Guided by the vision of supporting skills, projects, and connections amongst Latinx content creators, NALIP held its 21st Annual NALIP Media Summit on June 25th - 30th, 2020. The annual event, boasted over 1,000 attendees and over 100 speakers from across the media and entertainment industry.
For the last twenty-one years, the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) has been devoted to facilitating the advancement and engagement of Latinx creators across multiple media platforms. Today, NALIP exists as a leading organization in supporting and championing Latinx talent behind and in-front of the camera. NALIP has driven constant support in mentoring content creators like writers, directors, producers, and other industry professionals to discover their passion and gain their first step in the industry. Together, with you, #WeAreInclusion.
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Christy Haubegger is Executive Vice President, Chief Enterprise Inclusion Officer, WarnerMedia.
Recognized for advancing diverse representation in the entertainment industry, Haubegger leads WarnerMedia’s efforts to help its global businesses capitalize on the outsized opportunities represented by underserved, diverse audiences. She is also responsible for furthering diversity, inclusion and equity across the organization’s workforce, so it more closely reflects the consumers and fanbases the company serves. Additionally, Haubegger works cross-divisionally to support and facilitate WarnerMedia’s overall mission to deliver the world’s best stories and most engaging content by empowering unique and underrepresented voices.
Haubegger joins WarnerMedia from Creative Artists Agency (CAA) where she spent 14 years leading the company’s drive to become the market leader in the representation of women and people of color, as well as transforming the workforce to become the most diverse and inclusive agency in the entertainment business. Under Haubegger’s leadership, CAA launched CAA Amplify, an invitation-only annual event convening high-level multicultural artists and leaders, as well as the Amplify Database, the industry’s first searchable database of television writers of color. During her tenure, the agency grew its diverse roster more than 1400% and according to USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the agency now represents the largest share of female directors and African- American directors in the motion picture business.
Upon graduating from Stanford Law School, Haubegger founded Latina magazine in 1996. She moved into the world of entertainment in 2002 and worked as a film producer on Chasing Papi (20th Century Fox) and Oscar-winner James L. Brooks’ romantic comedy Spanglish (Columbia Pictures).
Haubegger serves on the boards of Management Leadership for Tomorrow (ml4t.org), a non-profit organization that works to increase the number of minority business leaders, as well as Hudson Pacific Properties (NYSE: HPP). Haubegger is also a founding member of TIME’S UP, an initiative that addresses systemic inequality and injustice in the workplace.
This A-List Mexican actress has worked in Telenovelas and films since her early youth. She first captured American audiences in 2007 with her award-winning performance in the Fox Searchlight/Weinstein hit movie “Under the Same Moon”, which is still ranked among the top 10 highest-grossing Spanish-language theatrical releases in U.S. history. She followed that with a recurring role in the hit TV series, “Weeds”. In 2011 she starred in the massively popular series "La Reina del Sur" (Queen of the South), which is currently having renewed success on Netflix and has since been adapted in English on the USA network. Kate’s talent is versatile, with gritty performances in “Trade” opposite Kevin Cline, and “Julia” co-starring Tilda Swinton. In 2012 she gave two critically acclaimed performances, first in the Spanish language film “Colosio”, and second, in the English language film, K-11, in which she played a transsexual man.
She also guest starred in the TV series, Grimm. In 2014 she lent her voice to "La Muerte” in Guillermo Del Toro's Golden Globe nominated "The Book of Life”, had a key role opposite Idris Elba in the hit film “No Good Deed”, and released a hit Spanish language thriller called, “Visitantes”. In 2015, she starred opposite Antonio Banderas in "The 33,” a film based on the true story of the trapped Chilean miners, and also had a recurring role in the popular TV series “Jane the Virgin”. Most recently, Kate has enjoyed some massive successes on Netflix, first with two seasons of the original series, “Ingobernable”, which she stars in and co-produced. Then came “The Day I Met El Chapo”, the acclaimed three-part documentary, which she also co-produced, about her now infamous meeting with Sean Penn and the notorious fugitive drug lord.
Finally, there’s “La Reina Del Sur 2”, which broke ratings records on Telemundo and is now, along with “La Reina Del Sur 1”, one of the most streamed Spanish language series on Netflix. Kate is also the first Latina actress to be nominated for three prestigious New York Theater awards for her Off-Broadway hit play, “The Way She Spoke”, while simultaneously enjoying massive box office success in the blockbuster hit “Bad Boys for Life”, alongside Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, solidifying Kate Del Castillo as a strong female force in Hollywood. Besides being a successful actress, producer and entrepreneur, Kate is also an outspoken activist and humanitarian. She was appointed as Ambassador for the Mexican Commission on Human Rights to help combat human trafficking. She is also a spokesperson for PETA and has received numerous Humanitarian awards and recognitions. She also co-founded a non- profit foundation, “Los Angeles en México”. Kate owns her own brand of Tequila, “Honor Del Castillo”, and in 2019 she became a partner in MMA’s Combate Americas and started her all female production company, Cholawood Productions, which currently has a development deal with global content creator Endemol Shine Boomdog.
Twitter: @katedelcastillo
Instagram: @katedelcastillo
Facebook: Kate Del Castillo
ANTHONY RAMOS (John Laurens/Philip Hamilton) will soon be seen as the lead in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s highly-anticipated “In the Heights” feature film directed by Jon M. Chu, released by Warner Bros. Ramos appeared in the Academy Award®-winning “A Star Is Born” opposite Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga as well as Neon’s “Monsters and Men,” for which he won the Imagen Award for best actor in a feature film. This fall you can see him in “Honest Thief,” opposite Liam Neeson. Ramos voiced a character in the recently released Dreamworks’ animated feature “Trolls: World Tour,” appeared in the worldwide box office hit “Godzilla: King of Monsters” and Spike Lee’s critically-acclaimed Netflix series, “She’s Gotta Have It.” His debut album for Republic Records, “The Good & the Bad,” was released to rave reviews and was immediately followed by a North American Tour of the same name.
TW: @Aramosofficial
Tanya Saracho is a playwright and television writer who serves as creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the critically-acclaimed series “Vida” on Starz, which earned 100% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes for its first, second and third seasons. The show, which returned for a third and final season April 26th on Starz, featured all Latina directors in seasons one and two, including Saracho, who made her television directorial debut last year. The series had an all-Latinx writers room for seasons one and two, and in season three, the room was comprised of all Latina writers. Named one of “TV Scribes to Watch” by Variety in 2018, Saracho most recently received the Rising Star award at the Outfest Legacy Awards, and was also awarded the New Voice Award by Final Draft. “Vida” won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comedy Series and was nominated for a second year in a row for season two, and was honored by the National Hispanic Media Coalition with the 2019 Impact Award. The series won the Audience Award at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival, and made its season two premiere as an Official Selection of the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival.
Saracho is currently under an overall deal with Starz, and is developing a new series, “Brujas,” with Big Beach. Her television credits include “How to Get Away with Murder,” HBO's “Looking,” and “Devious Maids.”Saracho was named “Best New Playwright" by Chicago Magazine, and has had plays produced at New York City’s Primary Stages and 2nd Stage, as well as Victory Gardens Theatre, The Denver Theatre Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf Theater, Teatro Vista, Teatro Luna, Fountain Theater, Clubbed Thumb, NEXT Theater and 16th Street Theater. Saracho was also named one of nine national Latino "Luminarios" by Café Magazine, and received the first "Revolucionario" Award in Theater by the National Museum of Mexican Art. She is the founder of Teatro Luna (the first all-Latina Theatre Company in the nation, now defunct) as well as the founder of ALTA (Alliance of Latino Theatre Artists). She is currently in development with South Coast Repertory and Two River Theatre. Saracho was born in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, México, and raised along the Texas border, spending the better part of her adult life in Chicago. She currently resides in Los Angeles.
Gloria Calderón Kellett is the executive producer, co-creator, co-showrunner, director and actress on the critically acclaimed sitcom One Day at a Time. The proud daughter of Cuban immigrants, Kellett graduated from Loyola Marymount University and went on to earn a Masters degree in Theatre from the University of London. She spent her early years as a writer/producer on numerous shows including Devious Maids, Rules of Engagement, and How I Met Your Mother. Her acting credits include Jane The Virgin, Angie Tribeca, Dead To Me, How I Met Your Mother, One Day at a Time, and ABC’s upcoming United We Fall, for which she also wrote. One of her proudest moments was appearing as a narrator on Drunk History (New Orleans).
In directing, Calderón Kellett has worked on episodes of One Day at a Time, Mr. Iglesias, Merry Happy Whatever, United We Fall and the Mad About You revival. Currently, Ms. Calderón Kellett is co-showrunning season four of One Day at a Time, premiering on POP TV in March 2020. Calderón Kellett strives to create television that is accessible and inclusive. This year, she became an ambassador for the non-profit ReFrame and launched a “Hollywood 101” web series with Buzzfeed’s PeroLike. The series offers free advice to new artists at the beginning of their entertainment careers. Awards for her work include The Television Academy Honors, Mental Health America Media Award, ALMA Award, Imagen Award, Vanguard Award, NHMC Award, Sentinel Award, and The Voice Award. Calderón Kellett is also one of the few creatives to have the distinction of receiving a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes for One Day at a Time. She has been honored as an industry leader by The Hollywood Reporter in their Top Women in Entertainment issue, the THR100 list issue, and their 50 Agents of Change issue.
STEVEN CANALS is the Emmy®-nominated and Peabody Award-winning co-creator, executive producer, director and writer of FX’s groundbreaking drama series, POSE, which will return for a third season. For the show's recent second season, Canals made his TV directorial debut with the episode titled "Revelations," which he also wrote. He was recently featured on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter's Pride Issue and named to their list of 2020's "50 Most Powerful LGBTQ Players in Hollywood." Since its breakthrough premiere, POSE has received an AFI Award for TV Program of the Year plus Emmy®, Golden Globe® and Critics Choice Award nominations for Best Drama Series, among many other accolades. Steven also received a nomination from the Writers Guild Awards for Outstanding New Series. Steven is a queer, AfroLatinx creator, who grew up in NYC and whose work aims to shine light on communities that have been under-represented onscreen. He recently signed an exclusive overall deal with 20th Century TV, where he will continue to develop projects that represent diverse and inclusive voices and stories.
Twitter: @StevenCanals
Instagram: @StevenCanals
Fred Armisen is one of the most diversely talented performers working today with credits that range from acting to producing to writing in both comedy and music.
Armisen is the co-writer and co-star of IFC’s Emmy® nominated series PORTLANDIA , which he created alongside Carrie Brownstein. He also worked with IFC to create the critically acclaimed comedy, DOCUMENTARY NOW!, and he served as executive producer and star of Amazon’s FOREVER, along with fellow SNL alum Maya Rudolph. Currently, Armisen can be seen on LOS ESPOOKYS, a Spanish- Language series for HBO which he wrote, executive produced, and appears in as “Tico.” An eleven-season veteran of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, Armisen has engaged audiences with memorable impressions and characters including Stuart in The Californians alongside Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, and Kristen Wiig and the unforgettable songwriting team of Garth and Kat (with Kristen Wiig), to name a few.
In February 2018, Armisen released his original stand-up comedy special FRED ARMISEN: STAND UP FOR DRUMMERS on Netflix. The special received a Grammy nomination for “Best Comedy Album” in 2019. In 2014, Armisen was named band leader of the 8G Band on LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS.
Armisen has appeared in countless feature films, including BATTLE OF THE SEXES, THE LITTLE HOURS, ZOOLANDER 2, BABY MAMA, CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC, ANCHORMAN, and THE SMURFS, among others. He has made appearances on many television series, some of which include NEW GIRL, UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT, ANIMALS, MODERN FAMILY, 30 ROCK, and BROAD CITY. He can currently be heard voicing ‘Elliot Birch’ in Netflix‘s hit series BIG MOUTH, which has been renewed through a sixth season.
Armisen splits his time between New York and Los Angeles.
Melissa Barrera is a Mexican actor born and raised in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. She studied musical theatre at CAP21 as a part of New York University (Tisch School of the Arts). She moved back to Mexico city when she was selected to compete in the singing reality show La Academia and afterwards took roots in Mexico City and started a career in telenovelas. During the four years she did telenovelas like Siempre Tuya Acapulco and Tanto Amor, she also continued her career on the stage in Mexico playing the lead roles in the musicals Spring Awakening, Young Frankenstein and the spanish juke-box musical Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar. She played Isabel in the acclaimed Netflix original Club de Cuervos and then decided to crossover and try her luck in Los Angeles. She booked the role of Lyn Hernandez on the Starz critically acclaimed Tv show VIDA and will star as Vanessa in the upcoming movie adaptation of Lin Manuel Miranda's Tony winning In The Heights.
Twitter: @MelissaBarreraM
Instagram: @melissabarreram
Leslie Grace Martinez was born to Dominican parents on January 7, 1995 in The Bronx and raised in Davie, Florida. Singing and dancing since early childhood, she participated in musicals, talent shows and choral performances throughout middle and high school. Since signing her first recording contract at age 16, she has become a prominent force in Latin and Tropical Music. With her first single release, a bilingual cover of The Shirelles’ “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?”, she became the youngest Latin female artist in history to score a #1 single on the Billboard Latin music charts. Leslie has received three Latin Grammy nominations, three Billboard Latin Music Awards nominations and won Best Tropical Female Artist at the 2016 Lo Nuestro Award. She has toured throughout the United States, Latin America and Europe. She has charted a total of 14 singles in English and Spanish, and her self-titled debut albumreached#4 on the Billboard Latin Albums chart. Currently signed to Sony Music, she has several new singles set for release in the summer of 2019.
In April 2019, it was announced that Leslie will be starring as Nina in the 2020 film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award winning musical In The Heights, directed by Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians). It marks her first lead role as an actress in a major motion picture.
