 Last year at the beginning of the pandemic, I had the opportunity to chat with Director Bola Ogun. She shares her amazing journey and sacrifices to reach her dreams to be a filmmaker. Since our interview, Bola has gone on to direct on even more television shows.    After her episodic directorial debut on QUEEN SUGAR, Bola Ogun, directed episodes of LEGACIES, SIREN, LUCIFER, GOD FRIENDED ME, WALKER, RAISING DION and David E. Kelley’s new Disney + show BIG SHOT. Her short Are We Good Parents? premiered at SXSW. She’s also an alum of the Ryan Murphy Half Initiative, the WeForShe DirectHer Program, AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women and the WB Directors’ Workshop. Additionally, she was selected for Robert Rodriguez’s Rebel Without a Crew program, writing, directing, and producing the feature On the Run for $7,000.    Ogun honed her strong filmmaking skills and knowledge by working in the production department for 8 years on notable projects such as “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Neighbors,” “Battleship,” “True Detective,” and “Friday Night Lights.” Which led her to produce the Emmy campaign music video for “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”, Vanity Fair’s viral video “Ladyboss” and four Capital Records music videos.   https://www.bolaogunfilms.com/ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3768241/ https://www.facebook.com/IamBolaOgun https://www.instagram.com/onebolafun/ https://twitter.com/onebolafun

Tea Talks with Tomeka Podcast

Bola Ogun

Nicci Freeman was born in Los Angeles and has lived all over the globe. She has worked as a Producer, Line Producer, DGA UPM, and Production Supervisor for the last 23 years in a number of mediums in the entertainment industry including feature films, commercials, tv, web series, awards shows, and gaming. In addition she recently Curated/Project Managed TI’s Trap Music Pop Up Museum in Atlanta. This episode was recorded last year shortly after the pandemic started. Nikki talked about how the pandemic was impacting the film industry at that time. Nicci and host Tomeka M. Winborne talked about the trauma that black people have been experiencing. We discuss the countless murders of unarmed black people including how the world experienced  the murder of George Floyd. Nicci shared her hope that things will change as she witnessed the world protest on his behalf.  Nicci is also one of the leaders and volunteers at Women of Color Unite. She shares her views on the lack of diversity in the  unions and in the industry. Additionally, Nicci offers solutions to make it the industry more equitable for all.  Her passion is travel photography and cooking.  Follow Nicci Freeman on Instagram at gypsycarpetbagger and on Twitter at rebelsinexile.   

Nicci Freeman

Em Cole speaks with Tomeka Winborne on this episode of Tea Talks with Tomeka. Em shares her journey in filmmaking. Additionally, Em shares a really personal story that led her to be a feminist.  Emerging director, photographer, and interactive artist Em Cole works at the intersection of art, technology, and feminism. In direct response to the ‘stiff upper lip’ mentality of her British background, her often satirical filmmaking is a collage of hyper-realistic production design, optical illusions, and narrative reveals -- all confidently assembled with a sure hand and a decidedly retro feel. Her most notable pieces include the live-action and animated short film / AR installation “I’m Your Venus,” a modern-day twist and critique on female objectification, as well as Instagram’s global #InstaGiftGuide campaign, which brought to life some of the most popular hashtags trending on social media. The latter was shot entirely in a vertical video format and featured on Good Morning America. www.1stavemachine.com emcole.com

Em Cole

Margari Aziza Hill shares the story of how the created the series  "East of La Brea."  They created a non-traditional writers room for non industry writers to a tell this story authentically. "East of La Brea" tracks the untold stories of LA through the lives of two very different Muslim women from working class backgrounds. Aisha, a Black Muslim, and her Bangladeshi-American roommate, Farha. "East of La Brea" can be seen on Powerkeg's Instagram. Additionally,  Margari is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of "Muslim ARC" (The Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative.  Margari is also an adjunct professor, blogger, editor, and freelance writer with articles published in How We Fight White Supremacy (2019) Time, Huffington Post, Al Jazeera English, Islamic Monthly, and MuslimMatters. She has five years full-time experience working full-time in community organizations, and five years experience in administration and technical writing in Silicon Valley small businesses and startups. She has over 15 years teaching experience at various capacities including substitute teacher, instructor, curriculum design, school policy, teacher training, as well as teaching assistant and teaching fellow. She taught Writing and Literature at Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy for two years, developed instructed an Art and Literacy class for Clara Muhammad Summer Camp and worked as a Lead Teacher and Curriculum Developer at United Muslim Masjid Summer Madrasa. Her fellowships in organizing, non-profit management, and policy include Bend the Arc’s Community Organizing Residency, Women’s Policy Institute County Fellowship, PICO National Leadership training and, Next Generation Leaders of Color-Inland Region. Most importantly, Margi is an Anti-Racism trainer.  https://www.muslimarc.org/

