Julie Hébert is a writer/director of theater, film and television. She has written and directed plays for some of America’s most daring theaters, winning multiple awards including the PEN Award for Drama twice, as well as national fellowships and residencies. She wrote the films Ruby’s Bucket of Blood (Angela Bassett) and Female Perversions (Tilda Swinton) which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. Additionally, she has written and directed for some of the most respected shows on television including The Man in the High Castle, American Crime, The Good Wife, and The West Wing. She was honored with a George Foster Peabody Award for co-directing the 9/11 documentary, In Their Own Words.

Sylvia Hathaway Chavez (she/her) is an executive leader & facilitator specializing in social impact. She is a frequent speaker and panel facilitator on the topic of women & girls, leadership and history-telling. Sylvia serves as Executive Director of the women’s film nonprofit Look What SHE Did!, where she oversees strategy, impact, and resource development. Sylvia is also a facilitator with Girls Leadership Institute, where she delivers workshops on personal leadership and conflict resolution for women and girls. Sylvia holds an M.A. in Nonprofit Management from Antioch University and a CNP credential from the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance, as well as a B.A. in Theatre Arts. She lives in coastal Los Angeles and enjoys the performing arts, poetry and travel.

Courtney Graham has been working as a producer and strategist in the commercial, broadcast and theatrical world for more than a decade. She began her career with the prestigious visual storytelling firm Imaginary Forces where she produced Emmy nominated television titles and a wide range of broadcast packages and commercials. She currently works with the NFL Network, focusing on long-term design and technical projects that involve collaborating with multiple departments. Her co-founding work as Look What SHE Did!’s producing director has allowed her to experiment with production methodologies in pursuit of maintaining a professional level of quality without traditional resources or budgets.

Farrel Levy was trained as an artist at Cooper Union. She has made a career as a film and television editor with credits including: Dirty Dancing, NYPD Blue, Primal Fear, Damages and Nashville. She has also been a television director and taught editing at The American Film Institute for over 20 years. She is a member of the Motion Picture Editor’s Guild, the Director’s Guild and the American Cinema Editors, an honorary society of film editors. She is the mother of two daughters who never cease to make her proud.

Janna Bodek Harris served on the board of the Ebell of Los Angeles, an historic women’s philanthropic, cultural and educational club that gives college scholarships to men and women and grants funding to non-profits that help women and their children. During her eight years on the board, (first as Director of Programs for four years and then on the Executive Board for four years) she played an instrumental role in: broadening and increasing programming; creating a social service department with hands-on projects to serve the non-profits that the Ebell funds; bringing in many new (and younger) members; developing a strategic plan; establishing a 501©3 Ebell Friends nonprofit; and embarking on a 125th Anniversary fundraising Campaign. She was a stay-at home mother of two, served on the boards of or volunteered for numerous organizations and schools including The Children’s Nature Institute, The Friends of the Academy of Music (at Hamilton High School) and Wilshire Blvd. Temple. She has a B.A. from Wesleyan University.

As a Managing Assistant City Attorney for the City of Los Angeles, Anne has overseen an annual outside counsel budget of up to $25 Million for the past 20 years. In that role she facilitates the selection, retention and maintenance of the law firms that partner with the City, keeping her client apprised of the status of contracts and expenditures. She recently expanded her duties by joining the Office’s Dispute Resolution Program where she provides General Counsel advice and is a part of the mediation team. She is also a member of the City Attorney’s Equity Panel and Criminal Justice Reform Working Group.
Anne graduated cum laude from Brown University in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science. She continued on that fall to Stanford Law School where she was a writer and editor for The Stanford Law Review. While in law school, Anne was also active in the surrounding community, serving on the steering committee of the East Palo Alto Community Law Project.
Upon graduation from law school in 1987, Anne joined the venerable Los Angeles law firm of Wyman, Bautzer, Kuchel & Silbert, where she was a litigator until the firm’s dissolution in 1991. Anne was then pegged by the masterful Johnnie L. Cochran to assist in the formation of his law firm’s entertainment division. During her years with The Cochran Firm, Anne not only handled entertainment work, but also the frequent criminal pleading or appearance necessitated by the office’s heavy caseload. After stints as legal consultant on the nationally syndicated legal talk show “Jones & Jury,” and as an editor of the Rulings column at The Daily Journal, Anne was invited to be a “visiting scholar” at Australia’s Bond University. She spent a semester there lecturing on alternative dispute resolution, her uncle, Alex Haley’s, novel, Roots, and on race, politics and American law. Anne returned to the U.S. with a thriving transactional entertainment practice, which continued until she joined the City Attorney’s Office in October 2001. Anne is active with the California Minority Counsel Program, and is a member of the LA County Bar Association, the Langston Bar Association, and Black Women Lawyers. She speaks frequently on matters of diversity and inclusion. She is working on her first book – a memoir.

