Photo by Leslye Davis
Margaret Cheatham Williams is an Emmy-nominated film producer and editor, currently working as a film and video editor with ProPublica.
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 people become parents and the journey that ensues.
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 coach at the North Carolina Photojournalism workshop and The Mountain Workshops, has served as a judge for the National Press Photographers Association Best of Photojournalism contest and the White House Press Association. Previously she was 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, son, and the other love of her life – their West Virginian mutt, Duma. Her company and photography gallery in San Francisco, Moxie’s Daughter, is named for her mother, the best photo assistant she’ll ever have.