Solange Schwalbe: Emmy-Winning Hollywood Sound Editor & Ground Zero 9/11 Responder

Solange Schwalbe Emmy-winning sound editor and one of only four women who worked inside the Pit at Ground Zero.Solange Schwalbe is an Emmy Award–winning Motion Picture Sound Editor whose career in Hollywood spans more than three decades and includes more than 175 film credits. A graduate of UCLA’s Motion Picture/TV program with honors, she worked on major productions including The Goonies, Gremlins, The Color Purple, Die Hard, Pirates of the Caribbean, Black Hawk Down, Moneyball, and HBO’s John Adams, for which she and her team received an Emmy Award for sound editing. Following the September 11 attacks, Solange traveled to New York City, volunteered with the Salvation Army, and was later hired as a safety monitor at Ground Zero. She worked inside the Pit for four months alongside firefighters, police officers, and construction crews. Known there as “Hollywood,” she was one of only four women serving in the Pit among more than 1,500 responders. Her memoir, I’m Not Supposed to Know This: An Unlikely Account of Ground Zero After the 9/11 Attacks, recounts the recovery effort from the inside, including the people, events, and moments she witnessed there.