THE WOMEN EXCEL PROJECT

Award-winning writer and director, Lisa Cole co-wrote “Girl Named Sue”, filming in 2020 and starring Shailene Woodley. Currently, Cole is the 2019 Final Draft Stowe Story Lab Fellow and is adapting a Washington Post article about pay inequity and sexual discrimination for Flora Films. Cole’s passion is sharing women’s stories. Her background includes directing documentaries for The Gates Foundation, Sundance Institute, NGOs and networks. Her films include women’s health and safety issues in the DRC and Nairobi, Kenya. A board member of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Cole attended Loyola Marymount University School of Film & Television and resides in LA with her documentarian husband, Mark Monroe, and two children.

Learn more about Lisa and her work here.
Learn more about The Westside Infant Family Network here.

Ivana De Maria is an actress, writer, producer, activist and tech entrepreneur. She has starred in and/or been a producer on a number of films as well as TV shows, and is currently focusing on creating content based on true stories.. Ivana is actively involved with multiple organizations including Visionary Women, This is about Humanity, and Justice for Migrant Women. She also serves as the Vice President of the San Fernando Valley Children’s Refugee Center, which receives unaccompanied minors who flee their homes and seek political asylum. Ivana’s entrepreneurial spirit and passion for true stories led her to create STORYPLACE, A digital social platform where users can write and read stories from people all around the world.

Learn more about Ivana and her work here.
Instagram: @ivanamaria
Learn more about The Westside Infant Family Network here.

Vivian Johnson is an LA-based actress, producer, writer, and comedian who’s worked on a variety of productions from narrative films to branded content. She brings a well-rounded and unique perspective from her experience behind and in front of the camera. Vivian has a major passion for amplifying voices of color and especially womxn of color in the film industry. In her spare time, she loves exploring new cultures and cuisines, getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, and making those around her laugh.

Learn more about Vivian and her work here.
Learn more about the Westside Infant Family Network here.

Ayu is a documentary filmmaker who is driven to tell stories about immigration, culture and social justice. She has experience in all aspects of production with a focus on writing, directing and editing. Her short documentary Where I Came From follows the story of an undocumented woman who after being raised in New York, has returned to Mexico, a country she never knew. It focuses on the human aspect of a topic that is far too often portrayed as political. She is currently working with an all-female crew on a feature-length documentary about the refugee experience and asylum seeking process in the US. She has a B.A. in Film, TV and Media Studies and Spanish from the University of Auckland, New Zealand and graduated from the Documentary Filmmaking Conservatory at New York Film Academy in Los Angeles. Born in Japan, raised in New Zealand; she is a mixed-race global citizen currently based in Southern California.

Learn more about Ayu and her work here.
Learn more about Alexandria House here.

Yesenia was born on the Halloween of 1997 in the Kaiser on Sunset blvd. Growing up in the inner city is where they discovered their passion and appreciation for the arts through the non-profits they attended. Although they could never stick to one medium, they decided to pursue writing and film. At 17, they were admitted into the Ghetto Film School LA Fellows program where they realized the power of “bossing up” and plainly owning and honing skills until they became talents. Now after graduating from the Fellows program, they work freelance as a Producer/Director. Since then, they have attended both the Toronto Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival on writing based scholarships, and made lifestyle content for street wear brands. They are currently majoring in Sociology at Pasadena City College with prospects of transferring. In their down time, they skate, dance, draw, and study holistic health.

Learn more about the Garment Worker Center here.

Letxia Cordova is a Mexican American filmmaker and dancer in the Los Angeles area. She produces, directs, films, and edits dance films, music videos, and documentaries. Her practice as a contemporary dancer inspires dynamic camera angles. Her cinematography is rhythmic and visceral. Letxia’s background as a Latinx inspires eclectic costumes, makeup, and movement, with an emphasis on cultural representation and diversity sensitivity. As a video editor, her work aims to be polychromatic, vibrant, rich with texture, story, and truth.

Learn more about the Garment Worker Center here.

Jenna Bond is a television writer who is currently curating #thefourthmemos on Instagram for @QuincyJonesProductions. She debuted as a staff writer for Starz’s upcoming Run the World this year and was previously a production assistant for the documentary Little Ballers. Jenna led indie filmmaker engagement for WGA East, speaking at film festivals including Austin, Nantucket, Tribeca and Urbanworld to educate writers on navigating the business of entertainment. She also ran the Made in NY Writers Room on behalf of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and launched the NY Screenwriters Workshop as a partnership between WGA East and FilmNation. Jenna completed the sketch writing program UCB New York and was a curator at Maysles Cinema.

Learn more about Jenna and her work here.
Learn more about MOSTe (Motivating Our Students Through Experience) here.

Carl Scott’s journey to audiophilia began as a contributor to a fledgling Chicago-based internet radio show. He went on to work as a mobile facilitator with StoryCorps, the oral history project featured regularly on National Public Radio. Through this journey, he performed one of the final interviews with prize-winning historian John Hope Franklin. Next, Carl went on to produce shows for Public Radio Exchange in conjunction with Black Public Media (FKA the National Black Programming Consortium), and wrote and produced three hour-long documentaries for New York Public Radio (WNYC/WQXR). In 2018 he teamed up with the award-winning film and theatre actor Harry Lennix to sound design Lennix’s directorial debut for the stage, A Small Oak Tree Runs Red. Currently, Carl serves as Head of Original Development at The Players’ Tribune where he oversees all podcast and franchise video productions, including the popular basketball podcast Knuckleheads with Quentin Richardson & Darius Miles.

