Creative Team
Pearlette J. Ramos
Pearlette J. Ramos, Ph.D., J.D. is a lawyer, social justice and civil rights advocate, transformational leader and entrepreneur with more than 25 years’ experience in advocacy, operations, compliance, and strategic and project management. She facilitates women leadership development workshops, mentors law school students, leads women on treks around the globe, and volunteers with various nonprofit groups and philanthropic organizations—including serving as co-founder of an Arizona non-profit, Sisters Talk About Race. STAR brings women together from a wide range of backgrounds to give of their time, attention, and resources to ending systemic racism and changing the world through open-hearted conversations and inspired action.
The film is her brain child because she is passionate about motivating girls and women around the world who have struggled to find their voice, claim their power and create a transformational social justice movement.
Cionin Lorenzo
Cionín is a Latinx independent filmmaker. She started her career at MTV Networks where for over 15 years she worked on programming for MTV U.S. News & Docs, MTV Latin America, International, and MTVtr3s. During her time at the network she directed and interviewed numerous artists such as Patti LaBelle, Kim Kardashian, Ben Affleck, Moby, and Ice T for various programs; was the Director, Cinematographer, and Producer of two short documentaries on Shakira for the hit series Diary, and another on Daddy Yankee; and was one of the Directors of MTV Cribs for 5 years, during which she filmed 50+ actors, musicians and athletes in their homes.
As Supervising Producer, she oversaw a team of 40+ running the production of 70 episodes that were produced within three years. Afterwards, she worked as the Managing Director of the New York International Latino Film Festival, and then as the Senior Production Coordinator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she was the liaison for TV productions, filmmakers, still photographers and artists who filmed at the museum.
Recently, she was the writer and story producer of the 2019 Imagen Award winning PBS feature documentary John Leguizamo's Road to Broadway for the Great Performances series, and Showrunner/Executive Producer of a limited documentary series for Peacock/T+. Currently, she has a slate of digital and documentary projects she is developing and consulting on that touch upon Puerto Rican history and arts, gender equality, disability rights and climate change.
Nick Kalisz
Nick is the co-founder of TopTop Studio, a creative content studio specializing in character-driven films and commercials. Nick is most inspired by the great outdoors and the raw beauty of human emotion. Growing up, his teachers encouraged him to create videos in lieu of writing because that’s how he could best express himself. He was nominated for a Sports Emmy for his cinematography in Lindsey Vonn’s HBO Documentary and also captured the first ski descent of Mt. Lhotse, the world’s 4th highest mountain. His film LHOTSE has garnered over 5.2M views on YouTube.
Steve Vanderheide
Steve Vanderheide is a passionate filmmaker who has been producing award-winning documentaries, short films and branded content professionally for 15 years. He has traveled the globe, working with a full range of clients, from non-profits to to Fortune 500 companies. Based out of Denver, Colorado, Steve has summited 21 of Colorado’s 14,000 foot peaks.
Sonia Gonzalez-Martinez
Sonia is a documentary editor based in New York City. Sonia has edited several films for the Independent Lens series: Soul Food Junkies, Spies of Mississippi and Decade of Fire. Other credits include Rise: The Promise of My Brother’s Keeper for The Discovery Channel and OWN; and Reconstruction: America After the Civil War, Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s series, which won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award. Sonia’s most recent work includes Decade of Fire, La Madrina: The Savage Life of Lorine Padilla, and The Captain, a doc series about Yankees short stop Derek Jeter.
Sonia has also edited a wide range of short documentaries for clients such as The New Yorker Magazine, Tribeca Digital Studios and Refinery29.
Sonia began her career in editing (on actual 35mm film!) as an assistant editor for directors Spike Lee, Milos Forman and Robert Redford. She was also the Co-Creator, Writer and Director on a comedy web series called GET SOME!, and the director of BRAGGING RIGHTS: STICKBALL STORIES, which aired on PBS.
Elisa Correa
Independent Chilean filmmaker, Elisa Correa, graduated with a Bachelor's degree in film from the Chile Film School (Escuela de cine de Chile) in Santiago, followed by an Associate's degree in screenwriting at Palermo University Buenos Aires, Argentina. Upon graduation, Elisa worked on the production team on major broadcasting networks including, Television Series National Television of Chile and Channel 13, the second oldest channel in Chile.
In 2013 Elisa moved to New York and started working as a freelance editor and videographer with different organizations such as Community Access, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Gallim, Jadore Love, Shutter and Sound, Roche Bobois, Mass Appeal, Mundo Feliz, and Aubin Pictures.
She has edited various documentaries including With this light directed by Laura Bermúdez, Luchador directed by Marco Ricci, Meanwhile directed by Catherine Gund and Primera directed by Vee Bravo, which was acquired by HBO Original Documentaries and premiered Fall of 2022.
Alexis Kwaben
Alexis Kwaben, a composer, sound engineer, and storyteller from the Chicagoland area, works to breathe life into projects that illuminate the beauty and challenges of humanity, diversity, and individuality. Guided by her passion for fostering diversity in media, she aims to preserve the open-minded wonder, courage, and curiosity reminiscent of childhood.
Alexis loves to blend vintage analog techniques with modern audio production methods, crafting distinctive compositions that intertwine varied sonic elements and musical genres. She's contributed to projects for companies like Disney and Netflix, to name a few, and has worked in film, tv, theater, and games. With collaborations spanning the globe, her work has graced PBS and premiered at festivals, including the Chicago International Children's Film Festival and the Prague International Film Festival.
When not in the studio, she loves to relax with her nose buried in a book, playing games, babying her plants, and dancing the night away! However, when not on the ground, Alexis can be found scaling trees and capturing wild birds in her hands.
“You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone's soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift.”
~ Erin Morgenstern
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