IG: @lesliegrace
Twitter:@lesliegrace
Christina Davis serves as President, Original Programming for Starz. Based in the company’s Santa Monica office, she leads the programming and development team for the global premium platform and delivering on its creative mandate of producing premium content for women and diverse audiences worldwide. As head of Drama Series Development for CBS for 11 years, Davis delivered the network the #1 New Drama in nine out of 11 years had a hand in developing the “CSI” and “NCIS” franchises and such acclaimed series as “The Good Wife,” “Blue Bloods,” “Criminal Minds,” “Hawaii Five-O,” “Elementary,” “Madam Secretary,” “Scorpion,” “Bull,” “MacGyver” and “Code Black.” Davis previously served as Executive Vice President, Drama Series Development, CBS Entertainment, a role she held from 2009 - 2017. Having started in the CBS drama series department in 1997 as assistant to then drama head Nina Tassler, Davis spent nearly 20 years rising through the ranks in both development and current series at CBS Entertainment. Following her departure from CBS, Davis co-founded the television production company Maniac Productions, with writer-producer Michael Seitzman in 2017, based at ABC Studios. Davis is a graduate of UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. A former honoree for The Imagen Foundation’s “Powerful & Influential Latinos in the Entertainment Industry,” she sits on the Board of Directors for HRTS (Hollywood Radio and Television Society) and Girls Inc. Davis also serves on the Advisory Board of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers’ (NALIP) Diverse Women in Media Forum.
Born and raised near Chicago, Xan Aranda is a Los Angeles-based Emmy nominated filmmaker and showrunner of a forthcoming Netflix series. Her work spans a range of fiction and documentary film, television, branded content, commercials, music videos, and more. With Mark and Jay Duplass, Xan developed and served as an Executive Producer of HBO’s ROOM 104, where episodes she created and shepherded received accolades from The Hollywood Reporter (Ten Favorite Episodes of 2017), The New York Times (Memorable TV Episodes of 2017), and Vox (Best 35 Episodes of 2017). Xan’s Emmy nomination was for Transparent’s THIS IS ME, a collection of short films on Amazon, for which she served as Producer and Co-Executive Producer. She co-produced BLUE JAY, starring Sarah Paulson, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and sold to Netflix. After its world premiere at New York Film Festival and Lincoln Center, Xan’s directorial debut ANDREW BIRD: FEVER YEAR screened in more than 90 festivals, and took home nine awards. The music videos Xan directed for Grammy-nominee Neko Case are positively reviewed and aggregated by Rolling Stone, Billboard, Spin, Pitchfork, Paste, StereoGum, and numerous others. Xan is a producer of the award-winning Kartemquin Films (MINDING THE GAP, HOOP DREAMS) release MILKING THE RHINO, which filmed in Kenya and Namibia and screened on five continents. Also with Kartemquin, she served as Outreach Director for PRISONER OF HER PAST, directed by Gordon Quinn. “There is no ‘foot in the door.’ You’re the door.” Xan is a popular featured speaker on a wide range of topics. She’s been the guest of SXSW, Nike, HBO, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Film Independent and more.
Instagram: xan_aranda
Twitter: @xanaranda
USC graduate, Jessica Lopez is a Mexican-American writer based in Los Angeles. As a child, Jessica dreamed of being one of Charlie’s Angels. Specifically, she wanted to be Farrah Fawcett, who in her eyes was a triple B: blonde, buxom, and beautiful. She remembers studying her every move for the entire hour-long episode. By the end of the show’s run, she had those hair-flippin’, booty-shakin’, karate chop moves down to a T. As she grew a little older, however, she realized that though she could pour a bottle of peroxide in her hair, get plastic surgery and pack on the make-up, but she was just never going to be Farrah!
This experience made Jessica realize that there were very few Latinos on TV that other Latinos could look up to and fueled her passion to become a writer to be able to write Latino roles for film and television.
Jessica was on a path, during High School she wrote and produced her schools plays and talent shows. Her dreams were slightly derailed becoming a mother at the age of 16, but she persevered and was the first to graduate high school in her family, and was accepted into the University of Southern California where she continued to hone her craft as a writer.
After receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree from USC, Jessica worked for six years at Lowrider Magazine. She was the only female staff writer. If there was ever a place to inspire a sitcom or a film, Lowrider was it. Eager to write the bigger story, Jessica adapted her magazine experiences into a comedy screenplay, Lo-Writing, which was selected by the National Association of Latino Independent Producers to be performed as a staged reading in Tucson, Arizona by the American Repertory Academy. She currently finished writing the comedy pilot based on this time of her life, titled My Low-Life.
Since then, Jessica has pitched her experiences as a young, single mom to be hired on mother/daughter comedies such as NBC’s “Kath & Kim” and FOX’s “I Hate My Teenage Daughter.” She has also written for MTV Tr3s’ “Rock Dinner” (which she also story produced), Nickelodeon’s “Dora and Friends: Into the City!” as well as Disney’s hit shows “That’s So Raven,” “Cory in the House,” “Jessie” and “Elena of Avalor.” Most recently she was an Executive Story Editor for Netlfix’s “SELENA: THE SERIES” and “THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE OF ASHLEY GARCIA.”
Leslie Grace Martinez was born to Dominican parents on January 7, 1995 in The Bronx and raised in Davie, Florida. Singing and dancing since early childhood, she participated in musicals, talent shows and choral performances throughout middle and high school. Since signing her first recording contract at age 16, she has become a prominent force in Latin and Tropical Music. With her first single release, a bilingual cover of The Shirelles’ “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?”, she became the youngest Latin female artist in history to score a #1 single on the Billboard Latin music charts. Leslie has received three Latin Grammy nominations, three Billboard Latin Music Awards nominations and won Best Tropical Female Artist at the 2016 Lo Nuestro Award. She has toured throughout the United States, Latin America and Europe. She has charted a total of 14 singles in English and Spanish, and her self-titled debut albumreached#4 on the Billboard Latin Albums chart. Currently signed to Sony Music, she has several new singles set for release in the summer of 2019.
In April 2019, it was announced that Leslie will be starring as Nina in the 2020 film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award winning musical In The Heights, directed by Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians). It marks her first lead role as an actress in a major motion picture.
As Executive Director, Ben is responsible for the overall design, strategic vision, and execution of all domestic and global endeavors for the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, NALIP. Ben serves as the year-round industry liaison for executives and content creators in the Latino Lens Incubator programs, working with the top agencies in the world to curate and match these creators with key industry professionals who can accelerate their careers forward. Ben oversees the NALIP Media Summit, Diverse Women in Media Initiative, the Latino Media Fest, and Latino Lens programs. He strives towards uniting his passion for inclusive storytelling and his roots in film production in his role as Executive Producer of the Latino Lens Incubator Series. Recently, Ben's role as an Executive Producer has led to him consulting for the major Hollywood studios and networks. An advocate and champion of #Diversity, #Inclusion, and #Belonging, Ben has been quoted on domestic and global publications and outlets, such as Variety and Slate France. In addition, Ben has delivered keynotes and participated in speaking engagements in the world's leading festivals and markets including Telluride, Outfest, LA Brazilian Film Fest, New Filmmakers from Spain, DocsDF, DGCine in the Dominican Republic, SANFIC Co-Prod Market in Chile, Manos Tech Venture Summit, MIP Cancún, Sundance, TIFF, SXSW, Tribeca, FICG & Morelia, and European Film Market in Berlin.
Twitter: @vientofuego
Instagram: @benvientofuego
Jorge Gutierrez is the director & co-writer of the Golden Globe nominated and Guillermo Del Toro produced animated feature "The Book of Life" for 20th Century Fox, writer & director of the Emmy nominated "Son of Jaguar" VR short for Google and creator (with muse and Emmy winning wife Sandra Equihua) of the multiple Emmy winning animated series "El Tigre, The Adventures of Manny Rivera" for Nickelodeon. He is currently writing and directing an epic fantasy series "Maya And The Three" for Netflix.
Twitter: @mexopolis
Instagram: @Mexopolis
Franklin Leonard is a film producer, cultural commentator, professor, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of the Black List, the company that celebrates and supports great screenwriting and the writers who do it via production, its annual survey of best unproduced screenplays, online marketplace, live staged script readings, screenwriter labs, and film culture publications. He was awarded the 2019 Writers Guild East Evelyn Burkey award for elevating the honor and dignity of screenwriters. He is an occasional commentator for the BBC and MSNBC on matters of culture, politics, and race, an associate professor at the American Film institute, a trustee of PEN America, and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and the Associates Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). His TED talk was viewed more than one million times in its first two months of release.
Twitter: @franklinleonard
Instagram: @franklinjleonard
Gloria Calderón Kellett Gloria Calderón Kellett is the executive producer, co-creator, co-showrunner, director and actress on the critically acclaimed sitcom One Day at a Time. The proud daughter of Cuban immigrants, Kellett graduated from Loyola Marymount University and went on to earn a Masters degree in Theatre from the University of London. She spent her early years as a writer/producer on numerous shows including Devious Maids, Rules of Engagement, and How I Met Your Mother. Her acting credits include Jane The Virgin, Angie Tribeca, Dead To Me, How I Met Your Mother, One Day at a Time, and ABC’s upcoming United We Fall, for which she also wrote. One of her proudest moments was appearing as a narrator on Drunk History (New Orleans).
In directing, Calderón Kellett has worked on episodes of One Day at a Time, Mr. Iglesias, Merry Happy Whatever, United We Fall and the Mad About You revival. Currently, Ms. Calderón Kellett is co-showrunning season four of One Day at a Time, premiering on POP TV in March 2020. Calderón Kellett strives to create television that is accessible and inclusive. This year, she became an ambassador for the non-profit ReFrame and launched a “Hollywood 101” web series with Buzzfeed’s PeroLike. The series offers free advice to new artists at the beginning of their entertainment careers. Awards for her work include The Television Academy Honors, Mental Health America Media Award, ALMA Award, Imagen Award, Vanguard Award, NHMC Award, Sentinel Award, and The Voice Award. Calderón Kellett is also one of the few creatives to have the distinction of receiving a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes for One Day at a Time. She has been honored as an industry leader by The Hollywood Reporter in their Top Women in Entertainment issue, the THR100 list issue, and their 50 Agents of Change issue.
Twitter: @everythingloria
Instagram: @gloriakellett
As a reporter who was the first Latina in many newsrooms, Maria Hinojosa dreamt of a space where she could create independent, multimedia journalism that explores and gives a critical voice to the diverse American experience. She made that dream a reality in 2010 when she created Futuro Media, an independent, nonprofit newsroom based in Harlem, NYC with the mission to create multimedia content from a POC perspective. Futuro does this in the service of empowering people to navigate the complexities of an increasingly diverse and connected world. As the Anchor and Executive Producer of the Peabody Award-winning show Latino USA, distributed by NPR, as well as Co-Host of In The Thick, the Futuro Media’s award-winning political podcast, Hinojosa has informed millions about the changing cultural and political landscape in America and abroad. She is also a contributor to the long-running, award-winning news program CBS Sunday Morning and a frequent guest on MSNBC. Hinojosa’s nearly 30-year career as an award-winning journalist includes reporting for PBS, CBS, WNBC, CNN, NPR, and anchoring the Emmy Award winning talk show from WGBH Maria Hinojosa: One-on-One. She is the author of two books and has won dozens of awards, including: four Emmys, the John Chancellor Award, the Studs Terkel Community Media Award, two Robert F. Kennedy Awards, the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Overseas Press Club, and the Ruben Salazar Lifetime Achievement Award from the NAHJ. She has been honored with her own day in October by New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio and has been recognized by People En Español as one of the 25 most powerful Latina women. Additionally, Hinojosa was the first Latina to anchor a PBS FRONTLINE report: “Lost in Detention” which aired in October 2011 and was the first to explore abuse at immigrant detention facilities, garnering attention from Capitol Hill as well as both the mainstream and Spanish-language media. As a reporter for NPR, Hinojosa was among the first to report on youth violence in urban communities on a national scale. During her eight years as CNN’s urban affairs correspondent, Hinojosa often took viewers into communities rarely shown on television and continued that work longform on Now on PBS.
At Futuro Media, Hinojosa continues to bring attention to experiences and points of view that are often overlooked or underreported in mainstream media, all while mentoring the next generation of diverse journalists to delve into authentic and nuanced stories. In 2018 she was a Fellow at Shorenstein Center at the Harvard Kennedy School and is a frequent speaker across the country. In 2019, she was named the inaugural Distinguished Journalist in Residence at her Alma Mater, Barnard College. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children.
Tanya Saracho is a playwright and television writer who serves as creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the critically-acclaimed series “Vida” on Starz, which earned 100% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes for its first, second and third seasons. The show, which returned for a third and final season April 26th on Starz, featured all Latina directors in seasons one and two, including Saracho, who made her television directorial debut last year. The series had an all-Latinx writers room for seasons one and two, and in season three, the room was comprised of all Latina writers.
Named one of “TV Scribes to Watch” by Variety in 2018, Saracho most recently received the Rising Star award at the Outfest Legacy Awards, and was also awarded the New Voice Award by Final Draft. “Vida” won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comedy Series and was nominated for a second year in a row for season two, and was honored by the National Hispanic Media Coalition with the 2019 Impact Award. The series won the Audience Award at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival, and made its season two premiere as an Official Selection of the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival.
Saracho is currently under an overall deal with Starz, and is developing a new series, “Brujas,” with Big Beach. Her television credits include “How to Get Away with Murder,” HBO's “Looking,” and “Devious Maids.”
Saracho was named “Best New Playwright" by Chicago Magazine, and has had plays produced at New York City’s Primary Stages and 2nd Stage, as well as Victory Gardens Theatre, The Denver Theatre Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf Theater, Teatro Vista, Teatro Luna, Fountain Theater, Clubbed Thumb, NEXT Theater and 16th Street Theater.
Saracho was also named one of nine national Latino "Luminarios" by Café Magazine, and received the first "Revolucionario" Award in Theater by the National Museum of Mexican Art. She is the founder of Teatro Luna (the first all-Latina Theatre Company in the nation, now defunct) as well as the founder of ALTA (Alliance of Latino Theatre Artists). She is currently in development with South Coast Repertory and Two River Theatre.
Saracho was born in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, México, and raised along the Texas border, spending the better part of her adult life in Chicago. She currently resides in Los Angeles.
Instagram: @tanyasaracho
Twitter: @TanyaSaracho
A graduate of The Juilliard School, actress, director and producer Monica Raymund is perhaps best known for her 8-season role as Gabriela Dawson on NBC’s hit series “Chicago Fire,” for which she received an Imagen Award for “Best Actress, Television” (2013) and three subsequent nominations. Other television credits include “The Good Wife,” “Blue Bloods,” “Special Skills,” three seasons on Fox’s “Lie to Me” and the upcoming Starz crime-drama series “Hightown” from executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer. In film, she has starred in Nicholas Jarecki’s thriller Arbitrage, Stephen Elliott’s drama Happy Baby, and Mahesh Pailoor’s Brahmin Bulls.
Raymund was in the inaugural class of Female Forward, NBC’s initiative to increase female representation in the director’s chair. She has directed episodes of “Law & Order: SVU” and “FBI” as well as the short film Tanya for the Hidden Tears Project, a nonprofit media company bringing awareness to sex trafficking.
