About
Margaret Cheatham Williams is an Emmy-nominated independent film producer and editor, currently seeking opportunities and collaborations in the film, audio, and outdoor space.
Previously Margaret Cheatham was a documentarian at The New York Times, where she pitched, produced, shot and edited narrative and documentary video and photography. She regularly collaborated with the graphics department to create interactive content.
She is particularly driven to stories that examine the intersection of health, family and personal identity. Through deep character exploration, she aims to tackle intimate issues including gender, fertility, and sexuality.
In 2018 she piloted Conception, a highly visual and lyrical exploration of the myriad ways that women become mothers, and the journey that ensues. In the series, we introduce you to six women — each with a transformation uniquely theirs — in first-person accounts of love, regret, doubt and strength. Season II addresses the complexities of raising children in our modern era – We asked parents: What does it mean to raise children in the context of #MeToo, the immigration discussion, the opioid crisis and the gun debate? Her other work at the Times took her to Pyeongchang, South Korea where she covered the Winter Olympics, to Brazil, and all over the US, where she has reported on postpartum depression, politics and produced 360 video.
Margaret Cheatham’s work has been recognized by the Livingston Awards, the Hearst Foundation, Pictures of the Year International, the National Press Photographers Association, Society for News Design, and the South by Southwest interactive awards. Her films have premiered at AFI Fest and the Margaret Mead Film Festival. In 2016 she was selected as an alternate for the Fulbright-National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellowship, which provides opportunities for U.S. citizens to participate in an academic year of overseas travel and storytelling on a globally significant theme.
She has been a multimedia coach at the North Carolina Photojournalism workshop and has served as judge for the National Press Photographers Association Best of Photojournalism contest and the White House Press Association. Previously she a video intern for The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and MediaStorm, an award winning multimedia production house. She completed a bachelor's degree in 2011 from the School of Media and Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studied photojournalism and French.
Margaret Cheatham loves pineapple, lives in San Francisco with her husband, and the other love of her life – their West Virginian mutt, Duma. Her company, Moxie’s Daughter, is named for her mother, the best photo assistant she’ll ever have.