CO-WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER

Michal Sinnott is an award winning, classically trained actor/writer/director & storyteller whose work in film, television, theatre, audio spaces, & games traverses mediums, genres, & locales. Her first narrative feature, 'Unpacking,’ as a co/writer-director-producer is currently on the 2022/23 festival circuit and winning awards at nearly all of them. ‘Unpacking’ was recently accepted into Cinequest VR & Film Festival for their Bay Area premier. She’s appeared in dozens of plays and over fifty principal/starring roles for radio, television and film, including companies/institutions as diverse as ABC, Sundance and The Whitney Museum of American Art. She’s best known as the voice, likeness and performance capture artist for Tracey De Santa, one of the main characters in the billion dollar phenomena Grand Theft Auto V. Her stage plays have received staged readings and awards in Virginia (Theater Virginia) and Los Angeles (The Blank Theatre). She's in development on a variety of projects as a writer-director, including 'Anxiety Monster & Man Child Make Amends,' a meta scripted comedy series about the worst period of her life & a narrative feature, 'The Universe(s) of Us,' a magical realist multiverse love story. She raised first funding for 'The Universe(s) of Us' and traveled to Tanzania to shoot the opening of the film with a skeleton crew. ‘The Universe(s) of Us’ was a Sundance Screenwriting Lab second rounder, top 15% for the Academy Nicholl Fellowship, and was a recipient of Big Vision Empty Wallet’s Kickstart Diversity Program. She lives in NYC with her husband (and frequent writing collaborator) Joseph and their three egg laying hens, Zsa Zsa, Valkyrie, and Triff. A former flight attendant and two time cancer survivor, she’s traveled to thirty+ countries on six continents and continues to navigate the inner work necessary for flight.

PRODUCER

Nwaka Onwusa, Vice President of Curatorial Affairs & Chief Curator at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is a lover of music and a contemporary bohemian with an old soul. Her knowledge and appreciation of music and art span a vast globe of cultures and histories. Hailing from Southern California, Nwaka began her curatorial career at The GRAMMY Museum at L.A. LIVE. There she specialized in exhibition development researching, developing and curating more than 25 unique and memorial exhibits. As curator at the GRAMMY Museum, some of Nwaka’s exhibits and programs included: Jim Marshall’s 1967; Legends of Motown; All Eyez on Me: The Writings of Tupac Shakur; John Lee Hooker: King of The Boogie; Monterey Pop International Music Festival: Music, Love and Flowers, 1967; The Taylor Swift Experience; Jenni Rivera: La Gran Señora; Ringo: Peace and Love, and Bruce W. Talamon: Soul, R&B, And Funk Photographs 1972-1982: A Love Letter to the Music. Prior to becoming a curator, Nwaka worked in educational programs committed to inspiring students to explore the arts and museum studies. Nwaka earned a Bachelors in Sociology at UC Riverside and a Masters of Leadership at USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy. In 2012, she was honored as a Museum Rising Star by the Museum of African American Art and in April 2018 was selected by American Express to participate in their Women in Music initiative identifying the industry’s rising leaders and was named one of Cleveland’s Most Interesting People of 2020.

PRODUCER

Emma Berdie Donson grew up in Ossining, NY and graduated with a BFA in Acting (High Honors) from the University of Michigan. She has produced the plays Flu Season and Hamlet (as an immersive, interactive experience in a tea shop) in Los Angeles as well as 2 showcases for the Michael Laskin Acting Studio. She produced the feature Shot in the Dark which is now represented by Raven Banner Entertainment for distribution. She also produced a charity concert featuring Betsy Randle for End The Backlog in early 2020. She is an Artist in Residence with the Jewish Women’s Theatre and has toured the US with them. She's enjoying getting to know her new city of Austin, TX and loves spending sunny days outside with her Fox Terrier, Winnie, and making jewelry by hand (caesurastudio.com). She's currently a Partner Success Associate at AppSumo, a daily deals website for digitally distributed goods.

CO-WRITER, ASSOCIATE PRODUCER

Mary has spent much of the last decade working to help others heal through her art, writing, healing practice, & bread baking. Much of it began with the creation of 'The Universe(s) of Us,' the feature she co-wrote with her best friend Michal Sinnott during her first cross country move west after college. She and Michal met studying drama together at Catholic University. In addition to writing a feature that emphasizes the need for social justice & spark towards hope for humanity, Mary extended her healing mission into practicing holistic medicine. In 2015 she became a Physician of Chinese Medicine, graduating magna cum laude & as valedictorian of her cohort. She’s in private practice in Hopewell, NJ. While completing her graduate studies degree, she found another way to excite her community towards a more holistic lifestyle by starting her company, Sourland Bread. She teaches dough to loaf bread classes to kids & adults via zoom worldwide.

CO-PRODUCER

Kerry Schneider is currently the Director of Partnership Activation and Virtual Event Producer for Net Results Marketing in Washington, DC. Prior to her current position, Schneider led sponsorship sales and servicing for more than two years at Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ). As Head of Corporate Partnerships, she secured and managed over $1.5 million in annual cash and in-kind sponsorships for FONZ’s signature fundraising events and select education and membership programming. Before joining FONZ, she served as Chief of Staff for Vemo Education, a Virginia- based education finance start-up. Schneider also spent 12 years as part of the management team at World Team Tennis (WTT), the co-ed professional tennis league founded by Billie Jean King. Schneider served in various capacities throughout her tenure at WTT, including General Manager of the Austin Aces, General Manager of the Orange County Breakers, and led sponsor servicing and activation of national and regional sponsorships for the WTT League office for 10 years. A graduate of Loyola College in Maryland, Schneider holds a B.B.A. in Marketing from the institution where she was also a member of the tennis team. 'The Universe(s) of Us' is her first feature.

ANIMATION DIRECTOR, ANIMATOR

An ADC Young Gun winner and Emmy Award nominee, animation director Jordan Bruner explores human and animal experiences in colorful fantasy worlds. She has designed, animated and directed rich and beautiful music videos for bands like Hem and Paramore, commercials for Paul McCartney, Yakult, Travelbird, and JetBlue and mythical independent films and animation for long documentaries like WAITING FOR SUPERMAN. She’s created Clio award winning illustration and worked as an animation director for clients such as the NYTimes, Google, Eve Ensler, Amazon, and This American Life. Her films have shown at festivals worldwide including Pictoplasma and the LA Film Festival, and her illustration work has been honored by the Society of Illustrators and American Illustration. Jordan enjoys traveling, cooking and hangin’ with her partner Zack and cat Pablo. Jordan’s based in Brooklyn, NY and Richmond, VA.

INVESTMENT CONSULTANT

After years working for others in the marketing and advertising world, Luis took a leap and followed his dream to advocate on behalf of other multi-talented, charismatic, unforgettable people to form his talent management company ‘Variado Talent.’ In 2012, Luis completed a full-time MBA program at the American University Kogod School of Business, where he focused on marketing + strategy. Prior to business school, Luis worked for several years in the non-profit sector, primarily focused on improving early child intervention in the Russian Federation. Prior to starting Variado, Luis worked in the non-profit sector at Firefly Children’s Network and The Washington Center and following his graduation from Kogod, moved into the corporate realm working at Expedia Group and Whalar. Given a taste of the entertainment. matchmaking and influencer realms, Luis realized that he was born to work directly on behalf of talented individuals.