Twitter: @MonicaRaymundBR
Instagram: @monicaraymund86
A native of Puerto Rico, Amaury Nolasco moved to New York to study at the American British Dramatic Arts School after being encouraged by a director to pursue acting. A guest star on several popular television shows — including “CSI,” “ER” and “George Lopez” — he landed his first major supporting role on 2 Fast 2 Furious. In 2003, USA Today named Nolasco one of the 27 people to watch in the industry. Other TV credits include the “Telenovela” (opposite Eva Longoria), “Power,” “Deception” and a regular role on the critically acclaimed show “Prison Break.”
In addition to starring in The Rum Diary (opposite Johnny Depp) and co-starring in Transformers and Street Kings (opposite Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker), Nolasco has appeared in such films as Max Payne (opposite Mark Wahlberg), Armored (alongside Laurence Fishburne, Matt Dillon and Jean Reno), In the Blood, Animal, Criminal and Small Time.
Twitter: @amaurynolasco
Instagram: @amaurynolasco
Cristina directed SCIENCE FAIR, which won audience awards at Sundance and SxSW in 2018, as well as an Emmy and a Critics’ Choice award for best first time director. Cristina previously worked as an investigative journalist, covering detention centers, sex trafficking and the opiate epidemic. Her investigative work has been recognized with a GLAAD Award and a duPont. She is a partner at Los Angeles-based production company, Muck Media.
Twitter:@xtinatini
Instagram:@xtinatini
Kareem directed THE LAST RESORT, an official selection of DOC NYC distributed by Kino Lorber. His short DOLPHIN LOVER premiered at Slamdance and won Best Short Doc at LA Film Festival. Former Program Director of The Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Kareem is the co-founder of South Florida’s largest art house theater, O Cinema.
Twitter: @kareemtabsch
Instagram: @kareemtabsch
Alex is a producer and creative developer. He most recently oversaw I Think You Should Leave (Netflix) and prior to that served as Vice President of Original Programming for HBO, in Alternative and Comedy where his projects included Random Acts of Flyness, 2 Dope Queens and Chris Gethard: Career Suicide.
Twitter: @angryyuca
Instagram: @angryyuca
Rosy Cordero is an entertainment writer for Entertainment Weekly based in Los Angeles.
Twitter: @SocialRosy
Instagram: @SocialRosy
This A-List Mexican actress has worked in Telenovelas and films since her early youth. She first captured American audiences in 2007 with her award-winning performance in the Fox Searchlight/Weinstein hit movie “Under the Same Moon”, which is still ranked among the top 10 highest-grossing Spanish-language theatrical releases in U.S. history. She followed that with a recurring role in the hit TV series, “Weeds”. In 2011 she starred in the massively popular series "La Reina del Sur" (Queen of the South), which is currently having renewed success on Netflix and has since been adapted in English on the USA network. Kate’s talent is versatile, with gritty performances in “Trade” opposite Kevin Cline, and “Julia” co-starring Tilda Swinton. In 2012 she gave two critically acclaimed performances, first in the Spanish language film “Colosio”, and second, in the English language film, K-11, in which she played a transsexual man.
She also guest starred in the TV series, Grimm. In 2014 she lent her voice to "La Muerte” in Guillermo Del Toro's Golden Globe nominated "The Book of Life”, had a key role opposite Idris Elba in the hit film “No Good Deed”, and released a hit Spanish language thriller called, “Visitantes”. In 2015, she starred opposite Antonio Banderas in "The 33,” a film based on the true story of the trapped Chilean miners, and also had a recurring role in the popular TV series “Jane the Virgin”. Most recently, Kate has enjoyed some massive successes on Netflix, first with two seasons of the original series, “Ingobernable”, which she stars in and co-produced. Then came “The Day I Met El Chapo”, the acclaimed three-part documentary, which she also co-produced, about her now infamous meeting with Sean Penn and the notorious fugitive drug lord.
Finally, there’s “La Reina Del Sur 2”, which broke ratings records on Telemundo and is now, along with “La Reina Del Sur 1”, one of the most streamed Spanish language series on Netflix. Kate is also the first Latina actress to be nominated for three prestigious New York Theater awards for her Off-Broadway hit play, “The Way She Spoke”, while simultaneously enjoying massive box office success in the blockbuster hit “Bad Boys for Life”, alongside Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, solidifying Kate Del Castillo as a strong female force in Hollywood. Besides being a successful actress, producer and entrepreneur, Kate is also an outspoken activist and humanitarian. She was appointed as Ambassador for the Mexican Commission on Human Rights to help combat human trafficking. She is also a spokesperson for PETA and has received numerous Humanitarian awards and recognitions. She also co-founded a non- profit foundation, “Los Angeles en México”. Kate owns her own brand of Tequila, “Honor Del Castillo”, and in 2019 she became a partner in MMA’s Combate Americas and started her all female production company, Cholawood Productions, which currently has a development deal with global content creator Endemol Shine Boomdog.
Twitter: @katedelcastillo
Instagram: @katedelcastillo
Claudia Forestieri is a bilingual, biracial TV writer of Dominican-Italian descent who was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Miami. She began her storytelling career as a news reporter and producer for Telemundo, earning five Emmys and a GLAAD Media Award in the process. After completing various writing programs including Disney ABC’s, NBC’s Writers on the Verge and HBOAccess, she landed her first staff writing job on Freeform’s “Good Trouble” in 2018. She spent 2019 working as an Executive Story Editor and later Co-Producer on Netflix’s upcoming “Selena The Series.”—a bio drama about the late Queen of Tejano music. In 2020, Claudia is keeping busy developing a pilot inspired by her Miami immigrant childhood for HBOMax—GORDITA CHRONICLES—with Sony Pictures TV, Osprey Productions and Zoey Saldaña’s Cinestar Pictures.
Twitter: @PlanetClaudia
Instagram: @claudiforest
Facebook: Claudia Forestieri
Hiromi is a Japanese/Mexican filmmaker and presently a Director/Executive Producer of SELENA for Netflix. She is directing multiple episodes including the pilot and series finale. Prior to that, Hiromi directed the pilot and four episodes of CRIME DIARIES: THE CANDIDATE for Netflix. She also directed multiple episodes of DIABLO GUARDIAN for Amazon, the pilot and four episodes of DANI WHO at Paramount TV LAT, and NINO SANTO for Once TV. Hiromi started her career in film working as an assistant director for directors like Alejandro González Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón, Issa López, Diego Luna, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Gerardo Naranjo.
Gina Brillon was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. The Puerto Rican actress, comedian, and writer, has been a stand-up comedian since she was seventeen. Her newest 1-hour special Gina Brillon: The Floor is Lava is now available on Amazon Prime Video. Brillon’s first 1-hour special, Pacifically Speaking (NuvoTV), was produced by Gabriel Iglesias. Her 1/2 hour special Easily Offended was one of the top shows amongst the Entre Nos franchise and is streaming on all HBO Digital Platforms. She’s appeared on Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham, E!’s Chelsea Lately, The View, Late Night with Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel Live. You have seen her on Kevin Can Wait on CBS and The Conners on ABC. She was the first (and only) Latina winner of NBC’s “Stand up for Diversity” Showcase and was selected to be part of Montreal’s Just For Laughs “New Faces” Showcase.
Twitter: @GinaBrillon
Instagram: @gbrillon
Facebook: ginabrilloncomedy
An award-winning Mexican-American writer and filmmaker, Moisés Zamora is the creator, executive producer, and co-showrunner of Netflix’s upcoming Selena: The Series. Previously, Moisés was a staff writer on the Emmy-winning series American Crime, and Star on FOX. Earlier in his career, he was the recipient of the Binational Literary Prize for Young Novel Border of Words for his coming-of-age novel written in Spanish when he was twenty-five years old. While working in advertising, he executive-produced the short film Remember Me in Red, a Latina transgender story, which received the Audience Award at San Francisco’s Frameline. In 2011, his documentary Young and Mexican received the award for Best Documentary by a Mexican Director at the Oaxaca FilmFest. A graduate of Brown University, he was born in Mexico and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of eleven. He currently resides in Los Angeles.
Twitter: @moisesthewriter
Instagram: @moisesthewriter
Facebook: moisesthewriter
Jaime Dávila is a leader among the generation of young producers betting their careers on the need for more inclusive content. Driven to expand opportunities for Latinx creators, deliver inclusive programming for audiences, and demonstrate that diversity is good business. Dávila’s Campanario Entertainment produces a prolific amount of multilingual content in the U.S. and Mexico. His current slate includes the highly-anticipated scripted series on Selena Quintanilla for Netflix, Selena: The Series, the multigenerational reality series Mexican Dynasties for Bravo, for Amazon Prime Video, Como Sobrevivir Soltero, Bridges, a multi-generational, multi-cultural Latino family comedy that received a script commitment from ABC, and a number of unscripted and scripted projects in development. Campanario is also known for Camelia La Texana (for Telemundo).
Dávila was previously a development executive at Bravo, where he held progressively senior roles adapting international formats and developing original series under the leadership of Andy Cohen
Twitter: @jaimedavila
Nic Novicki is an comedian, actor, and producer that has performed on 6 continents including several tours through Armed Forces Entertainment, performing for troops. His television credits include: Boardwalk Empire, The Good Doctor, The Sopranos, Loudermilk, Alone Together, Gotham Comedy Live, Jack and Triumph, The Neighbors, Austin and Alley, Private Practice, Drop Dead Diva. He has appeared in several movies including: L!fe Happens, November Rule, The Last 5 Years, Boston Girls, Breaking Wind, Dead Ant and the upcoming Hipsters, Gangsters, Aliens and Geeks. He is the founder and director of the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge and is a board member of Easterseals Southern California.
Twitter: @nicnovicki
Instagram: @nicnovicki - @disabilityfilmchallenge
Gil Robertson is a 20-year veteran entertainment journalist. His byline has appeared in the LA Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USA Today, Fortune, Ebony, Essence, and BET among other leading publications. He is also an accomplished author with 5 books to his credit. His first Children’s book, “Book of Black Heroes: Political Leaders Past & Present,” was just released through Just Us Books. As co-founder/president of AAFCA, for which Robertson produces a year-round schedule of programs, including the AAFCA Awards.
'Marco Villalobos is a Fulbright scholar, Latino Public Broadcasting fellow, and UNESCO-Aschberg Laureate. He’s produced documentary for The Economist, The Center for Investigative Reporting, PBS Newshour, and PBS World. He’s consulted and written for HBO’s How to Make It In America and Sundance selected short, Una Hora Por Favora. For over two decades he’s taught creative writing in community centers, jails, public schools, and universities internationally while publishing in major publications and periodicals.
Co-producer of African By Legacy, Mexican By Birth, Villalobos’s early film and writing anticipated new generations of academic and community interest in Afro-Latinx identity. His touring multimedia exhibit Viajes Personales highlighted Afro-Latino contributions to democracy in the western hemisphere since colonial times and toured Latin America, offering previews and journalism workshops exclusively to underserved Afro-Latino communities at each stop. His recent work includes the feature adaptation The Last Thing He Wanted, a Sundance Film Festival 2020 premiere.
Twitter: @xVILLALOBOSx
Instagram: @flyvillalobos
Jesus Trejo is one of the fastest rising names in the stand-up comedy scene. Born and raised in Long Beach, Trejo recently taped his first hour stand-up special STAY AT HOME SON for Showtime, set to air summer of 2020. He can be seen recurring as the role of Mr. Trujillo on the Netflix series MR. IGLESIAS, and in roles on ALONE TOGETHER (Freeform) and TEACHERS (TV Land). Jesus is also the host of Tacos Con Todo, the newest web series from Complex/First We Feast (HOT ONES) in which he navigates the LA taco scene with celebrity guests. Jesus was named a Variety Top 10 Comic to watch at JFL in 2017, and is a paid regular at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles.
Instagram: @jesustrejo1
Twitter: @jesustrejo
Dailyn Rodriguez was born in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City to Cuban parents. She likes to say that she grew up a lot like Meadow Soprano - going to private school in New Jersey, while her father ran an illegal underground gambling syndicate in the city. Her high school drama teacher introduced her to the theater and encouraged her to write plays as a means to express herself and explore her unconventional upbringing. This led to Samuel French publishing her high school one-act plays in a collection entitled, Throwing off the Covers.
She attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where she earned a BFA in Dramatic Writing and received the John Golden Award in Playwriting. In 2001 she participated in The Walt Disney Studios Writing Fellowship. Some of her TV writing credits include: George Lopez, Ugly Betty, Cane, Lie to Me, The Glades, The Night Shift. She has been nominated for two Alma Awards and received a Writer’s Guild Award for Outstanding New Series (Ugly Betty). She is currently the Executive Producer and Co-Showrunner of Queen of the South. Dailyn lives in Los Angeles with her artist husband and two of the cutest dogs on the world.
Twitter: @dailynrod
Instagram: @dailynrod
Sierra Teller Ornelas has previously staffed on many awesome TV shows:Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Superstore, Happy Endings, Splitting Up Together, Surviving Jack and Selfie. She is the co-creator and show runner of the upcoming Peacock show Rutherford Falls, starring Ed Helms. Sierra’s work has been featured on This American Life, the New York Times Opinion Section and the Hollywood Reporter’s Guest Column. A graduate of the University of Arizona, she previously worked as a film programmer for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, helping to create ridiculously entertaining programs about Native film and media. Raised in Tucson, AZ, she is also an award winning sixth generation Navajo tapestry weaver and currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.
Twitter: @sierraornelas
Instagram: @sierraornelas
Brett King is Vice President, Creative Programming, Diversity & Inclusion for Sony Pictures Entertainment. King oversees the Sony Pictures Entertainment creative diversity initiatives, including the studio’s signature Diverse Director and Diverse Writer programs, and works across all of the studio’s businesses to provide access and opportunity for the underrepresented. A television veteran with oversight of literally hundreds of hours of television under his belt, he has been a senior level executive at BET, The WB, Paramount Television Studios and 20th Century Fox Television. His executive career followed his work in New York, where he was a staff producer of the commercial parodies at Saturday Night Live as well as producer of innumerable music videos, commercials and promos, all while moonlighting as a DJ in some of the city’s seminal downtown clubs. King is a proud father of two.
