About

My career as a writer, producer, and director of documentary media has spanned over a decade and taken me from maximum security prisons, to Major League dugouts, to the studios of legendary rock guitarists. I’ve enjoyed sitting down with former NFL coach Tony Dungy, Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and artist Vernon Reid. And I’ve been deeply moved by spending time with the dedicated people who risk their lives to educate women and girls in Afghanistan or empower victims of domestic violence to fight for their rights and rebuild their lives. My films have been released theatrically, broadcast on television, and screened at film festivals around the world. And along the way I’ve found time to teach yoga, study martial arts, belly dance, and travel Australia playing Ultimate Frisbee!

As the Senior Producer at Video/Action in Washington D.C, I spent 8 years creating media as a tool for people and organizations fighting for social justice. I worked with inspiring people all over the world and had the privilege of helping to bring their extraordinary stories to a wider audience. I earned a Capitol Region Emmy Award for producing and directing Extraordinary Response to International Terrorism, the story of how the people of Lockerbie, Scotland reached out to the hundreds of families who lost loved ones when terrorists blew up Pan Am Flight 103 in the skies over their sleepy, market town. And I was selected to accompany U.N. Goodwill Ambassador Julia Ormond to Thailand and Cambodia to capture on film the work of U.N. officials, local government leaders, and human rights activists who are leading the fight against human trafficking.

Other award-winning work includes Kathleen’s Story, a young woman’s struggle with breast cancer; Louis Martin: Walking with Presidents, the story of a ground-breaking black journalist who used his gift for getting the right story to the right people‚ to win the confidence of presidents and champion the rights of black Americans; and Through my Eyes, a look at the lasting impact of family and community violence through the eyes of children.

In 2006, I released my first documentary film, Ready to Play, a daughter’s story about how my baseball-loving father salvaged a run-down ball field in the heart of Washington D.C. and built a 30-year old neighborhood softball league that keeps a changing community connected. It was interesting (and occasionally challenging!) work to turn the camera on my own family and community. But, I’m really proud of the film and the way it touched people in Washington D.C. and beyond. Ready to Play premiered on PBS in August of 2007 and continues to be broadcast. And, thanks to the great response to the film, I was featured in The Washington Post, Sunday Source in an article about promising local filmmakers.

Since I had so much fun working on a film about my Italian immigrant family and how they took to baseball on the streets of NYC, I followed it up by co-producing The First Basket, a film about how immigrant Jews playing basketball on the streets of NYC helped to build the NBA and make basketball a global phenomenon. The First Basket was released theatrically in the United States, Canada, and Israel and screened at national and international film festivals from California to Poland.

In the fall of 2006, I joined Cortina Productions, an award-winning multi-media production company whose clients include The Smithsonian, The Basketball Hall of Fame, and the Muhammad Ali Center. While at Cortina, I had a great time chasing down footage of iconic figures like Sly Stone, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix and interviewing the people who put together the original Woodstock music festival to produce two HD films for the Museum at Bethel Woods, a museum and performing arts center built on the site of the original Woodstock. And I was thrilled when we learned that the immersive, 5-screen film Festival Experience won a MUSE Award!

In the spring of 2008, I struck out on my own to became a freelance writer/producer. It was never a dull moment producing large-scale, multi-screen immersive films that take viewers inside avalanches to learn about the laws of motion, into the womb to experience the journey from conception to birth, and inside a major league dugout to see the action from the player’s perspective.

In the fall of 2010, my husband and I decided to embark on a new adventure, moving to Melbourne, Australia. So, I’m currently living in the seaside suburb of St. Kilda, teaching yoga, playing Ultimate frisbee, and learning about Cricket! And I’m always on the lookout for stories that just have to be told…