Share your extra space in New York City on Airbnb and earn $200 towards your next trip. See below for more details.
Meet Melisa Ramos, a filmmaker and Airbnb host from East Harlem.
When Melisa decided to start sharing her extra space on Airbnb, she didn’t know that her first guest would change her life.
“My first Airbnb guests were from Spain, and it happened that the guest’s father was the chair of the communication department at a university in Spain I had applied 10 years earlier. After the trip, his father offered me a scholarship to earn my master’s degree!”
Melisa works with an organization called Share for Life in New York, where she teaches film and media in the five boroughs to at-risk youth, teenagers, adults and seniors living in public housing communities. Melisa’s students make films to promote civic engagement and community awareness. For the past three years, Melisa has also worked as a documentary filmmaker, re-creating through animation and graphics what she believes the camera is sometimes unable to fully capture.
“Thanks to Airbnb, I can work from home and do freelance. Instead of being locked up in a corporate office for 40 hours a week, I get to make friends…I want New Yorkers and the politicians to know that Airbnb truly helps the economy of the people and the city. If we promote the local economy, we should promote Airbnb.”
Airbnb has also allowed Melisa to meet and connect with other creative people and potential collaborators. As a filmmaker she is always looking for compelling narratives and different points of view, and meeting travelers while hosting helps inspire stories for her work. Currently, Melisa is working on a project about three different street performers, documenting what they do each day between the time they wake up and when they perform.
“I’ve met writers, advertisers, musicians from Chile, and visual artists from Germany. Airbnb allows us artists to connect with others and get stories. It also provides a way to get feedback from creative people who come from other parts of the world.”
Join Melisa and other filmmaker hosts in New York City by sharing your extra space on Airbnb and earn $200 in Airbnb travel credit. New hosts in New York City that (1) click on this link (airbnb.com/rooftopfilms) to share their extra space, and (2) complete a qualifying booking by November 30, 2015 will earn $200 in Airbnb travel credit. For full terms and conditions, please visit airbnb.com/rfterms.