INSIGHT is a community for women of color media creators.
With support and resources from Women In Film, we are creating a group aimed to elevate our careers in a collective and nurturing way and provide guidance and knowledge-sharing with one another. Participation includes open dialogue sessions, collaboration with fellow participants, and the opportunities to plan custom programs. Ultimately we hope to address the vast range of what it takes to forge livelihoods in entertainment. There is urgency in our industry to address professional challenges faced by those of us with intersectional identities. We come together to ensure our voices and work are valued by each other and the entertainment field at large.
Stephanie Hernandez
Stephanie Hernandez is a Latina writer/director from Inglewood, CA. She centers all her work on uplifting underrepresented communities. She worked at We Are Mitú for a year and a half where she directed, produced and edited multiple viral videos. At Mitú, she also created the digital series “Las Jefas“, which focuses on small Latina business owners and their stories. She directed her first music video ” Think About It” for singer Hunnah. She has worked with Latina companies like Viva La Bonita, Ella Loca, and Vive Cosmetics to create videos that fit their voice. She just wrapped “Gentefied”, where she was the social media manager and assistant to creators, Marvin Lemus and Linda Yvette Chavez. She co-hosts a podcast “Espoilers Podcast“, where they review media made by/for people of color. Right now, she is writing coming-of-age short films and a rom-com feature, all of which center the Latinx community.
Kayden Phoenixs
Kayden Phoenix is a Chicana writer and director from Boyle Heights, California. She received a full-ride academic scholarship to Loyola Marymount University where she acquired a B.A. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing. Upon entering the industry, the first thing she noticed was the industry-dominated standard—complete with character generalizations. In response, she became a huge advocate for diversity both in front of and behind the camera, giving a voice to stories untold. Kayden plans on evening the playing field for the underrepresented through her unique and diverse filmmaking. “A big part of my life’s purpose is to give voice to stories as multifaceted, atypical, and diverse as the people we find in the real world.” Kayden is the founder of Chicana Director’s Initiative, which places Latina directors with supportive allies such as Women In Film, Alliance of Women Directors, etc.
Sylvia Ray
Sylvia Ray is an award-winning director, writer, and co-founder of VKTRY Creative Studios. She has been selected for HBO and Hola Mexico Film Festival’s Tomorrow’s Filmmakers Today program. As a storyteller, she focuses on telling grounded stories with diverse female leads. Sylvia’s films have appeared across the world in festivals like Phoenix Film Festival and Adirondack Film Festival. She’s been asked to speak on several panels and podcasts like Creativity School and was featured in VoyageLA and Huffington Post. She has also worked creatively with clients such as Magnopus, Disney, and Disney Pixar. She is an active member of the selective Women In Film INSIGHT group and Alliance of Women Directors’ InSalon group. Having grown up in a small desert town—where nearly half the population lives below the poverty line—and moving to Los Angeles as a young adult, she draws inspiration from her own self-discipline and determination and provides a unique perspective as a Korean/Mexican-American woman.
Jessica Siquieros
Jessica Mendez Siquieros is a Mexican-American writer, director, and actress seeking to normalize complex and authentic narratives about the Southwest Mexican-American community through film. Her filmmaking style is highly cinematic and composed, described by Remezcla as “reclaiming a vision of storytelling often only associated with white creators.” Her debut short film POZOLE is an official selection of SIFF, Indy Shorts, and LALIFF, among others. The film took home the Jury Prize for Best Narrative Short Film (Comedy) at Cinequest, qualifying for the 2020 Academy Awards. Selected as a director mentee in the AT&T Hello Lab Mentorship Program, she is currently directing her next short film under the guidance of Lena Waithe. Her first feature film REFORMA delves into the colorful, complicated world of a young Latina woman in La Reforma (the Tuscon, Arizona housing projects) in the 1960s. REFORMA is currently in development and seeking funding with the support of NALIP’s Latino Media Market.
Learn more about the program
