About Me:
I currently serve as Executive Co-Director of BAYCAT, alongside Founder Villy Wang. In this role, I return to serving youth as well as young adult emerging media creatives, now in the Bay Area, after nearly a decade of leadership and educational work in Chicago.
Previously, I was the Director of Programs and Engagement at Kartemquin Films. In that role, I oversaw the Diverse Voices in Docs yearlong fellowship for emerging and mid-career documentary filmmakers of color, the KTQ Internship program, and KTQ Labs, a feedback screening series for in-progress docs. On the engagement side of my role, I have advised and supported on engagement and impact strategy for several KTQ Films, including Eating Up Easter, Minding the Gap, and Unapologetic. During my tenure, we have launched the KTQ / Accelerator a funding and program initiative that provided selected films with a first look to be a Hulu Original and $20,000 in funding, and I have had the pleasure of advising and supporting the films Traces of Home, Untitled Film (Art + Disability Culture), Freedom Hill, and Still Searching through this program. In addition, we launched an AAPI Voices Fund for AAPI-identifying filmmakers telling stories about their communities.
I also went back into the classroom in the Spring of 2022 to teach an intro Documentary Production course for undergraduates at DePaul University as part-time faculty.
Before joining Kartemquin, I was the Program Manager for In-School and Curriculum for Free Spirit Media. Originally, I worked with FSM as the Lead Teacher for their in-school media education program at North Lawndale College Prep High School, Christiana campus, on Chicago's West Side, teaching semester-long Intro to Digital Media and Digital Media Production and a year-long Documentary Production class for seniors.
Prior to Free Spirit Media, I was the Education Coordinator for BRIC, an arts and media nonprofit in Brooklyn, NY, supporting the adult media education program for residents interested in becoming Certified Community Producers on the Brooklyn Public Network, formerly known as BCAT (Brooklyn Community Access Television).
Plainly, education is central to my work; I know that it is the surest form of liberation and accelerator of one's voice. I've taught in formal and informal settings, learners from ages 5 to 75. I hold a B.A. in Writing Seminars and International Studies from Johns Hopkins University, an M.A. in Teaching from National-Louis University, and an M.F.A. in Film and Electronic Media from American University. While my privileged educational experiences intersected alchemically with my ethnic and gender identities, as a Latina/x woman, eldest sister, and mother, to instill in me a radical sense of self, it has been my journey as a parent of my neurodivergent son that has taught me the most profound lessons about the power of love, connection and nonverbal communication.
Going forward in my personal film work, my interest is in working and collaborating on projects that address social and racial inequity and highlight non-normative and historically excluded points of view. Commitment to educating and supporting new and developing media makers gain access to means of production and learn new skills to improve and disseminate their media projects guides my professional practice. Please reach out to me if you'd like to connect or collaborate.
Special thanks to artist and bestie of my youth, Allison Keeme for the graphic headers on this site.