Margari Hill

Rayana Chumthong is a first-generation Thai American cinematographer. She has shot a diverse range of content including narrative short films, music videos and most recently lensed video content for Harper's Bazaar, L'OREAL and the legendary music group, Earth, Wind & Fire. In 2018, Rayana was chosen as a participant for American Film Institute's inaugural Cinematography Intensive for Women (CIW) program and will be pursuing her MFA as a Cinematography Fellow at the American Film Institute Conservatory in the Fall 2020. Prior to transitioning into the role of cinematographer, Rayana has worked as an AC and Camera Operator on narrative feature films, music videos and branded content. Other notable camera operating work include digital content for Disney+ and feature film LA LEYENDA NEGRA which premiered at Sundance 2020. Website: rayana.co https://www.facebook.com/rayanac https://www.instagram.com/rayana/    

Rayana Chumthong - Cinematographer / DP

Originally from Va, Lillian Jones moved to NY to pursue her dreams of making movies. She's worked with numerous corporate, celebrity clients and political clients. She prides herself in the details of a story. She has written multiple shorts and features, one of which was for a filmmaker to produced some time in the near future. Lillian is also a freelance filmmaker that writes, produces, does cinematography and edits. Lillian and Tomeka talk about their journey from working on the Obama Campaign in 2008 to becoming filmmakers. Lillian then shares how she merges her love for filmmaking to help politicians spread important messages.  Additionally, Lillian talks about how she is coping during in this pandemic. She offers positive advice to others that may be struggling during these challenging times.  

Lillian Jones - Marrying Filmmaking and Politics

Kestrin Pantera is writer/director The New York Times called “a force.” Her new feature film, “Mother’s Little Helpers” World Premiered at SXSW 2019. Early reviews laud the film as a “wonderful, Big Chill-esque dramedy,” with “big screen chemistry from the ground up.” Her first feature, Let's Ruin It With Babies, was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as, “honest, convincing, and just plain adorable.” She created several TV series for AwesomenessTV and digital series for Facebook. Her commercial directing clients include WIRED, Technicolor, Johnson & Johnson, BeTheMatch, and she's created additional content for Google, Coca Cola, GE, Starwood, Intel, Best Buy, HBO, Starbucks and Stoli. Before directing, Kestrin was a classically trained musician-turned-rocker, playing cello in rock bands in Los Angeles and on tour across the world. Prior to LA, she lived in Taipei, Taiwan, where she became fluent in Mandarin and performed voice-overs for 100+ companies in the US and Southeast Asia. Kestrin lives in Los Angeles with her family and a small menagerie of found animals. "Mother's Little Helpers" is now available on Amazon Prime and other streaming sites.  http://kestrin.com https://www.facebook.com/MothersLittleHelpersFilm/ http://twitter.com/kestrin http://instagram.com/kestrinpantera  

Kestrin Pantera Writer/Director of "Mother's Little Helper"

Formerly the Creative Director / Head of Art of agency powerhouses such as Grey, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Young & Rubicam along with boasting accolades across the Cannes Lions, Clio, and Diente Awards, Maureen Hufnagel is one of Argentina’s most renowned women directors. In addition to her illustrious agency background, she has also worked as a photographer on campaigns for leading brands - including Nike’s “Hoody On Moments” - and was named the “International Champion of the Absolut Lomo Competition” (from a pool of 27,000 photographers worldwide). These experiences curating talented teams and elevating narratives with stylized aesthetics and humor led her to the advertising landscape, where she’s currently represented by production company LANDIA for commercial directing. In her free time, she enjoys attending as many film festivals as possible. Although Maureen's based in Buenos Aires, she travels all year and shoot worldwide mostly in the US and Europe. https://www.landia.com/director/maureen-hufnagel/los-angeles/ https://www.instagram.com/maureenhuf  