Claudia Puig is president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and a longtime critic on NPR’s Film Week. She teaches a college class on Diversity in the Media and is in demand as a moderator on film-related panels. She is also program director for two film festivals, in Mendocino, CA and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Claudia has a film consulting business specializing in cultural consulting. Previously, she was USA Today’s film critic for 15 years. Before that, she was a Los Angeles Times staff writer for 11 years. She has been a speechwriter and diversity consultant for AMPAS. A native Spanish speaker, Claudia has a B.A. in Communications from UCLA and an M.A. in Communications from USC. She was recently featured in an LA Times article as one of 14 critics making media more inclusive and in Indiewire as one of 20 Latin-Americans making a difference in independent film.
Twitter: @claudiapuig
Instagram: @claudia_puig_
Dino-Ray Ramos is an Associate Editor at Deadline Hollywood where he reports on inclusion, diversity, and representation in film and TV. In addition, he covers genre, sci-fi and comic book film & TV. He is the co-host and creator of the New Hollywood Podcast, which champions people of color, women, members of the LGBTQ community, and other underrepresented voices in film and television. A Texas native, Dino-Ray worked as a film and TV reporter for the Oakland Tribune and San Francisco Chronicle before moving to Los Angeles. Prior to Deadline, he wrote for numerous publications including Vogue, Entertainment Tonight, Bustle, Tracking Board, Paste and Queerty. He was recently honored on Gold House's A100 List which honors the most impactful Asians and Asian American & Pacific Islanders in culture.
With early roots in the San Francisco comedy scene, Al Madrigal has parlayed his talents into successful off-stage careers as an actor, writer/producer, correspondent, speaker, and podcaster. For two seasons, he starred as “Edgar Martinez” on the Jim Carrey produced Showtime series I’m Dying Up Here, also serving behind the camera as a writing producer. Since 2011, Madrigal has provided regular correspondent pieces for the Emmy Award-winning The Daily Show. Having emerged as a regular presence on the big screen, Madrigal recently starred in Universal’s hit comedy, Night School, opposite Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish. Madrigal can be seen in the recent Warner Bros. drama, The Way Back, which sets him opposite Ben Affleck in a tale about a basketball all-star-turned coach who loses his wife and family foundation in a struggle with addiction.
Madrigal will also be starring opposite Jared Leto in Marvel/Sony’s Morbius, set to release March 2021, as well as in the upcoming dark romantic comedy, Happily. He has also starred NBC's About A Boy co-starring David Walton and Minnie Driver; Free Agents with Hank Azaria and Kathryn Hahn, Welcome to the Captain and Gary Unmarried for CBS; The Tax Men, opposite Martin Short; and The Ortegas, where he was the series lead. Madrigal recently completed 13 episodes as an Executive Producer on the CBS comedy, Broke, set to air this April. In 2013, Madrigal starred in his first hour-long stand-up special Why Is the Rabbit Crying on Comedy Central. He has been seen on Conan, The Tonight Show, The Late, Late Show, @Midnight and Jimmy Kimmel Live. In 2015 Madrigal released his award winning and critically acclaimed docu-comedy Half Like Me.
His newest standup special, Shrimpin’ Ain’t Easy premiered in 2017 on Showtime, and was deemed by Slate, “one of the best specials of 2017.” On October 1, 2013, Madrigal and Bill Burr launched the All Things Comedy network (ATC), a podcast and video network founded, owned and operated entirely by comedians. The network currently has 6 million downloads per month. Madrigal lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. For more go to www.AlMadrigal.com
Twitter: @AlMadrigal
Facebook: almadrigal
Ilana Peña is the creator, executive producer, and co-showrunner of Diary of a Future President on Disney+, which was just renewed for its second season. Previously, she wrote on the critically acclaimed “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” on the CW. She was also a co-writer of “Her Shorts” with Rachel Bloom, produced by Refinery29 and Planned Parenthood. Peña’s plays have been produced professionally in Chicago (Goodman Theatre Latino Theater Festival) and New York (INTAR Theatre), among others. She is the co-founder of See What Sticks, a monthly workshop with an audience in Los Angeles.
Twitter: @ilanacubana
Instagram: @lanstagram
Veronica Villafañe is an Emmy award-winning multimedia journalist who has worked as a reporter, anchor, producer, columnist, and writer for Spanish and English-language broadcast, print, and online media, including Univision, Telemundo, CNN en Español, Fox’s KTTV in L.A., and the San Jose Mercury News, before moving into the digital news world. An expert on Hispanic media, she is the founder, Editor and Publisher of MediaMoves.com, a news site dedicated to covering Latinos in the media, Hispanic media and the issues that affect the industry since 2007. A former national President of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), she is currently a regular TV news contributor to Voice of America, covering a wide range of issues, and Forbes, writing about Hispanic media and entertainment.
@veronicav & @mediamoves
DANNY FERNANDEZ is a Cuban-American writer, actor, and songwriter. After graduating with an acting degree from of NYU, he was discouraged by the limited roles available for Latinx actors and the stereotypes being perpetuated by the industry. Danny then decided to change gears and dedicated himself to writing that material himself. He quickly fell in love with writing and telling stories that were authentic to his experiences as a first-generation Latinx-American. He is currently writing on Season 2 of DIARY OF A FUTURE PRESIDENT on DISNEY+ and previously for LOVE, VICTOR on HULU. He was also a staff writer on ABC’s GRAND HOTEL, Executive Produced by Eva Longoria. For three years, Danny was the writer for the annual Imagen Awards, which included reworking the opening of Hamilton to honor Lin-Manuel Miranda. As a director, Danny produced and directed portions of Todrick Hall’s Visual Album, Straight Outta Oz.
Twitter & IG: @mrdannyfern
Susana Zepeda Cagan is the Vice President of Talent Relations and Development for Turner Classic Movies. In this role, she leads all talent recruitment and development for TCM as well as oversee all talent relations responsibilities including brand-related talent management and appearances, talent ideation for all programming and brand initiatives, and creating new business opportunities for the brands built around talent.
TWITTER: @ZZZEPEDA
Karla Quintero is a Panamanian cultural manager, audiovisual producer and social communicator. She began her career as an audiovisual producer and social communicator in 2005 after getting her bachelor’s degree in Advertising and Marketing with an emphasis in Digital Video Production. She got her postgraduate degree in Management and Cultural Administration from the National University of the Arts in Argentina where she created Buenos Aires para Panamá: The Panamanian Film Festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in which she is the sole manager and programmer since 2014. She also started managing projects for independent artists and private and public entities. Karla has been the Head of Industry at the International Film Festival of Panama since 2016, organizing educational activities and trainings for industry professionals, emerging filmmakers and students. She also coordinates and programmes Primera Mirada, IFF Panama’s Works in Progress fund created exclusively for films that are produced in Central America and the Caribbean region.
IG & TWITTER: @karlaquinterot
Born in Brazil, Ana Souza now lives in Los Angeles. She works at Sundance as the Manager of the Programming department and an Associate Programmer on the features team. She is also the Head Programmer for the Sun Valley Film Festival, and an Associate Programmer for the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. She programmed shorts and features for the LA Film Festival for several years before becoming Head Programmer of World Fiction for their last edition in 2018, and she was an Associate Programmer of Short Films for AFI FEST for four editions. Her work has ranged from programming to filmmaker/industry relations and event production in festivals including Outfest, the LA Latino International Film Festival, Ambulante California, and NALIP’s Latino Media Fest, among others. She has been a programming fellow for Film Independent’s Project Involve and the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Industry Academy. She holds a BA from Warwick and an MA from USC.
Christina Davis serves as President, Original Programming for Starz. Based in the company’s Santa Monica office, she leads the programming and development team for the global premium platform and delivering on its creative mandate of producing premium content for women and diverse audiences worldwide. As head of Drama Series Development for CBS for 11 years, Davis delivered the network the #1 New Drama in nine out of 11 years had a hand in developing the “CSI” and “NCIS” franchises and such acclaimed series as “The Good Wife,” “Blue Bloods,” “Criminal Minds,” “Hawaii Five-O,” “Elementary,” “Madam Secretary,” “Scorpion,” “Bull,” “MacGyver” and “Code Black.” Davis previously served as Executive Vice President, Drama Series Development, CBS Entertainment, a role she held from 2009 - 2017. Having started in the CBS drama series department in 1997 as assistant to then drama head Nina Tassler, Davis spent nearly 20 years rising through the ranks in both development and current series at CBS Entertainment. Following her departure from CBS, Davis co-founded the television production company Maniac Productions, with writer-producer Michael Seitzman in 2017, based at ABC Studios. Davis is a graduate of UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. A former honoree for The Imagen Foundation’s “Powerful & Influential Latinos in the Entertainment Industry,” she sits on the Board of Directors for HRTS (Hollywood Radio and Television Society) and Girls Inc. Davis also serves on the Advisory Board of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers’ (NALIP) Diverse Women in Media Forum.
Lindsey Villarreal is a screenwriter and producer focusing on Latinx and female genre content. Lindsey has written for Sacred Lies (Facebook Watch), The Purge (USA), Vida (Starz) as well as a feature film and upcoming series for Netflix. Lindsey is a member of NALIP and an alumni of screenwriting and producing labs such as IFP Film Labs in Brooklyn, The Austin Film Festival and The Hola Mexico Film Festival. Lindsey is a graduate of UT Austin & USC with an MFA in Production. She is originally from San Antonio, Texas and has traveled the country as a professional Caricature artist. She is currently a board member of LA for Choice and active in community engagement.
Twitter: @lmv55
GLADYS RODRIGUEZ is a Television Writer/Producer born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and a proud daughter of Mexican immigrants. Her writing credits include SONS OF ANARCHY, STAR, CW’s DYNASTY, SELENA for Netflix and Starz’s critically acclaimed Latinx drama, VIDA. She is currently in development on a couple projects as well as writing for an Untitled Netflix limited series. She graduated from San Francisco State University in 2002 with a B.A. in Film and Communications and soon after was chosen as an Academy of Television Arts and Sciences intern which moved her out to Los Angeles to pursue her TV writing career. From there, she was employed as a Writer’s Assistant and Script Coordinator and has worked on over a dozen TV shows. Gladys was also a participant in the CBS Writers on the Verge program. In 2012 she was nominated for a WGA Award for Outstanding Achievement In Writing Derivative New Media for her Sons of Anarchy Webisodes: “Pay Phone,” “Mexican Basketball,” “Tara and Piney,” and “Jax Meets His Second Son.” In late 2018, she developed and produced the greatest project of her life, her first child. She lives in Glendale, Ca. with her husband, her English Bulldog, Stella, and her son, Lucas.
Twitter: grod_lo_08
IG: Grod8
Isaac Lee is the founder of EXILE, a media company dedicated to acquiring and developing premium original content for audiences across the U.S. and Latin America, which he established in 2019. Prior to this venture, Lee served as the Chief Content Officer for Univision Communications and Televisa, where he led broadcast networks, a film studio and cable, streaming and digital properties. In scripted content, Lee produced the award-winning film Paraíso Travel, and executive produced the mini-series for TVE, Operation Checkmate, which was nominated for an International Emmy. He also executive produced three seasons of El Chapo for Netflix. In non-scripted, Lee served as executive producer on Who Killed Malcolm X? (Netflix), the award-winning documentary Science Fair (NatGeo/Disney+), Outpost (HBO), The Traffickers (Netflix ), Food Exposed (Netflix) and Residente (Netflix), as well as Hate Rising with Jorge Ramos, among many other documentaries. Additionally, the investigative pieces he produced with Frontline won multiple awards including Peabody and DuPont. Lee is a board member of the Associated Press (AP), the Committee to Protect the Journalists (CPJ) and Columbia Journalism Review (CJR). He also serves on the Journalism Advisory Board at ProPublica and as a Trustee of the Hirshhorn Museum of contemporary art. He is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR).
STEVEN CANALS is the Emmy®-nominated and Peabody Award-winning co-creator, executive producer, director and writer of FX’s groundbreaking drama series, POSE, which will return for a third season. For the show's recent second season, Canals made his TV directorial debut with the episode titled "Revelations," which he also wrote. He was recently featured on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter's Pride Issue and named to their list of 2020's "50 Most Powerful LGBTQ Players in Hollywood."
Twitter & IG @StevenCanals
Natalie Moran is a Motion Picture Talent Agent at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). In addition to representing some of the world’s leading actors, Natalie also serves on the leadership board of CAA’s Multicultural Committee. A native of Los Angeles, Natalie is a graduate of the University of Southern California’s (USC) School of Cinematic Arts and spent much of her childhood in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Cristina Garza is an Agent in the Media Finance department at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Garza is based in the Los Angeles office and specializes in independently financed film, television, and digital content for the Latin American and Spanish markets. Garza joined CAA in 2019 from AGC Studios, where she was the Head of Latino Content. Previously, she ran Mundial, IM Global’s Latin American film sales arm, prior to which she ran distribution at Canana Films in Mexico. Garza graduated from New York University with a degree in Economics.
Ruben Garcia is an Executive at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), where he helps conceptualize and execute strategies to support the agency's overall inclusion and equity efforts. In this role, he collaborates with company leadership to build inclusive business practices and liaises with clients and organizations focused on implementing and promoting diversity across the industry. In addition, Garcia works within the CAA Foundation to advise and consult clients on their prosocial and philanthropic initiatives. A long-time leader in the promotion of inclusion, CAA continues to develop and implement strategies to create sustainable change, within the agency and beyond. Garcia plays an integral role in guiding CAA's corporate partnerships and in the creation, growth and management of the agency's slate of diversity programs, including CAA Amplify, The Writers' Boot Camp, Creators Summit series, and CAA Amplify: Next Gen.
In 2017, CAA hosted the first Writers' Boot Camp, a daylong workshop to help emerging writers from diverse backgrounds accelerate their creative careers within television. In 2013, Garcia helped lead a cross-agency effort to launch CAA Amplify: Next Gen, a networking and professional development event to foster the growth of future diverse industry leaders. He also oversees CAA's Creators Summit series, educational experiences for content creators hosted in partnership with major industry events and diversity organizations, such as the American Black Film Festival (ABFF) and GLAAD.
Most recently, Garcia led efforts to host the third annual CAA Amplify, a premier, invitation-only gathering of multicultural artists, business leaders and activists from entertainment, media, sports, corporate brands, and social justice. The event was designed to connect key influencers and decision-makers to strategize around the most pressing business and social challenges, and to generate opportunities that raise the value of diversity across industries.