Cornelia Emerson has spent her career in arts, cultural heritage and higher education institutions in Southern California, with seventeen years as Development Officer at the UCLA Film & Television Archive. There she developed scores of successful grant proposals to federal agencies such as NEA, NEH, IMLS, the National Park Service (Save America’s Treasures) and the U.S. Department of Education, as well as the California Arts Council and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. She researched and wrote numerous proposals to private donors and foundations including the Academy (of
Motion Picture Arts & Sciences) Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Film Preservation Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, among others. In 2009, Gregory Lukow, Chief of the Motion Picture, Broadcasting & Recorded Sound Division of the Library of Congress, called her “one of the leading development officers within the U.S. film archive community for the past two decades.”
Since 2010, Cornelia has acted as a part-time development director for the Musical Theatre Guild, and was concurrently Founding Chair of the Liberal Arts and Sciences Department at the New York Film Academy (Universal City campus) from 2011-12. She consults on strategic planning and fund development for arts, cultural heritage and higher education organizations. She organized and moderated the panel, Moving Images in the Museum Context, at the California Association of Museums Conference in 2011, and presented on funding development topics at professional conferences of the Association of Moving Image Archivists and the Society of California Archivists.
Earlier in her career, Cornelia was the Associate Dean at Otis College of Art and Design, a Development Writer at California Institute of Technology and Director of Publications at Art Center College of Design. She holds B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in English literature from Yale University, and studied organizational development at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.

Courtney Graham has been working as a producer and strategist in the commercial, broadcast and theatrical world for more than a decade. She began her career with the prestigious visual storytelling firm Imaginary Forces where she produced Emmy nominated television titles and a wide range of broadcast packages and commercials. She currently works with the NFL Network, focusing on long-term design and technical projects that involve collaborating with multiple departments. Her co-founding work as Look What SHE Did!’s producing director has allowed her to experiment with production methodologies in pursuit of maintaining a professional level of quality without traditional resources or budgets.

Devorah is a film and television producer. A UCLA graduate, she began her career with Film Producer, Bruce Gilbert (Coming Home, China Syndrome) where she was attracted to the idea that movies could evoke social change. She served as Vice President of Production at Imagine Entertainment (Ron Howard, Brian Grazer) and Associate Produced the My Girl films. Devorah went on to helm Barry Kemp’s Bungalow 78 Productions (Coach, Newhart) and Co-produced award-winning feature films including Patch Adams and Catch Me If You Can. Most recently, Devorah was Senior Vice President at Sony Pictures Television. Devorah is a non-profit leader who provided professional consulting services to many agencies and served as CEO of the Beverly Hills Education Foundation.

Julie Hébert is a writer/director of theater, film and television. She has written and directed plays for some of America’s most daring theaters, winning multiple awards including the PEN Award for Drama twice, as well as national fellowships and residencies. She wrote the films Ruby’s Bucket of Blood (Angela Bassett) and Female Perversions (Tilda Swinton) which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. Additionally, she has written and directed for some of the most respected shows on television including The Man in the High Castle, American Crime, The Good Wife, and The West Wing. She was honored with a George Foster Peabody Award for co-directing the 9/11 documentary, In Their Own Words.

Jillian Hegedus is the Vice President for Client Services at JCI Worldwide, a public affairs, government affairs, and political consulting firm based in Santa Monica, California. She is passionate about grassroots coalition building, educational equity, using storytelling to achieve client goals, and making local political involvement accessible for everyone. She currently works to manage the JCI team, client engagement, and campaign creation & execution and is also an elected official with the Del Rey Neighborhood Council. Before working in her current role, she taught 7th & 8th grade English and 8th grade U.S. History in Houston, Texas for three years with Teach for America. Jillian earned a B.A. in Middle Eastern Media & Communications from Texas A&M University and a Master’s in Public Diplomacy from the University of Southern California. She is interested in joining the board of Look What She Did! because of its mission to tell HERstory which will ensure that girls and women see themselves and the critical role women played throughout history.

Barbra I. Higgins is an Olympic fencer who competed for Panama in the 1984 Olympics. She has over thirty-five years experience in leading small businesses in growth by utilizing the tools she acquired while at PriceWaterhouse and years of experience to analyze, create, and manage internal operating procedures in order to maintain consistent fiscal stability. She has experience at raising capital, managing companies and organizing large international events.
Ms. Higgins’ community involvement includes her Presidential appointment to the Small Business Administration National Advisory Council, Board member and Corporate Secretary of the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame (BASHOF), Board member and Treasurer of Northern California Olympians Alumni Association, President of Panama Olympians Assoc. and as a 1984 Olympian is a motivational guest speaker for schools and community groups. And in 2012 she was Executive Producer of That’s My Thing: Elvin Bishop Live in Concert (Video), nominated for a Blues music award.
She has a law degree from the University of Miami and Bachelors in Business Administration and Accounting from Florida International University and received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Tiffin University Ohio.