Maureen Hufnagel - Argentina's Most Renowned Commercial Director

An Award-winning Czech director, screenwriter, and producer Eva Doležalová (born May 5, 1991) speaks English, French, Czech, Italian and Polish. Eva is also an ambassador of the White Ribbon Foundation and speaks to encourage women to follow their dreams. At the age of 10, Eva Doležalová began acting in Czech films and theatrical productions as an actor and co-writer of plays. At 18, she moved to London to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Eva worked as well on films with well-known directors such as Shane Black or Mike Figgis with whom she co-wrote and camera-operated a film Kudelksi. After completing her studies, she moved to Paris where she began to find her own artistic voice and realized her longtime dream for filmmaking, and started pursuing her writing and directing skills. Eva moved to Los Angeles in January 2016, where she quickly completed her first film, SOUND OF SUN, starring Suki Waterhouse, Sean Penn, and herself, released by NOWNESS. The film was met with critical acclaim within the industry. Eva has since directed other shorts such as CARTE BLANCHE (18min), starring Dylan Sprouse, Suki Waterhouse, Jack Kilmer for which she’s received an Audience Award in Mammoth Film Festival in February 2019 and a Breakout Director Award in Capri Hollywood Film Festival 2020. Eva also wrote and directed a horror-driven short BUTCHER BOY (9min), starring Jack Kilmer & Camille Rowe which was released by DAZED. In March 2020 Eva will be releasing her new 20min short MAESTRO starring Karel Dobry, Clara McGregor, Lucky Blue-Smith, and another short ANIMA US (7min) inspired by Carl Jung’s theory of Anima Animus. Centre Pompidou Foundation in Paris screened Eva’s trilogy of transformational shorts SOUND OF SUN, SOMNIO & SAMICE for which she also received an award from 7000 magazine. Eva is currently in the development of her first feature film, MANTIS. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1748384/

Eva Doležalová - Award-winning Czech director, screenwriter producer

Barbara Ann O'Leary invites the world to fall madly in love with films #DirectedbyWomen. Barbara galvanizes awareness and celebration of women film directors by actively weaving global community through social media interaction, a communal blogging initiative, interviews, filmmaker directory, and an annual worldwide film viewing party. Crucial 21st Century Cinema #DirectedbyWomen communal blogging initiative that is running all year. Film lovers are invited to contribute a short blog post (365 words or less) about one 21st century film, TV episode, etc. directed by a woman or women that they find crucial. Everyone's invited to share their perspectives. #DirectedbyWomen Global Directory: 12,678 women directors... and counting! There are MANY more women directors than most people are aware of. I invite people to turn their attention to exploring, sharing, and celebrating work by women directors. www.directedbywomen.com https://twitter.com/DirectedbyWomen https://www.facebook.com/directedbywomen https://www.instagram.com/directedbywomen    

Barbara Ann O'Leary - Directed by Women

Tamara Shogaolu is the founder and creative director of Ado Ato Pictures and is a member of the XRBASE virtual and augmented reality incubator. She is an international director with a track record in featuring her work at film festivals, galleries, and museums worldwide, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the National Gallery of Indonesia. She is a 2018 Sundance Institute New Frontier Lab Programs Fellow. Shogaolu is an artist interested in pushing herself and others around her outside the boundaries of traditional storytelling. She strives to share stories across mediums, platforms, and virtual and physical spaces in order to promote cross-cultural understanding and challenge preconceptions. She was a Burton Lewis Endowed Scholar for Directing at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, where she graduated with an MFA. Shogaolu was also a Fulbright Scholar in Egypt, a Luce Scholar in Indonesia, and an Academy Nicholls Fellowship Semifinalist. In 2017, Shogaolu’s multi-award winning short Half a Life was nominated for the Iris Prize. The film has screened at more than 40 festivals across the globe, including the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Frameline 41, and the Mumbai Film Festival. www.adoatopictures.com https://www.facebook.com/AdoAtoPictures/ https://twitter.com/tutafilm https://www.instagram.com/tutataytay/  

Tamara Shogaolu

Fortunately, we are experiencing a new kind of Golden Age in Hollywood. The movement for inclusion of all marginalized communities is changing the landscape of the industry before our eyes, and an influx of talent and fresh perspectives are energizing this powerful media. Since the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)’s Hollywood Bureau was launched in 2011, Sue Obeidi has blended the love of her faith with her love of film, television, and digital series to change and expand the narrative of Islam and Muslims in the entertainment industry. Obeidi and her team ensure that MPAC’s Hollywood Bureau is a partner with the entertainment industry. Behind the scenes, Obeidi engages decision makers and creatives to improve the quality and number of authentic, nuanced, and inclusive presentations of Islam and Muslims so that audiences can see Muslims as vital contributors to creating social and cultural change in America and around the world. She also enriches the pool of Muslim talent in Hollywood by nurturing and connecting them to those who can assist with their careers, both on the creative and business sides of the industry. In 2017, Obeidi was chosen for Variety's Inclusion Impact Report as one of 60 changemakers making the entertainment industry more inclusive. On the frontlines of media, Obeidi is a vibrant and fresh voice. Her poignant and passionate perspective appears in Op-Ed pieces for top industry publications such as Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and The Wrap. Obeidi has been a guest lecturer at American University, University of Southern California, and Georgetown University, and she has spoken on panels at the Sundance Film Festival, Variety Inclusion Summit, Variety Family TV Summit, Teen Vogue Summit, Women in Entertainment, Color of Change, and the Center for Asian American Media. Obeidi is the “go-to” interviewee for perspectives on Islam and Muslims in the entertainment industry, having been quoted in many articles by national publications including, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Variety, TMZ, and The Hollywood Reporter. MPAC’s Hollywood Bureau has consulted on projects with The Walt Disney Studios, Disney/ABC Television, Paramount Studios, Amazon, Hulu, Legendary TV, Nickelodeon, CBS, NBC, Fox, FX, NatGeo, Starz, BBC1, and Participant Media, among others. She is a self-professed couch potato at heart and a huge consumer of content. What attracts Obeidi to the entertainment industry are the stories being told. Obeidi always says, “Good stories can change hearts; changed hearts can change minds; and changed minds impact our values and can galvanize us into action.” She has an MBA and B.A. in Marketing and has been with the Muslim Public Affairs Council since November of 2000. Follow her on Facebook (Sue.Obeidi) and Twitter (@SueObeidi).  