Since joining CAA, Garcia has established a variety of internal programs to help attract, develop, and retain a new generation of industry executives. He advises on the agency's diversity recruitment strategy and global internship program, and created and launched CAAedu, an internal career development program for agency employees. In 2012, he established CAA's employee committee initiative, a global effort to foster an inclusive corporate culture that values diversity of talent, backgrounds, and ideas. He currently leads the Industry Advisory Board for the Latino Film Institute, an organization dedicated to showcasing, strengthening and celebrating the richness of Latino narratives across all forms of entertainment media, and serves on the Entertainment Industry Council for the UCLA Alumni Association. Additionally, Garcia is part of the inaugural class of Ojai Fellows, a leadership and development fellowship for next generation business leaders.
Prior to joining CAA in 2011, Garcia worked in recruitment at Paramount Pictures and The Walt Disney Company. A native of San Diego, he is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in Sociology.
Jesus Hernandez is a Cuban-American producer, film programmer and social impact entrepreneur based in NYC. He founded Latin Reel, a year-round film series focused on Latin-driven storytelling in 2019 to address Latinx representation and inclusion through film. During his career, he has worked on various projects with directors like Fernando Pérez, Fatih Akin, Paddy Breathnach, and Eugene Jarecki. He moved to New York City in 2014 to coordinate Documentary Fortnight at the Museum of Modern Art. He is an Associate Producer and Production Manager on The King by Eugene Jarecki.
Issa López received in 2007 the National Novel Award granted by Mexico’s Institute of Fine Arts. She has penned eleven features, many of which, when released, became box-office hits in Mexican cinema. She has directed four of her scripts: Efectos Secundarios (Warner Brothers, 2006), Casi Divas (Sony, 2008), Tigers Are Not Afraid (Filmadora Nacional, Peligrosa, 2017), and Todo Mal (Peligrosa, Traziende 2018). She’s been a Producer on four features penned by her, through her production outfit, Peligrosa. In September 2017, Tigers Are Not Afraid premiered at Fantastic Fest, and won the Best Horror Director Award. Tigers is a dark fairy tale about the ghosts that haunt the children that survive Mexico’s drug war. The film opened in Canada and the U.S. for a commercial run in 2019, as part of the Toronto Film Festival to rave reviews, scoring a Certified Fresh 97% in Rotten Tomatoes. It has garnered a total of fifty five awards in film festivals around the world, won three Diosas de Plata, (the Mexican Film Critics Association award) including Best Director and Best Picture, was nominated for ten Ariel Awards, winning two (the Mexican Oscar equivalent), and has received the enthusiasm and support of such genre legends as Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Guillermo del Toro, who’s currently producing a film for López.
IG/Twitter: @issitalopez
Originally from Mexico City, Carlos Aguilar was chosen as one of 6 young film critics to partake in the first Roger Ebert Fellowship organized by RogerEbert.com, the Sundance Institute and Indiewire in 2014. Aguilar’s work has appeared in prestigious publications such as Los Angeles Times, Variety, The New York Times, The Wrap, Indiewire, Vulture, RogerEbert.com, MovieMaker Magazine, Remezcla, Filmmaker Magazine, Slate, Bustle, Americas Quarterly, among others. He is a member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA). Besides his work in journalism, Aguilar regularly works as a screener for the Sundance Film Festival and a screenplay reader for Sundance’s Screenwriters Lab. Carlos Aguilar has also been on the jury at renowned festivals such the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Outfest Los Angeles, Aspen Shortsfest, and the Los Angeles Indian Film Festival.
Twitter: @Carlos_Film
Esti Giordani is a Los Angeles based writer and producer. In addition to being a published author, Esti has written on multiple seasons of Vida (Starz) and I Love Dick (Amazon). As a producer, Esti worked on the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning series, Transparent. Esti also served as Co-Executive Producer and a writer on the The Skinny – an official Sundance Film Festival Selection – and as a Supervising Producer on the Emmy-nominated web series, This Is Me.
Juan Pablo was born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico. He has a background in engineering and contemporary art but made the transition into film and TV after getting his MFA at the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC. Soon after, he worked at Amazon Studios in development for both Kids TV and Mexico prime-time originals. He is currently a part of the creative development team at Walt Disney Animation Studios, working on feature films with the creators that brought you films like Frozen, Zootopia, Moana, and the upcoming Raya and the Last Dragon.
Lorenza is the Managing Director of Member Relations and Awards of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. At the Academy, she has led the effort to bring in the largest and most diverse member classes in the organization's history. She manages a department that oversees global membership outreach and engagement events for the Academy’s nearly 10,000 members as well as all Academy Awards® submissions, rules, and voting. She has two decades of experience in public relations, community outreach, public policy, and journalism. Prior to joining the Academy, she served as press and policy deputy for Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. There, she oversaw media coverage for the district and policy strategy on sex trafficking issues. Before that, Lorenza was a reporter for The Los Angeles Times, where she wrote more than 3,000 stories on entertainment, arts, business, crime, and politics in nearly 15-years there as a staff writer. She has been featured on numerous television and radio appearances including NPR, CNN, and local stations. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley, where she graduated with honors in Political Science and was a member of the NCAA Division One women’s swim team.
As a counselor to the Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association, John Gibson works to promote and highlight the association’s diversity and inclusion initiatives in the film and television industry. In this role, Gibson also manages the MPA’s partnerships with national civil rights and multicultural groups as part of the association’s outreach to leading third party organizations.
Since creating the MPA’s Inclusion and Multicultural Outreach Program, John has cultivated key partnerships with leading organizations such as the American Black Film Festival, Georgia Latino Film Festival and New York Latino Film Festival, of whose advisory boards he serves on; the National Urban League, serving on its Urban Solutions Council; Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, Women in Film, National Association of Latino Independent Producers, Urban World Film Festival and many other groups working tirelessly to promote gender equality and diversity, inclusion and ‘authentic’ cultural representation in film and television. Through his active engagement, speaking with multicultural media outlets and addressing participants at national conferences throughout the country, John has helped bring increased awareness of the multicultural projects being pursued by both the MPA and its member studio.
Nicolas Entel has written, directed and produced shows for Amazon, Netflix and HBO. He is currently completing the post-production of an Amazon Studios’ bilingual original series, which he co-created and show-run, and stars Sergio Peris-Mencheta (Snowfall), James Moses Black (This is Us) and Horacio Garcia Rojas (Narcos Mexico). Entel is also editing a six-part documentary series, Rompimos todo: La historia del rock en América Latina, for Netflix, which he created and is executive producing along two-time Academy Award winner Gustavo Santaolalla. Previously, Entel wrote, directed and produced the documentary Sins of My Father. Dubbed “a masterwork” by The Hollywood Reporter, it was acquired by HBO (US), Channel 4 (UK), Discovery Channel (Lat Am), Canal + (Spain) and Arte (Germany and France). Entel is also the founder of Red Creek Productions, one of the top production services companies in Latin America. Recent projects include the movie Paddington 2 and season 3 of the English series Riviera.
Gabriela Tagliavini is an award-winning filmmaker who has directed 7 feature films. She directed 3 movies that became the #1 most seen movies in Mexico and Spain. Her lastest film was a Netflix original, “A Pesar de Todo” (“Despite Everything”), which is the most viewed movie in Spanish on Netflix in Spain in 2019. Her previous film “How To Break Up With Your Douchebag” (“Como Cortar a tu patan”) opened #1 in the box-office in Mexico, topping “Blade Runner.” Tagliavini also directed and wrote "Without Men," starring Eva Longoria, Kate Del Castillo and Christian Slater, which was sold worldwide (in 30 countries) and had a theatrical release in the U.S.As a screenwriter, she wrote the English remake of the prestigious Luis Buñuel’s film "Belle De Jour" and adapted the best-selling novel "The Anatomist" for by HBO Films. She is a renowned author and had two novels published that received critical acclaim. Gabriela Tagliavini was selected for the Sundance and WIF’s Women Initiative and was honored with a “Life Achievement” award from the Baja Film Festival. She received a Bachelors Degree in film directing and a Masters Degree in screenwriting from the prestigious American Film Institute (AFI). She is represented by CAA.
Born and raised in Los Angeles CA, Michael Bitar graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts and started at Sony Pictures as an Intern. He rose quickly to Creative Executive at Screen Gems where he worked on feature films RESIDENT EVIL: FINAL CHAPTER, SLENDER MAN, THE POSSESSION OF HANNAH GRACE and upcoming films MONSTER HUNTER and SHRINE. His love of movies comes from his large Latinx family whose first business in the United States was a video store in North Hollywood, CA called Another Video.
Born and raised in Southern California, Christine Simmons is a true California girl. In January of 2019, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences named Christine Simmons to the position of Chief Operating Officer, reporting directly to CEO Dawn Hudson. Simmons is responsible for the day-to-day management and enhancement of the Academy’s internal organization and infrastructure, and is leading the Academy’s first Office of Representation, Inclusion and Equity. Most recently Simmons was a key member of the team that created Aperture 2025, an Academy initiative designed to expand diversity and inclusion standards within the organization.
A proud UCLA graduate, she is completing her final year as an Alumni Regent on the UC Board of Regents. She is the immediate Past President and current Director on the Board of the UCLA Alumni Association, and is also a member of the UCLA Foundation Board of Directors and Treasurer of the Alumni Associations of the UC. She is on the Advisory Council for Next Play Capital, Shared Harvest Fund, and Women in Sports and Events.
Her dedication to excellence and passion for giving back has earned her a number of honors. Simmons was honored by the YMCA with their 2019 Brotherhood Award and by WISE LA with their 2017 Woman of Inspiration Award. She was named to the 2018 Ebony Power 100 list, the University of California President’s list of 2017 Remarkable Women of UC, and the LA Business Journal’s 2016, 2017 & 2018 list of 500 most influential people in Los Angeles. She also volunteers for Better Futures for Thomazeau, a small, grassroots nonprofit that provides aid and is currently building a vocational school in Haiti.
Pilar Flynn is an Emmy Award-nominated Producer on Disney's "Elena of Avalor," which follows Disney's first princess inspired by diverse Latin cultures and folklore. She concurrently serves as a Producer on the upcoming "Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur," an original animated series based on Marvel's hit comic books, from Disney Television Animation. An adventurer herself, Flynn is a native of Chile and Ecuador and spent much of her childhood in countries throughout South America and Europe. She began her animation career at DreamWorks where she co-produced the award-winning short, "First Flight," and worked on the production of films such as "The Road to El Dorado," "Sinbad," "Spirit," "Madagascar" and "Flushed Away." Flynn then went on to serve as associate producer of the animated feature films "Mean Margaret" and "Astroboy." She also co-produced the groundbreaking R-rated animated feature "Sausage Party" starring Seth Rogen. Following her passion for innovative media, Flynn also wrote and produced "My Beastly ABCs," a heartwarming interactive storybook named Top Ten Kid App of the Year for 2012 by USA Today. Flynn currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Latino Film Institute, a nonprofit organization founded by actor Edward James Olmos.
Twitter: @PilarFlynn
Jinko Gotoh is an award-winning producer and consultant for the animation industry. Jinko places particular emphasis on innovation in animation as a visual storytelling medium. Her strengths and passion include the nurturing of creative talent, discovering new voices, and charting new technologies and creative processes. Born in Japan, Jinko’s passion for animation sparked at an early age after two profound experiences: a viewing of Lady and the Tramp, and a resounding meet with Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astroboy.
Jinko is currently producing Escape from Hat for Netflix with Mark Osborne directing. Her other producing screen credits include: 2020 BAFTA winner and Oscar-nominated Klaus, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, The Little Prince, Oscar- nominated The Illusionist, 9, and Oscar-winning Finding Nemo.
Jinko worked at Disney Feature Animation as director of digital production, overseeing the inevitable move to CGI animation and its extensive application on such features as Dinosaur and Fantasia 2000. Since leaving Pixar in 2003, Jinko’s assignments have taken her around the globe, working for major studios and on independent films.
Jinko serves as the vice president for Women in Animation, an advocacy organization to advance women and all under- represented people in the industry, as an EC and A2020 member of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences representing diversity and inclusion, and as a member of board of directors for Symphonic Jazz Orchestra, which provides music education to underserved neighborhoods.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Applied Math and MFA in Film from Columbia University. Jinko is a published poet and rescuer of many, many dogs.
Jessie Disla Murray joined Universal Television as Vice President Talent and Casting in 2018. There she works on series which include ‘Good Girls,’ ‘Chicago Fire,’ ‘Chicago Med,’ and ‘Chicago PD.’ Prior to joining UTV, Murray spent 6 years as Director of Casting for ABC Entertainment and ABC Studios where she oversaw the casting of primetime series such as ‘Black-ish,’’Grown-ish,’and ‘Criminal Minds.’ Additionally, she spearheaded their Latino/Hispanic Outreach Initiative and participated in the L.A. Talent Showcase and Annual Actor Workshop Week. Murray was raised in Brooklyn, NY, where she graduated from Fordham University with a degree in Media Studies. There she interned on major feature films which lead to stints as an independent casting director on various television series and pilots. She credits her passion for casting to one of her very first paying gigs, location casting in Argentina on Madonna/Antonio Bandera’s film, ‘Evita’. Murray is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Casting Director peer group.
Carla Renata aka The Curvy Film Critic is a graduate of Howard University and named one of 2018’s Underrepresented Critics of Color by the Los Angeles Times. Her reviews have been featured at Variety, NAACP’s The Crisis Magazine, EUR Web, AAFCA.com, Ebony.com, NPR.org, her own site The Curvy Film Critic, ET Live! Maltin on Movies, RogerEbert.com, FOX 11-LA, as well as Shadow and Act. Being a proud member of AAFCA (African American Film Critics Association), Carla hosted an evening of The Black Experience on Film for Turner Classic Movies. Other memberships include HCA (Hollywood Critics Association), (OAFFC) The Online Association of Female Film Critics, AWIJ (Alliance of Women Journalists), Tomatometer approved critic on Rotten Tomatoes and a member of (BFCA) Broadcast Film Critics Association. The Curvy Critic with Carla Renata (produced by Keven Undergaro, Maria Menounos and Derrial Christon) streams LIVE every Sunday 5pm PST at Black Hollywood Live via YouTube, Spotify and a Apple Music featuring reviews, news and interviews with stars in front and behind the camera.
