Our Team.

Core Staff:

Alex Herrera

Director of Programs + Partnerships

Aurora Toshiko KinG

Executive Director

Crislin Christian-Frazier

Operations + Communications Manager

Juan Linares

Production Manager

Justus White

Program Manager

Teaching Artists + Program Staff:

Our Program Team collaborates with staff to design holistic media arts programming for young artists to collaborate with their peers, develop technical skills in digital storytelling and create authentic media narratives.

Jason Roman

Emerging Teaching Artist

About Jason

Rafaella Villamar

Emerging Teaching Artist

About Rafa

A smiling man wearing glasses, a colorful headscarf, and a striped shirt in red, green, black, and white, standing against a muted blue background.

Raysam Donkoh Halm

Teaching Artist

About Raysam

A woman with dreadlocks styled in a high bun, wearing a brown cardigan and white flower earrings, smiling against a light blue background.

Stevia Ndoe

Teaching Artist

About Stevia

Taylor Wren

Emerging Teaching Artist

About Taylor

Tye Moores

Teaching Artist

About Tye

2026 Podcast Lab:

We launched our inaugural Podcast Lab in partnership with Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award-winning storyteller Yohance Lacour ("You Didn’t See Nothin") to produce a new podcast series “How Are The Children?” set to release later this year.

Alycia Kamil Moaton

Producer

Ayan Khalia Harris

Editor

Isaiah Ward

Cinematographer

Julia Hester

Animator

Max Mooney

Editor Mentor

Mike DAvid T

Cinematographer Mentor

Yohance Lacour

Lead Journalist + Mentor

2026 creative pathways Production Cohort:

Every year, young artists ages 18-25 join our annual cohort program, comprised of the fall Screenwriting Cohort, winter Pre-Production Workshops, spring Production Cohort, and summer Post-Production Cohort. Throughout this program, artists collaborate to write, produce, and edit an original short film that enters the film festival circuit for the following year. Featured below are the core members of the 2026 Production Cohort.

Abril Soler Rocha

1st Assistant Director

Anthony Strader

Sound Mixer

Antrita Manduva

Producer

Eliaz Campoverde

Gaffer

Faith Wood

1st Assistant Camera

Jeffery Holmes

Cinematographer

Kara Zamora

Script Supervisor

Kareema Godhrawala

Props + Set Design

Lina Patton

Director

Marcil Maddox

Grip

Quonyel Shelton

Hair + Makeup / Marketing

Star Jones

Production Designer

BOARD:

Chair
Katie Green, Independent

Vice Chair
Keith Jamerson, Independent

Secretary
Eric Schnabel, Schnabel Marketing

Treasurer
Meg Hayes, Independent

Board Member
Adam Alonso, YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago

Interested in board leadership? Let us know by reaching out to connect@freespiritmedia.org.