintain and went into public service. I used to be elected to the State Meeting and later to the Metropolis Council at 28, and the distinction was quick. In authorities, you see what stability seems like up shut: status, protections, versatile schedules, and affect that comes customary with the job. I watched colleagues get snug inside these luxuries. I fought to remain grounded in why I joined within the first place.
Representing East New York — one of the crucial underfunded communities within the metropolis — taught me about energy: who has it, who retains it, who loses it, and why. It additionally taught me one thing stronger than energy: advocacy, which might bend energy towards the desire of the folks.
That perception formed the whole lot I did. I created the nation’s first Workplace of Nightlife as a result of town wanted to cease treating nighttime staff like they have been disposable or invisible. Bartenders, musicians, dancers, service staff — folks dismissed by the 9-to-5 crowd as “creatures of the shadows” — have been constructing an actual financial system, they usually deserved actual help.
Then in 2015, greater than a decade after I first noticed these posters, Freelancers Union got here to my workplace and we set to work. Collectively, we handed the nation’s first Freelance Isn’t Free legislation, grounded in one thing fundamental: for those who do the work, you need to receives a commission – with out having to plead on your personal paycheck.
After a decade of public service, I got here residence to Freelancers Union.
I began on March 2, 2020. Days later, New York grew to become the worldwide epicenter of COVID-19and freelancers have been hit instantly. Work vanished, anxiousness spiked, and other people wanted help quicker than techniques have been constructed to ship it. We pushed laborious for federal reduction that included unbiased staff — particularly Pandemic Unemployment Help (PUA) and PPP forgivable loans — and we constructed direct help via emergency money grants and expanded free authorized assist, whereas persevering with the lengthy combat for moveable advantages.
As town reopened, we rebuilt neighborhood and infrastructure, not simply providers. We reestablished the Freelancers Hub in a post-pandemic world as a result of unbiased work shouldn’t imply isolation. We launched the Photograph Hub with our companions at ASMPNY as a result of working creatives deserve entry to skilled instruments with out added prices and gatekeeping.
We’ve helped develop the Freelance Isn’t Free motion nationally with statewide wins in New YorkCalifornia, and Illinoisand progress in cities like Seattle, Columbus, and Minneapolis. And most lately, launched the Freelancers Authorized Hub, which has helped members accumulate over $250,000 in unpaid invoices up to now yr alone.
This job has additionally been deeply private.
I’ve been moved by our gatherings — folks of each background and perception displaying up with the identical hope: to construct a life via what they’ll do. I’ve watched members discover mentors, collaborators, and confidence right here. I’ve seen folks stand taller just because they have been lastly in a room the place they didn’t have to elucidate why their work is actual.
Over these previous six years, my position hasn’t simply been to foyer or advocate. An enormous a part of the job has been carrying you into rooms you weren’t in — ensuring choice makers noticed the total reality of freelance work and the worth you create. This combat for dignity didn’t simply construct coverage; it constructed neighborhood. And personally, it impressed me and jogged my memory who I’m: final yr I dusted off my filmmaking goals and shot a film.
To our members: thanks for trusting us, difficult us, and displaying up when it counted. To our board: thanks for trusting my imaginative and prescient, particularly when the trail wasn’t apparent. To my group: thanks for punching above your weight, many times, and maintaining the work grounded in what members really need. You carried this group via its hardest interval with self-discipline and coronary heart.
Now I’m resigning to function the NYC Commissioner of Media and Leisure Zohran Mamdani administration. I say “new position,” not “new mission,” as a result of I’ll nonetheless be combating for a similar varieties of individuals: the unbiased staff and creatives who make New York really feel alive and hold its tradition transferring.
I’m leaving Freelancers Union with gratitude and confidence. We’re now not strategically ignored as a result of our unified voice is tough to overlook. We laid a robust basis, and I imagine the union’s subsequent period might be even stronger.
Thanks for letting me serve.
With gratitude,
Rafael Espinal
