Simone Varano is a VA bred, multifaceted creative based in Los Angeles, CA. She started her career in documentary filmmaking in 2013 with a DIY web series titled Hour by Hour. The series was a POV, day-in-the-life style docuseries that highlighted her experiences as a young creative living in NYC. The series made small waves, appearing in blogs such as Afropunk and Blavity. She continued working in film after graduating from Parsons School for Design in 2014 with a BBA in Strategic Design and Management. Immediately after graduation, the death of Mike Brown and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement prompted her to document the events surrounding the movement. Simone’s work led her to travel spontaneously to Ferguson, MO with the director (Sabaah Folayan) and DP (Lucas Alvarado-Farrar) of what would later become the Whose Streets? documentary. She helped the team in the beginning stages of production and was eventually brought on to the film as the assistant editor.

Simone expanded her work in social justice during the post production of Whose Streets?. She travelled to Baltimore, MD after the death of Freddie Gray to document the protests and police response. She also helped to organize and document the 2014 NYC Millions March in Manhattan. After returning to the New School to study for a Masters Certificate in Media Management in 2015, she realized that she could no longer ignore her desire to create music and decided to balance it alongside her love of filmmaking. In 2016 she released her first single "Humble Yourself". In 2017, Whose Streets? was set to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT, and during her stay she wrote, recorded, and shot a femme-positive cover to Migos' "Bad and Boujee" in the house that the festival provided. A month later she had her first live show opening up for her friend's punk band "The Meltaways". A member of the audience happened to be roommates with a writer at The FADER, who later showed her "Bad and Boujee" song to the editor-in-chief at the time. She woke up the next morning to her first FADER feature. She spent 2018 - 2020 traveling to different countries (such as Egypt, Tunisia, and Brazil) producing her own music and shooting and editing her own music videos. Her work as a music artist has been featured in blogs such as The FADER, Okayplayer, Revolt TV, and Earmilk.

Simone moved back home to Virginia Beach, VA during the 2020 pandemic lockdown. She spent the next three years in Virginia successfully creating and selling NFT collage art animations and performing at local shows. Key highlights were performing as a featured artist during DJ Clockwork’s Mac Miller tribute tour, and performing at Pharrell Williams’ Mighty Dream Forum as well as his Something in the Water x Team Yellow “Decks of Tomorrow” event. Simone now lives in Los Angeles, CA and currently works as a full time video editor for Forbes Media. Her previous freelance clients include Complex, Amazon, Youtube, PBS, WNBA, and more.