Ligiah Villalobos is a Writer, Producer, Consultant, Educator and Lecturer. She is best known for the independent feature film Under the Same Moon, (La Misma Luna), which she wrote and executive produced. Acquired by Fox Searchlight and TWC at Sundance, the movie was made for under $2M and earned over $23M worldwide. More recently, Villalobos was a Cultural Consultant on the Academy Award winning Pixar movie, COCO, and she wrote on two Netflix pre-school animated series, Super Monsters’ Monster Pets and the upcoming, StarBeam. Villalobos co-wrote the Lifetime TV Movie, The Real MVP, produced by Queen Latifah. She was the Head Writer on Nick Jr.’s, Go, Diego! Go! And she is the recipient of the Humanitas Prize, for writing the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, Firelight, produced by Alicia Keys. Villalobos is currently developing an animated series for Sesame Workshop and adapting the YA Novel Gabi: A Girl in Pieces as a one-hour drama series for HBO Max. Before becoming a writer/producer, Villalobos was both a network and studio executive – at the Walt Disney Company she launched eight children shows in seven countries, and then oversaw six prime time shows at the WB. In addition, Villalobos is committed to bringing more people of color and women into the entertainment industry. To that end, she teaches at Cal State LA and at USC School of Cinematic Arts, and lectures around the world. Villalobos has been a contributor to The Huffington Post, The Black List Blog and Americana magazine. And she is on the Board of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center. She received her MFA from Antioch University in Creative Writing.
Born and raised in Colombia, Alfredo Marun moved to the United States in his early teens and quickly found his passion for filmmaking and storytelling. He is currently a Director of Development at Disney Television Animation working closely with creators to develop new animated series based on original ideas as well as Disney heritage properties. Prior to Disney, Alfredo worked at Dreamworks Animation Television developing series for different streaming platforms (Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and others) including the recently premiered, KIPO AND THE AGE OF WONDERBEASTS series. With over ten years of experience in entertainment-both in live action and animation-Alfredo is always looking for unique stories that haven’t been told before and that push the envelope. He got his start in the entertainment industry working at Scott Rudin Productions before moving over to Matt Tolmach Productions. Alfredo is a proud member and advisor to LatinX In Animation, a group dedicated to empowering diversity in animation from page to post. In his spare time he enjoys cooking, volunteering at animal shelters, playing soccer and watching animated series and films.
Romel Adam graduated from UCLA with a degree in psychology and mass communications. He runs Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert's production company Ghost House Pictures (EVIL DEAD, DRAG ME TO HELL, DON'T BREATHE). Prior to Ghost House, he worked at Mandate Pictures.
Pamela A. Aguilar serves as Senior Director of Programming and Development for PBS. In this role she oversees the development and production of original content across arts & culture, lifestyle, history, science, nature, and documentary. She works closely with domestic and international producing communities, creative agencies and distributors forging partnerships to successfully bring award-winning programming that inspires, entertains, educates and expresses a diversity of perspectives. Her latest projects include Prideland, a digital series and broadcast special, hosted by Dyllón Burnside celebrating LGBTQ+ communities (TINY HORSE), and No Passport Required with Chef Marcus Samuelsson (VOX/EATER), a multi-platform docu-series that celebrates America’s immigrant cultures. Other credits include, Big Pacific, narrated by Daniel Dae Kim (NHNZ), The Wonders of Mexico, narrated by Anthony Mendez (BBC), and the 2019 Emmy nominated, Going to War (VULCAN). Pamela serves on the board of Women Make Movies, NALIP’s Diverse Women in Media Advisory Committee and is a graduate of The New School University in NYC.
Sylvia Bugg serves as Vice President, Programming at PBS. In this role, Bugg oversees the General Audience Programming editorial team and leads the strategy across all genres— including news, public affairs, documentaries, history, science, natural history and arts programs. Most recently, Bugg served as Vice President of Diversity and TV Content at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). In this role, she provided strategic leadership and was responsible for CPB’s efforts to advance diversity across public media programming through the collaboration and support of content creators, distributors and partnering organizations. Prior to joining CPB, Bugg was a Director of General Audience Programming at PBS, where she led efforts to develop a portfolio of drama, performance and cultural programs. She also held several programming roles in history and public affairs at PBS from 1993-1999. Bugg spent 12 years in programming, production, and operations for several Discovery Communications networks.
Marc Malkin is one of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces on the red carpet. An award-winning and Emmy-nominated journalist with more than two decades of experience working across broadcast, print and digital media, Marc began his career in celebrity journalism at Premiere magazine and went on to write, report and edit for the New York Daily News, Us Weekly and New York magazine. Before joining Variety, he served as an on-air correspondent at E! News, and was a supervising producer at the Insider. He lives in Los Angeles with his husband, Fabian, and their two dogs, Jeb and Paca.
Wendy Llinás is an Emmy®-nominated TV Producer and Documentary Filmmaker. As Director of Programming and Development at PBS, Llinás provides editorial guidance, manages the daily production process and resources for new limited series and existing programs such as INDEPENDENT LENS, AMERICAN MASTERS, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE and POV.
Since joining GTDI in 2019, Michael Pogarian leads the Universal Composers Initiative and is also involved with the Universal Directors Initiative, Universal Writers Program and the Universal Animation Writers Program. Previously, he was an Associate Creative Producer at Fullscreen, co-creating and overseeing the AT&T Hello Lab Mentorship Program, that brought together entertainment industry leaders including Lena Waithe and Taika Waititi with emerging filmmakers from diverse backgrounds to create their signature work. In the first two years of the program he developed, produced and distributed ten short films that premiered on DirecTV Now and were accepted to notable international film festivals including SXSW, Outfest, and the Calgary Film Festival. Before Fullscreen, Pogarian worked in unscripted development and production at Magical Elves (Project Runway, Top Chef) and Zodiak USA (Celebrity Wife Swap). In 2012, Pogarian graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film and Television Production at Boston University.
Rosemary Palacios leads the day-to-day execution of the Universal Animation Writers Program. She is also involved in the live-action writing program, Universal Directors Initiative and Universal Composers Initiative. Rosemary serves as the team’s liaison with external organizations such as the American Black Film Festival, Easterseals Disability Film Challenge and ReelAbilities. Prior to joining Universal, Rosemary was the Senior Manager of Preschool Production and Development at Nickelodeon. In that position she was the development executive and executive-in-charge on properties such as Corn & Peg, Shimmer and Shine, and Abby Hatcher Fuzzly Catcher. A native Texan, Rosemary earned a bachelor’s of science degree in Radio-Television from the University of Texas, and a Master of Arts from Columbia University where she studied Instructional Technology and Media.
Emerlynn Lampitoc joined Universal Filmed Entertainment Group’s (UFEG) Global Talent Development & Inclusion department at its inception in 2017. Reporting directly to the Head of Inclusion – Talent & Content, she works closely on the development and implementation of strategies to increase both creative and workforce inclusion within Universal Pictures, Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation, Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes. She also oversees the day-to-day execution of the department’s creative pipeline efforts which include the Universal Writers Program, Universal Animation Writers Program, Universal Directors Initiative and the Universal Composers Initiative. Additionally, she co-leads the studio’s Executive Inclusion Initiative which facilitates female and diverse talent introductions to NBCUniversal’s Executive Search and Talent Acquisitions teams, as well as hiring managers throughout UFEG. Lampitoc serves as a liaison for the department’s external relationships with such groups as AFI and Sundance FilmTwo and is key in driving all outreach efforts. Prior to joining Universal, she was Manager of Creative Talent Development & Inclusion for Disney ABC Television where she was instrumental in staffing writers and securing episodic directing assignments for female and diverse talent on ABC, Freeform, and Disney Channel. Lampitoc’s varied background also includes unscripted television development and production; studio drama development positions at 20th Century Fox and Paramount; and publicity positions at NBC and ABC. Raised in Honolulu, HI, Lampitoc received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and a minor in Creative Writing from Whitworth University in Spokane, WA.
Rebecca Murga is a Chicago-born, Latinx WGA writer who works in Los Angeles as a filmmaker. She produces and directs films, commercials, documentaries and branded content. Past clients include ABC, CBS, CBS Sports, Mundo FOX, MLB, NBA, Comcast, ESPN, Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, Walgreens, and A&E Networks. Rebecca served as a U.S. Army Captain and has deployed to Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan as one of the first women attached to Special Operations. She is currently the Director of the AFI Directing Workshop for Women (DWW), a hands-on training program committed to increasing the number of women and gender non-binary artists working professionally as narrative screen directors, and is also currently one of the eight creators in the Dan Lin / Rideback TV incubator produced by Rideback Television. Rebecca completed the Disney / ABC Directing Program, directed the ANNUAL LOS ANGELES ABC TALENT SHOWCASE, completed the inaugural class of the Ryan Murphy Television HALF Foundation Director Mentorship Program.
Twitter: @RebeccaMurga
Vanessa Taylor Sands is currently a Vice President of Television Development for DreamWorks Animation. Vanessa is charged with the creative development of a slate of television projects including originals and book based properties and properties based off of DreamWorks iconic movie franchises. Vanessa began her TV career at Nickelodeon Preschool Television in New York where she worked her way up from Assistant to Director over her 11 year tenure. During her time at the company, Vanessa worked on award-winning series such as Bubble Guppies, Fresh Beat Band, PAW Patrol, Dino Dan, and Wallykazam!. She was also the Senior Director of Development for Girls & Preschool Entertainment at Spin Master where she worked on Rusty Rivets and Abby Hatcher Monster Catcher. With a passion for creating compelling content for kids that has the power to educate and entertain both kids and caregivers, Vanessa strives to bring out the best in all series that she touches. She strives to find a way to make shows unique, exciting and engaging. Vanessa is also dedicated to finding and developing new talent. Vanessa received a B.A. from University of Wisconsin - Madison. She currently lives in Los Angeles, with her husband and 2 cats.
Early in her career she co-founded Womyn Image Makers (WIM), a queer Latina-identified film collective based out of Los Angeles. While with WIM, she directed short films including Pura Lengua and Viernes Girl. Her work earned her a slot on FILMMAKER MAGAZINE'S 25 Faces to Watch. Guerrero wrote and directed Mosquita Y Mari, her debut narrative feature film, which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Mosquita Y Mari went on to travel top-tier film festivals including San Francisco, Melbourne, Goteburg, and Guadalajara while garnering multiple awards including Best First Narrative Feature at Outfest. Mosquita y Mari was nominated for the Cassavetes Spirit Award and a GLAAD Media Award. In 2017, Guerrero directed her first episode of television on Ava Duvernay's critically acclaimed drama, Queen Sugar. Since she has directed on Greenleaf, Gentefied, Little America, 13 Reasons Why, and Duvernay's latest, Cherish The Day.
Kate Hagen is a writer living in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in Playboy, The Hollywood Reporter, Five Thirty-Eight, Seed & Spark, and more. In 2019, she brought her essay "In Search of the Last Great Video Store" to TEDx - she’ll also appear in the upcoming documentary THE LAST BLOCKBUSTER to discuss the piece. Since 2014, she's been the Director of Community at The Black List, where she oversees a social media ecosystem with over 250,000 followers; edits, curates, and writes for the Black List Blog; manages the entire blcklst.com online community; and runs point on all website partnerships.You can also hear her on podcasts like NPR’s On Point, How Did This Get Made?, Scriptnotes, The Daily Zeitgeist, and The Black List Podcast and see her at festivals like the Toronto International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival.
Twitter: @thathagengrrl
Instagram: @thathagengrrl
A veteran entertainment industry showrunner and executive and twice-patented tech entrepreneur, DMA designs and executes transformative gameplans for companies in media, tech, government, education and more. Over the past 20 years, she has helmed top-rated programming for CBS, Bravo, BET, A&E, TLC and more, authored two entertainment books that are taught in media programs nationwide, and championed inclusion across multiple industries, including her current role as Director of Walt Disney Television's Creative Talent Development & Inclusion team. She is a graduate, with distinction, of Stanford University and is an active member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Producers Guild of America and American Mensa. You can connect with DMA online on all platforms as @planetdma.
As Outreach Specialist for Walt Disney Television’s Creative Talent Development & Inclusion (CTDI), Brian Pacheco manages the team’s hiring and professional development events designed to propel writers, producers, and directors to their next level or opportunity. Prior to joining CTDI, Brian held communications and strategy roles at media advocacy organizations including GLAAD and the National Hispanic Media Coalition. Born to Salvadoran immigrant parents, the Los Angeles native graduated with a B.A. in History from the University of California, Berkeley.
Manuel Betancourt is the Film & TV editor at Remezcla, where he oversees coverage of U.S. Latino and Latin American media; a contributing editor at Film Quarterly, where he publishes his column, “Cineando,” all about Latin American cinema; and a regular contributor to Electric Literature, where he focuses on book-to-film adaptations. His work has been featured in The New York Times, BuzzFeed Reader, The Los Angeles Times, Film Comment, Esquire, The Atlantic, Los Angeles Review of Books and Vice, among others. He's the author of the 33 1/3 book on Judy at Carnegie Hall (2020) as well as a contributing writer to the Eisner award nominated middle grade graphic novel The Cardboard Kingdom (2018) and its upcoming sequel The Cardboard Kingdom: Roar of the Beast (2021).
Niki López is creator and co-executive producer of Nickelodeon’s new animated preschool series, Santiago of the Seas. Infused with a Spanish-language and Latino-Caribbean culture curriculum, the interactive action-adventure series follows 8-year-old Santiago Montes, a brave and kind-hearted pirate, as he embarks on daring rescues, searches for treasures and keeps the high seas safe from villains like the nefarious pirate Bonnie Bones in a fantastical Caribbean world. Prior to López fulfilling her dream of creating her own series, her journey at Nickelodeon began as an intern in 2010. Most recently, she served as a color stylist on Nick’s animated series Glitch Techs, an adventure-comedy following two newly recruited kids as they battle video game monsters that come to life in the real world. She previously worked as a production assistant on Nick’s Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness and as a color stylist on The Fairly OddParents and Harvey Beaks, following a brief stint in advertising and as a freelance comic artist in Puerto Rico. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, López’s childhood was fueled by adventure and an imagination cultivated by her tropical backdrop. Inspired to seek out visual arts and storytelling as a creative outlet, she graduated with a BFA in Illustration from Ringling College of Arts & Design in Sarasota, Fla.
