DREAMS MANIFESTED
Community & Social Impact
POV documentary TV Series
From 2019-2022, I led community engagement and impact initiatives for POV, the longest running documentary television showcase on PBS, for over 35 films like We Are the Radical Monarchs, Softie, In My Blood It Runs, Pier Kids, The Infiltrators, The Neutral Ground, Unapologetic, and La Casa de Mama Icha. My team and I actively engaged over 860 new community partners across the US and Puerto Rico to host over 500 POV virtual and safe in person film screenings throughout the pandemic to spark awareness, dialogue, and action in neighborhoods, workplaces, and classrooms.
Documentaries For Hope & Healing: a Virtual Screening series
In a response to 2020's revolutionary year confronting racism, policing, mass violence, and the many global public health pandemics, I spearheaded a virtual documentary film screening series in partnership with Black Visions, Asian Mental Health Project, NYC Office of Public Advocate, Immigrant Justice Idaho, and Rofhiwa Book Café to provide a space for communities across the country to gather safely together, watch films that center BIPOC storytelling and resonate with local concerns, and be engaged in conversation with BIPOC filmmakers and healing-centered practitioners. The series was graciously sponsored by Open Society Foundations.
Celebrating the Strengths of Black Youth
Between 2008-2011, I worked under Dr. Michael Lambert and Dr. Ndidi Okeke-Adeyanju as a Social Research Assistant, Group Facilitator, and Coordinator to design and deliver Celebrating the Strengths of Black Youth (CSBY), an evidence based intervention program that supports Black children and their families in harnessing the skills to address unique challenges of living in predominantly white spaces.
Contributing co-author of published research article Celebrating the Strengths of Black Youth: Increasing Self-Esteem and Implications for Prevention in the Journal of Primary Prevention (2014)
Documentary Storytelling
Unsettled (2014)
Co-director/Producer/Editor for Unsettled a 2014 documentary film short about two female activists (Nkechi Feaster & Naila Goodwin) fighting for affordable and stable housing in the nation's capital, Washington DC. Official Selection for the Our City Festival in 2015.
Something For Everyone: Crossroads (2016)
Directed, produced and edited this video for the Farmers Market Coalition to promote the Crossroads Farmers Market in Takoma Park, MD - a gem to the community providing fresh, affordable, and high quality foods and products to the public. Fun fact: It was the first farmers market in Maryland to accept federal nutrition benefits (SNAP), and also the first in the country to launch a “double dollar” program that matches the value of those benefits spent at the market.
The Bike House (2014)
Directed, produced and edited, alongside Jesse Ryan and Jason Stahl, to film this nonprofit promotional video for Stone Soup Film's Doc in a Day challenge. The Bike House is a Washington DC-based bicycle repair co-op that educates the public on how to fix their bikes for free.
Youth & Community Media Education
MHP Youth Documentary Film Program (2015/2016)
Lead Teaching Artist for the Meridian Hill Pictures and Sitar Arts Center Youth Documentary Program. In 2016, I led a group of students aged 11-16 to produce a short film called In the Path of My Father that told a deeply-personal story of two brothers (Zion & Ayinde) growing up in DC without their father, and how relationships with their family, peers, community leaders and the arts have helped them cope and build new beginnings on their road to adulthood. In 2016 the short won an Audience Award at the National Film Festival For Talented Youth in Seattle, WA.
Community Video Storytelling: Mundo Verde PCS (2015)
Lead Teaching Artist for the Meridian Hill Pictures and Mundo Verde Bilingual Public Charter School storytelling project. In Spring 2015, 3rd grade students from Mundo Verde learned how to film micro-documentaries using iPads to film short stories in their school neighborhood. Students explored the open-ended question: "What is the past, present, and future of the Mundo Verde School community?" A google map was created pinpointing where each story was filmed to simulate a transmedia experience where the community could actively engage with the stories.
Community Video Storytelling: Crossroads Community Farmers Market (2014)
Lead Teaching Artist for the Meridian Hill Pictures and Crossroads Community Farmers Market storytelling workshop. In the Fall of 2014, 7 CCFM staff and trainees from the Microenterprise Training program learned how to document their own authentic stories to support with further marketing and development.