Learn more about MOSTe (Motivating Our Students Through Experience) here.

Jon-Sesrie Goff is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, and arts administrator. He believes cinema has the power to explore the intersection of race, power, identity, gender and the environment by unearthing the visceral representational value and authenticity behind the images propelled across varying diasporas. With over 15 years experience in media and film production, Jon has an MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts from Duke University and offered his lens to a variety of projects spanning many genres including the recently released and award-winning documentaries, including Out in the Night (POV, Logo 2015), Evolution of a Criminal (Independent Lens 2015) and Spit on the Broom (2019), among several other projects. He is in production for his feature directorial debut After Sherman.

Learn more about MOSTe (Motivating Our Students Through Experience) here.

Melanie is a Vietnamese American filmmaker and writer. She recently completed an experimental documentary that explores the Vietnamese community in New Orleans and the relationship between land and labor, seen through their foodways. Her work focuses on trauma, familial relationships, gender, displacement, and intimacy. Mel is working towards a career in documentary film editing, amplifying the voices of those on the margins. You can catch her most nights thinking about her nonexistent love life and fish sauce.

Learn more about Melanie and her work here.
Learn more about Trans Can Work here.

Lorraine is a writer and director with a background in journalism. While obtaining her MFA in Film and Television Production at the University of Southern California, she started as an assistant editor for Leander Sales on an episodic horror for UrbanFlix TV in which she discovered she loves post-production as much as she loves writing and developing stories. Recently, she completed her short film “Cigarettes and Eggs,” a sex-positive, mother-daughter story; and is currently in post-production on “Searching for Justice In LA,” which explores the struggles of low-income students to compete in today’s world; and is working with Increase the Volume to create a four-part series aimed at empowering Asians to stand with Black Lives Matter. Lorraine’s passion is writing stories that highlight social issues, especially stories with a romantic undertone. She has published articles at “The Hollywood Reporter,” “Variety,” and USC Media Institute for Social Change.

Learn more about Black Women for Wellness here.

Jasmine Lin (they/them) is a multi-disciplinary artist committed to the life-long processes of un-learning and un-teaching oppressive, Othering, and superficial ways of moving, being, sensing, and knowing. As a dancer and movement facilitator, they seek to center the wholeness of decolonized embodiment and authentic bodily expressions in all aspects of their creative collaborations. They are constantly searching for new ways of relating, connecting, healing, doing, and thinking –– an exploration that nourishes the intimate and transformational power of their artistic practice. Jasmine’s films and other artworks have been shared around the world, including the British Museum, Kassel Dokfest, REDCAT Theater, and Power Station of Art Shanghai.

Learn more about Jasmine and her work here.
Instagram: @allthatjasss
Learn more about the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights here.

Anissa Amalia is an Indonesian queer non-binary multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker & photographer currently based in Kizh & Chumash land (Los Angeles). Anissa also still indentify as a muslim. Though they have to hide their queerness from their family, they still chose to have their muslim identity as a part of them because it is the strongest ties they have to their family culturally (outside of their identity as an Indonesian). The dynamic of Anissa’s identity often becomes the basis of their practice. At times the questions of “who am I?” or “where do I belong?” are the forefront of their work, other times they show it more subtly in the way they build their world through film, photography, or installation.

Learn more about Alissa here.
Learn more about the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights here.

Christine McAuliffe is an award winning director and writer for the film Maricruz. She holds an M.F.A. in Film Production from Loyola Marymount University where she cut her teeth in editing and production sound mixing, her favorite departments. Christine’s authentic storytelling empowers and connects underrepresented communities. She was a 2018 Loyola Marymount University Incubator Lab Fellow as well as a 2019 Film Independent Project Involve Editing Fellow. She currently resides in Los Angeles and works as a freelance filmmaker.

Learn more about Christine and her work here.
Learn more about Just Detention International here.

Annie Ning is a filmmaker and multimedia artist intersecting narrative fiction, new media and documentary forms. Her work has centered around both Asian and American identity in the diaspora, focusing on the multidimensional voices emerging across generations. She believes in the importance of public media, deep community engagement and innovation through storytelling. She is a recent graduate of Wesleyan University, with a B.A. in both Film and English (creative writing). Annie has interned at American Documentary | POV and is an alumni of the Telluride Film Festival Student Symposium. She is currently part of the festival programming team for the Asian American International Film Festival in New York, where she has served as a staff member for the past 3 years.

Learn more about New Village Girls Academy here.

Ruby Fludzinski is an experienced filmmaker passionate about storytelling at the intersection of politics, social justice, and history. She has produced independent documentary series that have aired on outlets such as Teen Vogue, numerous short films, feature documentaries, and has pitched content that has aired on ABC News and A&E Networks. After recently completing a Bachelor’s degree focused in Film and African American Studies from Wesleyan University, Ruby is passionate about amplifying stories made by, and for, people of color. Prioritizing accessibility and authenticity in storytelling is at the forefront of all of her work. She most recently is an associate producer on an ABC documentary about police reform.

Learn more about the New Village Girls Academy here.