Lalo Alcaraz is an award-winning cartoonist who serves as consulting producer and cultural consultant for Nickelodeon’s animated series, The Casagrandes, an all-new spinoff of the Emmy Award-winning series, The Loud House. Alcaraz is the creator of the first nationally syndicated, politically themed Latino daily comic strip, La Cucaracha, which is read in American newspapers nationwide, including the Los Angeles Times. He also consults on films and television shows--most recently for the Oscar Award-winning film Coco (2017). He was a producer and writer on the animated show Bordertown and is also featured on an upcoming Latino program Habla y Vota special along with George Lopez and Jorge Ramos. Alcaraz is the co-host of KPFK radio's wildly popular satirical talk show, The Pocho Hour of Power, and co-founded the seminal Chicano humor-zine, POCHO Magazine. He is a 1987 graduate of San Diego State University, where he received his bachelor's degree "with distinction" in Art and Environmental Design. In 1991, he earned his master's degree in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. In addition, Alcaraz recently taught illustration at Otis College of Art & Design. Alcaraz was born in San Diego to Mexican immigrant parents from Sinaloa and Zacatecas. He currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife, a public schoolteacher, and their three children.
Rosemary Contreras is a staff writer for Nickelodeon’s The Casagrandes, an original animated series showcasing the culture, humor, and love that’s part of growing up in a multigenerational Mexican-American family. Contreras started her professional career as a staff writer on the pre-school series Go, Diego, Go. Following her success on that show, she transitioned to be the story editor of Dora the Explorer and Dora and Friends: Into the City! As a freelance writer, Contreras has written for the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, The Loud House and Nina’s World. In addition, she has published a children’s book with Simon & Schuster and produced interstitials for Latino Public Broadcasting. Contreras earned a Bachelor of Arts from the UCLA School of Film and Television with a concentration in screenwriting and her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing at Antioch University Los Angeles. Contreras resides in Los Angeles.
Roxanne Escatel is currently a Casting Manager who has vast experience in the world of voice over for animation. A Communications graduate from California State University of San Bernardino, Roxanne’s first big internship was working as a PA intern for Nickelodeon’s FAIRLY ODD PARENTS. From there, Roxanne was able to parlay that role into the world of casting where she has been working in this field for the past 13 years. A Californian native, Roxanne is an animal lover who enjoys spending time with her family.
Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt is Sr. Director, Current Series and Development at Nickelodeon animation and Executive-In-Charge of “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Santiago of the Seas.” A veteran in the animation industry she has spent over a decade in working on children’s’ animated on such properties as “Fanboy and Chum Chum”, “Harvey Beaks”, and the critically acclaimed “The Loud House.” Dana is one of those rare SoCal natives, a graduate of California Institute of the Arts and in her spare time is a hobby gardener and an avid cross stitcher.
Katherine is the Manager for Nickelodeon Creative Talent Development & Outreach. She manages the day-to-day operations of the Nick Artist Program and Nick Writing Program and is responsible for identifying and mentoring new writing and artistic talent with diverse backgrounds and voices. She’s worked in various facets of the industry from live televised events to movie trailer productions to Kids & Family content at Nickelodeon. The one throughline is Katherine’s enthusiasm for mentoring creatives and managing learning and development opportunities for emerging talent through the lens of Diversity & Inclusion.
Jairo Alvarado is a Literary Manager at Circle of Confusion where his client list includes: Lulu Wang, writer and director of the critically acclaimed film THE FAREWELL; Jordan Blum, showrunner of the upcoming Marvel animated series MODOK and Angel Soto, Director of the upcoming film CHARM CITY KINGS, to be released later this year on HBO MAX. His client Sarah Streicher, has an overall deal with ABC Studios and her series THE WILDS, which she created for Amazon is due to premiere on Amazon later this year. Jairo is a producer on the horror film CASA, in production at Orion/MGM Studios, which will be the feature directorial debut for his clients The Meza Brothers. He has also produced, in partnership with Skybound Entertainment, the cutting-edge VR project DINNER PARTY. Prior to Circle of Confusion, Jairo cut his teeth in talent management at 3 Arts Entertainment, which he joined in 2011 after starting his career as a creative executive at Warner Bros. Jairo currently sits on the board of directors for National Association of Independent Latino Producers (NALIP) and is a graduate of University of California, Los Angeles.
Kate Blatchford is the Coordinator for Creative Talent Development & Outreach at Nickelodeon, where she has supported the operations of the Writing & Artist Programs since 2017. A Media Studies graduate from Emerson College, her passion has long been promoting Diversity & Inclusion in all facets of the entertainment industry.
Jason is the Director of Animation Development at Nickelodeon for movies, as well as series for streaming. He studied Communications and Chinese at Manhattanville College in New York, and spent a year working just outside of Shanghai after graduating. Since moving to Los Angeles, he’s worked for various entertainment companies such as United Talent Agency, Warner Animation Group, and DreamWorks Animation. Jason joined the Nickelodeon family at the start of 2019 and is working across a number of exciting projects in both features and television, relishing the opportunity to champion a new generation of diverse storytellers. He is an avid fan of rock climbing, Twizzlers, MisterBubz (the angry Instagram chihuahua), and finally not feeling embarrassed about perusing the YA section of a bookstore. Prior to moving to LA, Jason helped develop Camp Half Blood Brooklyn, a real-life Greek Mythology themed summer camp in Brooklyn, NY inspired by the fictional setting in the popular Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, which is now approaching its eleventh summer running, and has expanded to cities all around the United States.
Director of Artistic Recruiting at Disney Television Animation focusing on Artistic and Production Management as well as expanding TVA’s Outreach program into new schools and programs with a focus on diversity. I started my career at DreamWorks Animation Feature and helped with the launch of DreamWorks Animation Television. I have a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) focused in Human Development, Early Childhood Education and a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) focused on Psychology from California State University-San Bernardino.
Amy Wu Casler is the Director of People & Culture at Nickelodeon. She oversees all aspects of the NICKternship program. She is also responsible for curating curriculum for Nick University, a program designed to provide professional development and training to industry creatives.
Shawn Wong is a Development Coordinator for Nickelodeon Animation. She works across both movies and studio business, helping to develop exciting, new content for kids and families.
Darlene Caamaño Loquet currently serves as Senior Vice President of Nickelodeon Movies where she oversees the film and studio business slate of projects for the studio.
Alan Luna is a Mexican-American Casting Director for television & film. He currently works with the teams behind ‘Selena: the Series’, ‘Narcos: Mexico’, ‘Gentefied’, ‘Los Espooky’s’, amongst several others. He’s one half of AM Casting, a casting director partnership with him and casting director Michelle Adams (‘Coming 2 America’, ‘Star’, ‘Dear White People’, ‘BlacKkKlansman’, ‘Night School’, ‘Little’). AM Casting was launched to be a go-to casting team for the Black and Brown community, by members of the Black and Brown community and influence proper representation in tv/film to portray what the world and communities really look like. Alan has worked on various projects for Netflix, Amazon Studios, Disney Channel, Univision, Disney XD, FOX, Viceland, Food Network, Animal Planet, MTV, A&E, indie feature films & short films, and many more. On any project, Alan offers an established industry perspective, while also having a deep understanding and respect for both up-and-coming talent on their path and filmmakers manifesting their vision.
IG: @mralanluna
NOLAND WALKER is Content VP at ITVS where he develops a portfolio of programs while providing editorial and production support to a broader slate of ITVS films. He co-programs the award-winning Independent Lens series and was an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker prior to coming to ITVS.
Monika Navarro is the Senior Director of Artist Programs at Firelight Media, and an independent producer/director. Monika comes to Firelight from the Tribeca Film Institute, where she oversaw documentary, scripted, education, shorts, and interactive programs. Prior to that, she was at the Independent Television Service (ITVS), where she managed content and funding initiatives, oversaw a development portfolio, and was a consulting producer on Las Sandinistas (SXSW 2018), The First Rainbow Coalition (Independent Lens), A Woman's Work: The NFL's Cheerleader Problem (Tribeca 2019) and Down a Dark Stairwell (True/False 2020). Monika has more than a decade of experience producing for public media, from directing her debut film Lost Souls (Animas Perdidas), which premiered on Independent Lens, to producing for World Channel, American Documentary and the Peabody-award winning PBS series Latino Americans.
Ivy Penn is a rising senior at the University of California San Diego double majoring in Business and Design. She is passionate about the intersection between the tech and entertainment industries due to their cultural impact. Ivy is pursuing a career in entertainment through marketing and branding. This will be her second summer interning with Nickelodeon’s Creative Talent.
Juan Gil is a Writer/Director living in Los Angeles. He graduated from Texas Tech University with a Bachelor's degree in Media Production and Communication with a certificate in Entertainment Media. He has served as Writer, Director, and 1st Assistant Director for various films within the Assorted Kinds Filmmaking Collective. Juan has received recognition for his productions at festivals such as the Beverly Hills Film Festival, the Official Latino Film Festival, the Short+Sweet Hollywood Film Festival, the World-Fest Houston International Film Festival, the American Advertising Awards, the New York International Film Festival, and many more.
Monica Santis is a director, producer & screenwriter of Peruvian and Chilean descent based in her hometown of Austin, Texas. After earning her M.A. in Latin American & Hemispheric Studies from George Washington University, she enrolled at the London Film School where she received her M.A. in filmmaking with a specialization in directing. She was selected for ‘Austin Film Festival's 25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2018’ list presented by MovieMaker Magazine. Her award-winning short film, Hacia el Sol (Towards the Sun), premiered at Palm Springs International ShortFest and was included in Remezcla's 'The 10 Best Short Films By US Latino Directors of 2018' list. She is currently developing her first feature film.
Miguel J. Soliman is a writer, director and producer from Jersey City. His films have been recognized nationally and featured worldwide. His 2017 short film, Desde el principio, is currently streaming on HBO. When not filming, Miguel enjoys screenwriting and old fashions from home (sans pandemics and curfews). He holds a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Film Directing from Fairleigh Dickinson University and a Master of Professional Studies degree in Directing from the School of Visual Arts. Miguel presently serves as the Lead U.S. Features Programmer for New York Latino Film Festival; a position he has held since 2018.
Tery Lopez is the Director of Inclusion and Equity at the Writers Guild of America West. Previously, she was conference director for the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (www.NALIP.org). Ms. Lopez began her career in the film industry as an assistant to producers, Moctesuma Esparza, and Robert Katz (Selena, Gettysburg, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge). Later, she worked as part of Moctesuma Esparza’s, Maya Pictures development team,producing 13 episodes of the Sí TV comedy series, Circumsized Cinema. She also worked as a post-production coordinator for the HBO film, Walkout, and was co-producer of the feature film Innocent Voices, which was Mexico's official entry to the 2005 Academy Awards. Tery received her B.A. in Telecommunications and Film from the California State University at Los Angeles and sits on the advisory board for the Latino Communications Institute at Cal State Fullerton.
As Director of Digital Video for FRONTLINE, Carla Borrás oversees the series development and production of documentary shorts, social video journalism and new forms such as virtual reality and interactive web-based documentaries. A passionate storyteller, documentary fanatic, and believer in the power of investigative journalism, Carla seeks to bring FRONTLINE’s signature in-depth journalism to audiences through new formats and platforms. She was instrumental in establishing a digital video unit inside the legacy series and lead its pioneering work in virtual reality and interactive documentary storytelling. Under Carla’s leadership, FRONTLINE’s innovative digital video journalism has earned multiple honors, including an Emmy for New Approaches: Documentary, two Online Journalism Awards, a World Press Photo Award, a Scripps Howard Award, the SXSW Virtual Cinema Grand Jury prize, as well as the 2017 & 2018 People’s Voice Webby for best social news content. Additionally, an interactive overseen by Carla was one of the works cited in FRONTLINE’s recent duPont-Columbia Gold Baton win. In 2019, Carla was selected for the Online News Association Women’s Leadership Accelerator and is currently a fellow in the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Editorial Integrity & Leadership program run by Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication. Prior to jumping at the chance to join FRONTLINE, she worked on features and nonfiction programming for the Discovery Channel, Sony Pictures and truTV. She graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in psychology.
Managing Director Luis Ortiz oversees the development, financing and production of Latino-themed programming that is distributed for broadcast on national public television and online at PBS.org. Ortiz also administers LPB’s Public Media Content and Current Issues funding initiatives, which support independent filmmakers in the creation and dissemination of Latino themed documentaries for PBS, as well as of digital content engaging audiences online. In addition, he serves as Series Producer for VOCES on PBS, LPB’s signature series that features the best of Latino arts, culture and history, and shines a light on current issues that impact Latino Americans.
Justine Nagan is the executive director of American Documentary (AmDoc), and an executive producer on its two signature series, POV (PBS) and America Reframed (World Channel in partnership with WGBH). POV is the longest-running independent documentary series on television. She is a strong believer in the important role of public media in a democracy, diversity and independent voices in popular culture, and of documentary as a tool for civic dialogue, new thinking and social change. Prior to coming to AmDoc, Justine led Kartemquin Films (KTQ) as executive director for seven years, as well as being an Emmy Award-winning Executive Producer on KTQ films including Abacus, Life Itself and The Interrupters by Steve James; Minding the Gap by Bing Liu; and The Trials of Muhammad Ali by Bill Siegel. Justine successfully transitioned to the ED role in a historic founder-led organization, and under her leadership, the organization significantly expanded its programs to assist documentary filmmakers and saw unprecedented levels of production and financial growth. During her tenure, over 20 projects had world premieres, including the ambitious duPont Award-winning six-hour series Hard Earned for Al Jazeera America. She left the organization with a robust production pipeline and a strong financial footing. With Kartemquin, she also directed Typeface, an award-winning documentary on American typography and graphic design, which aired on PBS and internationally on the Sundance Channel, and the doc short Sacred Transformations. Nagan has a certificate in nonprofit management from Harvard Business School and a master’s degree from the University of Chicago in the humanities/cinema and media studies. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is active in the media community and was one of the founding board members of Good Pitch Chicago. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and two young sons.
Mota served as executive producer of East Los High, an award-winning drama series that earned 6 Emmy nominations during its run on Hulu for its realistic portrayal of Latino high school students. The show is the streaming platform’s longest-running original series. Mota began his career as an entrepreneur at 15, when he developed a storytelling board game present in over 5,000 schools. It later became a YA book collection and has been used by many Forbes 500 companies and the United Nations to foster creativity and innovation among their leaders. The game’s patent was used for a literacy social network employed by 700,000 kids. Later, Mota became a serial entrepreneur, pioneering multi-platform content by creating products and IPs for TV and film. Most recently, he designed the School of Series, a TV series incubator that will shape the next generation of showrunners and content creators in Brazil by training up to 800 writers and producers each year.
Twitter: @ProductionsWise
Chris Hastings is a veteran at WGBH Boston and is Executive Producer and Editorial Manager of Content for WORLD Channel and WORLDChannel.org. In this role he oversees content development, acquisition, and production, as well as executing the day-to-day operations of the channel . As Executive Producer he is co-curator of the award-winning documentary program “America Reframed,” and “Local, USA” and “DOC World.”
