Our Leadership

QWOCMAP is led by queer women of color, nonbinary, and transgender people of color filmmakers committed to building power, creating beauty, and practicing joy.

Directors

Board of Directors

Our Board of Directors provides strategic guidance, governance, and accountability, stewarding QWOCMAP's mission, values, and resources.

Mel Y. Chen, PhD

Mel Y.
Chen, PhD

Board Co-Chair

Associate Professor, Filmmaker-Director Local Grown Corn Queer Chinese American nonbinary trans person Mel Y. Chen is Associate Professor of Gender & Women's Studies and...
Nat Ruiz Tofano

Nat Ruiz
Tofano

Board Co-Chair

Nonprofit Manager and Coordinator, Filmmaker-Director A Boy on the Side Queer Multiracial Mexican and Chinese nonbinary person Nat Ruiz Tofano is a queer and multiracial...
Emily Park

Emily
Park

Pilates & Fitness instructor/Restorative Movement Coach, Filmmaker-Director Ardent Dissonance Harmonic Discord (Super Emotional) Queerean mixed-race Asian American pansexual woman Emily Park is a multi-disciplinary...
Lynn Sugihara

Lynn
Sugihara

Filmmaker-Director Jasmine’s Jubilee

California State Registered Dental Hygienist, Filmmaker-Director Jasmine’s Jubilee Queer Japanese/Chinese American woman With 37 years in the dental field, she is also a long-time...
Yeva Johnson

Yeva
Johnson

Physician (retired), Poet, Writer, Musician, and Film-Lover Queer Black Jewish Lesbian

Physician (retired), Poet, Writer, Musician, and Film-Lover Queer Black Jewish Lesbian Yeva Johnson is a Pushcart Prize–nominated poet whose work explores interlocking caste systems,...

Our Advisory Board

Our Advisory Board members are accomplished filmmakers, artists, and media professionals whose creative practice and industry expertise inform QWOCMAP's artistic direction and programs.

Jennifer Phang

Independent Filmmaker, AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE ALUMNI

Director, Advantageous; Half Life; Target Audience 9.1; Love Limited; TV: The Boys (Amazon), The Expanse (Amazon/SYFY), Cloak & Dagger (Freeform), Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC), Quantico (ABC), Riverdale (CW), Major Crimes (TNT), The Exorcist (FOX), Future States (PBS)

Yvonne Welbon

Independent Filmmaker, AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE ALUMNI

Independent Filmmaker, AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE ALUMNIFormer Chair, Journalism and Media Studies Department, Bennett College for Women

Director, Living With Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100; Sisters in Cinema; The Taste of Dirt; Remembering Wei Yi Fang, Remembering Myself; Sisters in the Life: First Love; Missing Relations; The Cinematic Jazz of Julie Dash; Monique

Cheryl Dunye

Independent Filmmaker

Director, Black is Blue; My Baby's Daddy; Watermelon Woman; Stranger Inside; She Don't Fade; DiAna's Hair Ego Remix; Brother From Another Time; Valencia; Mommy Is Coming; Greetings From Africa; The Potluck and the Passion; TV: Queen Sugar (OWN), Claws (TNT), The Fosters (Freeform), Dear White People (Netflix), Star (FOX), Love Is (OWN)

Aarin Burch

Independent Filmmaker, AARIN BURCH PRODUCTIONS

Director, The Art of Laurel Burch; My People Are... Youth Pride in Mixed Heritage; Michigan Fever; Reflections Unseen

Pratibha Parmar

Independent Filmmaker, KALI FILMS

Director, American Masters: Alice Walker; Nina's Heavenly Delights; Warrior Marks; Khush; Double The Trouble, Twice The Fun

Mary Guzman

Independent Filmmaker, ONE OF 9 CUBANITOS FILMS

Director, Do The Math; Mind If I Call You Sir?; Desi's Looking For A New Girl

Desi del Valle

Independent Filmmaker, Actor, Media Consultant

Director, Cruel, Back to Life Actor; Desi's Looking for a New Girl; Costa Brava; Mod-Fuck Explosion; Some Prefer Cake; Drift