Julie Shapiro is senior lawyer with a professional history working in television as a legal affairs and business affairs executive. Currently, Julie serves as an Associate Professor at Loyola Law School and the Director of Loyola’s Entertainment and New Media Institute. Prior to Loyola, Julie served as Legal Counsel and Business Affairs for Endeavor Content where she was involved in negotiating, drafting, and reviewing agreements for the development, production and distribution of scripted programming. In addition to traditional network deals, Julie has negotiated premium level deals with Amazon, Apple, Facebook Watch, Hulu, Netflix, Showtime, HBO and Warner Media. Julie has a broad understanding of multi-platform deals, co-production agreements, licensing, intellectual property, and domestic / international distribution. Throughout her career, Julie has collaborated with the department heads of creative, physical production and finance. She has experience in both scripted and unscripted programming and a comprehensive understanding of budgets and the P&L process.
Prior to Endeavor Content, Julie served as SVP, Head of Business Affairs for Freeform Network/Disney Cable Television Group. She reported directly to the President of the Network and served as a member of the Executive Committee. As Head of Business & Legal Affairs and General Counsel for APA Talent Agency, Julie was responsible for employee related matters, including the negotiation of agent employment agreements. During her tenure, she structured and negotiated joint-venture agreements and the purchase of a below-the-line talent agency, sports agency, public relations company and marketing firm.
Julie’s extracurricular activities include serving as a mentor and committee member for The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Mentorship Program. For the past 4 years she served as a mentor for Loyola Law Schools’ Fellowship Program.

Arleen Sorkin has enjoyed a career as an actress, television host, writer and producer. Sorkin co-wrote the feature film Picture Perfect, starring Jennifer Aniston and co-created and co-executive produced the NBC sitcom Fired Up, starring Leah Remini and Sharon Lawrence. Sorkin has co-produced two comedy specials for HBO, one starring Paul Reiser and the other starring Carrie Fisher, Lauren Hutton, Griffin Dunne, and herself. Sorkin produced the documentary feature film Bhutto, which premiered at Sundance in 2010. She also co-produced the off-Broadway play RFK, which won the Outer Circle Award. While she now focuses on writing and producing, Sorkin still makes the occasional guest appearance as an actress and continues to provide the voice of “Harley Quinn,” one of the most popular villainesses in the DC Comics universe.
As a writer, Sorkin has several feature and television projects in various stages of development. Her proudest achievement is that she helped her retired dentist father realize his lifelong dream of selling an idea in Hollywood. At 86, he received a co-producer credit on the Emmy-award winning HBO movie Something the Lord Made.
Arleen also serves on the board of the National Breast Cancer Coalition and supports many non-profit organizations.

Briana Chmielewski is a recent graduate of the American Film Institute, earning an MFA in Editing. Before attending AFI she graduated from Pepperdine University, earning a BA in Film Studies. During her undergraduate years, she studied abroad in London and Sydney where she worked as the editor on the short film, NIGHT LIGHTS. The film went on to screen at Sundance Film Festival as part of the Windrider Forum. She is currently working as an vassistant editor at Bunim-Murray Productions for an Emmy award winning television show.

Jamie Coker-Robertson is an established Public Relations and Social Media consultant with over 18 years experience in Social Impact Media/Public Relations and Marketing. In her varied career she has worked on accounts in several different industries including entertainment, literary, restaurant, product, music, non-profit, personal publicity and film festivals. She has worked on campaigns for Oscar winning films, best selling books, an award winning restaurant, the largest LGBTQ archive in the world, and ran the communications for an international film festival. She currently serves as a Point Foundation Mentor to an LGBTQ Point Scholar, and loves spending her free time going to movies and hiking with her wife and 11 year old daughter, as well building furniture and dabbling in interior design (i.e. pretending to be Joanna Gaines when no one is looking).