We appreciate our sponsors for their dedication and support of the 21st Annual NALIP Media Summit. Our sponsors play an integral role in paving the way for inclusion, creating new connections with members and attendees, and contributing directly to advancing the NALIP community across all media platforms.
This event is by invitation only.
The Latino Media Market is a signature program of NALIP that brings together select filmmakers to pitch one-on-one to industry executives to advance their projects.
To apply to the 2021 Latino Media Market, please check out nalip.org/LMM applications open December, 2020.
NALIP welcomes attendees to the 2020 NALIP Media Summit!
This informative session is designed to guide students and recent graduates as an informative guide for emerging creatives and professionals to successfully transition into the industry.
The Emerging Content Creator Inclusion Initiative seeks to provide opportunities to youth from underrepresented communities to explore a career that they would not have considered because of the lack of exposure in their communities.
More about the Emerging Content Creator Inclusion Initiative Program. Email [email protected] for future scholarship opportunities to attend NALIP programs!
Jessica Lopez has written for some of the most beloved children’s shows. From ‘Dora and Friends’ to ‘That’s So Raven’ and most recently ‘The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia’ she has dedicated her career to bringing Latinx characters and stories to life. In this session Jessica sits down with Tery Lopez, WGAW Director of Inclusion and Equity, to discuss her journey as a writer, why it’s always been important to her to tell Latinx stories, and how the industry is becoming more inclusive.
Presented by Writer's Guild of America West
Whether your sights are set on a career in writing, directing, production, acting or a position within the workforce, this session is for you! Learn about GTDI and how it can take your career development to the next level.
More information on Global Talent Development Inclusion programs here.
Presented by Comcast NBCUniversal Telemundo
Drop in and listen to the co-creator, Steven Canals, of the Emmy-Nominated & Peabody Award Winning series, Pose (FX). Steven discusses the show's creation and evolution over three seasons.
Listen in on the journey of the highly acclaimed documentary, Mucho Mucho Amor, detailing the life of the late legend, Walter Mercado. Joining us for the conversation are the Latinx co-directors and producer. Bring your sequin outfits & mark your calendars: Mucho Mucho Amor is coming to Netflix on July 8th!
This event is by invitation only.
The Latino Media Market is a signature program of NALIP that brings together select filmmakers to pitch one-on-one to industry executives to advance their projects.
To apply to the 2021 Latino Media Market, please check out nalip.org/LMM applications open December, 2020.
Want to create the spine-tingling script that is sure to keep audiences up at night? Learn from the team that brought you some of the the most chilling content as they explain how to bring your gruesome visions to the screen, such as Don't Breathe (2016) and The Grudge (2020).
Presented by Sony Pictures Entertainment
Led by Walt Disney Television’s Creative Talent Development & Inclusion (CTDI), CTDI Creative Career Conversations is a session on career strategy for writers, producers, and directors at all levels. CTDI will share the strategies and professional assets needed for consideration and hire (particularly in scripted television), followed by Q&A.
More information on Creative Talent Development & Inclusion Program here.
Presented by The Walt Disney Company
Kate del Castillo is an award winning actress, producer activist and the co-founder of Cholawood Productions. As an actress Del Castillo has appeared in hit films and television shows such as The Book Of Life, Ingobernable, La Reina del Sur and Bad Boys for Life. Her production company, Cholawood Productions recently signed a development deal with Endemol Shine Boomdog that would bring Latina-led content to the screen.
Presented by Endemol Shine North America
Jorge Gutierrez is an award-winning director, animator, writer, and voice actor. Through his work, he has brought beloved Latinx characters and stories to audiences all around the world. Ben Lopez, NALIP’s Executive Director, sits down with Jorge to discuss his journey, his process, and the highly anticipated series ‘Maya and The Three,’ which is sure to enchant global audiences when it hits Netflix later this year.
Before launching Exile Content, Isaac Lee was running the biggest Spanish language conglomérate in the world. Univisión and Televisa. He was in charge of 6 broadcast networks, 20 cable networks, a film studio, and an OTT. Now he sits down for a conversation with NALIP’s Executive Director Ben Lopez.
Get a glimpse of how some creatives are finding ways to stay actively creative during social distancing, from writing groups, writing tips, making projects, or continuing to pitch to collaborators.
Presented by Motion Picture Association
This event is by invitation only.
The Latino Media Market is a signature program of NALIP that brings together select filmmakers to pitch one-on-one to industry executives to advance their projects.
To apply to the 2021 Latino Media Market, please check out nalip.org/LMM applications open December, 2020.
Selena Quintanilla is one of the most beloved icons in the Latinx community and Netflix’s new series would bring the superstar’s story to life once again. Join us for a conversation with Jaime Davila, Moises Zamor, Claudia Forestieri and Hiromi Kamata, the team behind the highly anticipated new series as they talk about working with the Quintanilla family to chronicle her story.
The Walt Disney Company is home to multiple animation studios and creative business units that showcase the power of animation and storytelling. Join us for a panel featuring Disney Latinx animation leaders as they share their experiences on developing animated content, getting a job in animation, and pitching original content. Attendees will receive great insight on what drives Disney’s success as an industry leader in animation.
Presented by The Walt Disney Company
Mexican filmmaker, Issa Lopez is one of the few Latinx in Horror-Genre. Her recent hit 'Tigers Not Afraid' garned world wide acclaim. Issa Lopez shares her journey, genre trade secrets, and how she landed her next project with Blumhouse.
With the popularity of animated content on the rise, hear from the minds behind Nickelodeon's "The Casagrandes" and "Santiago of the Seas" about their journeys into the world of animation. In this session presented by Nickelodeon, speakers from these two series will dive into the opportunities for Latinx talent in animation and the future of the industry.
Presented by Nickelodeon
As President of Original Programming at Starz, Christina Davis oversees a slate of premium content for women and diverse audiences. Throughout her career, Davis has prioritized storytelling that is inclusive and empowering for audiences. Hear firsthand about her journey to her current position, where she sees the future of the industry is heading, and what it all means for you as a creative professional and viewer.
Presented by STARZ
Fred Armisen is one of the most diversely talented performers working today with credits that range from acting to producing to writing in both comedy and music. In this session presented by WarnerMedia, hear about Armisen's expansive career across various fields in media and what it means for the long-term when it comes to Latinx representation and talent.
Presented by WarnerMedia
Three comedians sitting in front of a computer telling jokes and sharing their path to comedy standup specials. They can't hear your laughs, but accept 😂 in the comments.
Stay tuned for more information!
Presented by STARZ
CASTING DIRECTORS, seen as gatekeepers, are and will always be, the actors’ best friend. Listen to a casting director and executive speak to what makes them fall in love in the room (OR on the Zoom!) in the current Covid production landscape.
Presented by Comcast NBCUniversal Telemundo
Ilana Peña shares her trajectory as one of the youngest Latinx Showrunners and all things Diary of a Future President on Disney+ and how she built Elena's world from her own diary.
Presented by The Walt Disney Company
Actor/Musician Anthony Ramos sits down with Remezcla's Manuel Betancourt to give you insight into Hamilton on Disney+, what it means for Latinx representation on-screen, and the importance of who tells our stories
The new Starz crime drama Hightown follows Jackie Quinones as an unapologetic lesbian battling for her sobriety when she gets caught up in a murder investigation. Join us in this session with Monica Raymond and Amaury Nolasco to learn more about what attracted them to the project, the importance of having Latinx actors play these complex characters and the significance of having a Latinx lesbian headlining this new show.
The media plays a crucial role in the perceptions of their audience, it is imperative that we highlight more inclusive stories that represent the current crisis that we are facing today. Organization leaders from underrepresented communities share insights to initiatives the industry is taking action to spotlight these perspectives.
This event is by invitation only.
The Latino Media Market is a signature program of NALIP that brings together select filmmakers to pitch one-on-one to industry executives to advance their projects.
To apply to the 2021 Latino Media Market, please check out nalip.org/LMM applications open December, 2020.
Programmers share the state of film festivals and how the industry is adapting. Get the insider's scoop on submitting to film festivals from LatinX programmers and how to prepare your submissions!
In collaboration with Programmers of Colour Collective (POC2)
Washington Heights comes to your living room at the NALIP Media Summit with Melissa Barrera & Leslie Grace, stars from the upcoming highly anticipated, In The Heights (June 18, 2021).
Presented by WarnerMedia
This year NALIP and a few other organizations partnered with the Black List to launch the inaugural Latinx TV List which will grant two finalists a blind pilot script deal with Hulu. Join us in this conversation with Franklin Leonard and Kate Hagen from The Black List, Tanya Saracho and Gloria Calderon Kellet, and NALIP’s Ben Lopez where they will discuss this partnership and how this initiative is creating more opportunities for Latinx writers to tell their stories.
What do Queen of the South, Diary of a Future President, Splitting up Together and Gentefied all have in common? They’re all lead by some of the most talented and successful Latinas in the industry today. Join us for a conversation with Dailyn Rodriguez, Ilana Peña, and Sierra Ornelas as they talk about the process of bringing their stories to life.
As Executive Vice President, Chief Enterprise Inclusion Officer at WarnerMedia, Christy Haubegger leads WarnerMedia’s global diversity and inclusion strategy addressing workforce, community and suppliers, as well as programs and content that serves unique voices and underrepresented audiences through innovative storytelling. This conversation, moderated by President and Founder of Futuro Media Group, Maria Hinojosa, will take a look at how the current initiatives she oversees are creating spaces for creatives of color and industry professionals to succeed in entertainment and media.
Presented by WarnerMedia
Join us as we sit down and chat with the winners of the 2nd annual Cine Sony's Voces Nuevas: short film competition. Make sure to watch the films available to stream throughout the NALIP Media Summit and bring your questions for the filmmakers!
Presented by Sony Pictures Entertainment
Join us to get the inside scoop on the many ways into Nickelodeon’s doors, including internships and the Nick Writing and Artist Programs. Our speakers will discuss the opportunities available, what the Programs entail, and how to use your unique voice to stand out.
More information on Nickelodeon's Talent Development Opportunities here.
Presented by Nickelodeon
Ever wonder how a writer's room functions? Well dive in with Vida's writers team as they give you the scoop on critically acclaimed show from the creative team themselves in this session presented by STARZ. Don't forget to catch the final season on the Starz App!
Leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) represents many of the most successful and innovative professionals working in film, television, music, theater, video games and digital content, among other areas. Join us for a conversation with CAA agents and executives who will discuss their careers, the evolving role of agencies in the industry, and how they are leveraging their positions to create opportunities for Latinx creators and talent. This is a valuable session for anyone looking to work in the across the media and entertainment landscape.
Presented by Creative Artists Agency
This event is by invitation only.
The Latino Media Market is a signature program of NALIP that brings together select filmmakers to pitch one-on-one to industry executives to advance their projects.
To apply to the 2021 Latino Media Market, please check out nalip.org/LMM applications open December, 2020.
“Hey how are you?” is not a casual greeting in the Summer of 2020, but hey we REALLY we want to know-- how you’re feeling, what you’re thinking, how you’re coping, surviving and yes- thriving. Creatives, filmmakers and distributors find a safe space where we talk about what life looks like as an independent maker in the midst of a pandemic while protests against police brutality and racism shift the world and stories we tell. Then, let’s discuss what we can ALL DO ABOUT IT as storytellers. This is the moment for the public in Public Media to show up and let us know how we can move the conversation forward and get sustainable results. What do you want the public in Public Media to look like in the future? LPB, ITVS, Independent Lens, POV, World Channel and PBS in conversation with Firelight Media’s Monika Navarro. Q&A to follow.
Join us for this session with PBS executives to learn how PBS is seeking out the most impactful ways to support and provide opportunities for media makers, across all platforms, to tell their stories.
Presented by PBS
Do you have a passion for storytelling for a younger audience? Hear from Vanessa Taylor Sands, Vice President of Television Development for DreamWorks Animation, and Rosemary Palacios, Manager of Global Talent Development and Inclusion about their experiences and words of wisdom for the future of animation development.
Presented by Comcast NBCUniversal Telemundo
No one gets to the C-Suite overnight! Hear from emerging executives about how they're building their careers to create impactful change in this session presented by Nickelodeon.
Stay tuned for more information!
This year’s summit will be a historical first for NALIP, as all sessions occurring from June 25th - 30th will be held virtually. These sessions will consist of panels, workshops, and insightful conversations with experienced content creators and top executives in the industry. This year’s NALIP Media Summit will be a new experience for all participants as all content will be available online. In these unprecedented times, NALIP remains dedicated to providing the tools and resources needed to advance the Latinx community in the entertainment industry.
What will be the structure of the virtual NMS?
This year’s NALIP Media Summit will be held on a virtual platform. Each session will have separate access points that will require attendees to register before entering the group.
How can I get involved?
Lookout for opportunities to volunteer with NALIP! We are looking for volunteers in our programming, administration, graphics, digital production, and communications department. Updates can be found on our social media (@nalip_org) and weekly newsletter.
I can't afford a ticket to NMS. How can I attend NMS?
Apply for our Emerging Content Creators Inclusion Initiative scholarship selected participants will be given a curated itinerary to attend panels and workshops throughout the six-day summit. As part of the scholarship pass, they must make themselves available for the entirety of the NALIP Media Summit. For more information and to apply click here.
What does the cost from ticket sales go towards?
All funds made at the NALIP Media Summit will go towards our multiple programs and events that are put on throughout the year.
Where can I find more information about NALIP programs?
Visit our website and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at nalip_org to keep up with all our news and programming!
Do you host other events throughout the year?
Yes, stay tuned for updates on our Latino Media Fest which will occur in the fall and our Diverse Women in Media Forum which occurs annually in the winter! Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to receive the information on these events first.
Where can I find more information about programming for this year's NMS
Please continue to visit this website regularly as we will provide updates here first on the sessions and speakers occuring at this year's virtual NALIP Media Summit.
We are thrilled to announce that our #NMS20VIRTUAL platform for the NALIP Media Summit is now live! This is where you can access all of our exciting content throughout the duration of the summit. We can’t wait for you to join us! Check it out here: https://virtual.nalipmediasummit.com/
If you have already purchased your #NMS20VIRTUAL pass, our team will be in contact with information on how to access our amazing platform! In the meantime, feel free to preview our platform here: https://virtual.nalipmediasummit.com/
Here’s a couple of tips to get the best experience on our virtual platform:
We hope you enjoy using our platform when you join us for #NMS20VIRTUAL