Areyla Faeron is an artist, personal development coach and female empowerment advocate. She began her career as a dancer and in the circus, performing with world-renowned clowns Patch Adams and Wavy Gravy, as well as with companies like Dance Brigade, Deborah Slater Dance Theater and We Players. Areyla has been an educator for Girls Leadership Institute since 2015, facilitating workshops in Social Emotional Learning for girls and women. For multiple years she was the director of GRRRL Brigade, a feminist dance and leadership company for girls in San Francisco, CA. Areyla is the Founder & CEO of Areyla Faeron Coaching, a personal and professional development coaching business that aims to support female creatives in bringing their full selves to the table in all areas of their lives through 1:1 coaching and group workshops. Areyla holds a B.A. in Theater Arts from U.C. Santa Cruz, a postgraduate certificate in Jacques Lecoq Physical Theater from Berty Tovias Escuela Internacional de Teatro in Spain, a diploma in Contemporary Dance from the Copenhagen Contemporary Dance School in Denmark and a certificate from Tara Mohr’s Playing Big Facilitator’s Training. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her fiancé where she works as a commercial and film actor, leadership facilitator and coach.

Jenee Gill is pleased to bring her nonprofit bookkeeping skills to LWSD! Jenee has an extensive background in arts administration that reaches all the way back to the late 20th century. Currently, she serves as the Finance Manager of AcroSports, a physical performance space in San Francisco. Over the decades, she has taken the administrative helm of the SF Children’s Art Center, San Francisco Mime Troupe, the Roxie Theatre, and TILT. A 3rd-generation native of LA, and an economic refugee of San Francisco, Jenee currently resides in Santa Cruz.

Sevdije is the first female DP in her home country, Kosova. She continues to work there and in her current home in Los Angeles, CA. Her work includes documentaries, shorts, TV Series and narrative feature films. Her films, including Recruitment, The Return, and Unmanned have received recognition in her home country and abroad. They have screened at festivals including The Sundance Film Festival, AFI Fest, Sarajevo Film Festival, and ZagrebDox. She completed her master studies on cinematography at the American Film Institute in 2011.

Founder of Kitzo Productions, Karla Legaspy is a Two Spirit MeXICANA filmmaker raised in East Los Angeles.
She is a two-time awardee of the Latino Public Broadcasting Public Media Content Fund. Karla is proud of her many creative collaborations with artist, community and organizations.
Her creative spectrum of work crosses borders, time and genres with themes on race, class, sexual orientation, trauma, artivism, ceremonial work and queer love. Karla’s is known for her PBS audience award winning film “Gold Star” playing on PBS platforms. As a producer, Karla has been able to support numerous projects that bring forth the queer/trans brown experience. She is the producer of the acclaimed series “Undocumented Tales: Season 3” now playing on YouTube. Her latest LPB film “The Daily War” premiered on the PBS Latino Experience series. As an active member of the queer Latinx community she Co-founded The Latin@ Queer Arts and Film Festival/Cine Arte Film Festival. Karla envisions her work as the best tool for activism and her contribution to empowering her communities.

Kim Ray is an award-winning Writer, Director and Producer based in Los Angeles. She has directed commercials for Fortune 500 clients, developed and written screenplays, including the Oscar-winning WEST BANK STORY and Executive Produced and Directed premium documentary television. Recent work includes Executive Producing the feature documentary GAGA: FIVE FOOT TWO for Netflix and Directing and Executive Producing ABOUT FACE, with Rosie Huntington Whitely for Quibi. Ray has adapted the American classic A Jury Of Her Peers into a feature film that she is attached to direct.

Sabine Sighicelli specializes in documentary/nonfiction writing, copywriting, directing, producing, production management, casting, research, and post-production supervising. She has worked in the nonfiction field, both independent and commercial (National Geographic Television, Foundation for World Arts, UCLA Intercultural Center, Women Make Movies, Museum of Jewish Heritage, Home Planet Productions, Shoot Cut Deliver Productions) for the past 18 years. She co-wrote and co-produced the award-winning documentary “Aspire to the Sky: The Wilshire Grand Story” about building the tallest highrise in Los Angeles (https://www.amazon.com/Aspire-Sky-Wilshire-Grand-Story). Looking at her overall career since 2001: her award-winning documentary “The Passionate Life of a Father Painter” aired on PBS/KCET in 2001. Her film about composer Robert Een, “Be Warned!” is featured in the DVD collection of the UCLA Intercultural Center. Her short documentary “Breaking in Two,” sponsored by Women Make Movies featured internationally recognized women artists and was part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time. She served as Interim Chair of the Documentary Filmmaking Department at the New York Film Academy and has taught Film, Documentary, and Communication courses at the Brooks Institute, the New York Film Academy, and Chapman University. She is currently a collaborator of Shoot Cut Deliver Productions (https://shootcutdeliver.com), Source Art (https://www.source-art.com), and Ce Consulting (http://www.cheloeckhardt.com)for which she writes and produces promos, corporate films, documentary shorts, virtual and branded content. Corporate clients include Citibank, LA Art Show, Pipeline Health, NSD Swim, CallSource, VDA, Navalign, Value Max, Radical Skincare, Access Control Security, and Five Point.