Sue Obeidi: Director of Hollywood Bureau Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month. This episode we talk about short film, "Aged Out." Writer / Director Tomeka M. Winborne talks with Filmmaker Brigette "B-Rock" Rock, Singer/Songwriter Tedra Goethe and Actress JaMara Smith about their journeys and roles in "Aged Out."   "Aged Out" is about a widow that grieves the loss of her husband until a desperate looking teenager knocks on her door to offer handyman services. After hiring him for odd jobs around her house, she connects with him and becomes compelled to help this young man after learning that he has AGED OUT, which in turn reignites her purpose to live. "Aged Out" has been screened at the Bronze Lens Film Festival and the CineOdysee Film Festival. The Department of Human Services in Newport News, Virginia also hosted a public screening to bring awareness ! The ladies all share how they learned about youth aging out of foster care. B Rock shares her personal account of aging out of the foster care system. We talk about the state of youth aging out of foster care. We hope to use the short film, "Aged Out" to start a conversation to bring awareness to youth aging out of foster care.  "Aged Out" can be viewed on Watch Jaro, Vimeo  and www.tomekawinborne.com/film/aged-out. You can view the bios of Brigette Rock, Tedra Goethe and JaMara Smith on http://www.tomekawinborne.com/tea-talks-with-tomeka-podcast/

Tomeka M. Winborne, Brigette Rock, Tedra Goethe and JaMara Smith

Melissa Blue is an actor/writer/director/DP/editor/colorist. As a co-founder of Bravemaker Productions, she co-created and showruns the comedy web series “Life Group” about an enthusiastically inept Life Coach, which has recently gotten into 5 film festivals, winning two so far. She was the director and DP for the award winning web series “Don’t Judge Me” and “The Making of Jane D. Smith.” Graduating from Ball State University with a degree in musical theatre, as an actor she has appeared in John Adams, A Haunting, Danny the Manny, Wicked Attraction, Happily Never After, and countless plays and musicals. With over 20 years of professional experience, she runs two successful businesses: Rock Your Reel (www.rockyourreel.com), which does custom demo reels and headshots for actors, and Bravemaker Productions (www.bravemakerproductions.com), a production company that focuses on narrative content. But most important, she is wife to writer Jonathan and dog mom to Lucy, and lives in Tarzana, CA.  

Melissa Blue

Alexxiss S. Jackson is a Director of Photography originally from Detroit, MI. From a very early age, she aspired to be a visual storyteller; she made her first film at 8 years old using the family camcorder (starring her collection of Transformers and Barbie dolls). Ten years later, she enrolled in film school at the University of Michigan, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film/Video Studies and English. For further formal training, she also completed the intensive Summer Film Program at the University of Southern California. Since then, Alexxiss has served as Director of Photography on numerous pieces, ranging from narrative films, commercials, promo spots, TV show segments, and music videos. Her work has been recognized at least 20 times by a number of international bodies, including film festivals across the United States, Canada, Australia, Kenya, Uganda, the Netherlands, and the UK. She was spotlighted on Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls in March 2018. Also in 2018, she was invited to speak publicly at TERMINUS Conference + Festival, where she presented a seminar entitled “Cinematography: Crafting a Look with Lenses and Filters” that was very well received. She has spoken on several other panels, podcasts, radio interviews, etc; not only about cinematography, but also what it’s like to be a woman of color in the film industry.

Alexxiss Jackson - Director of Photography

TEA TALKS WITH TOMEKA Podcast celebrates women filmmakers, their journeys and their projects! I am your host Tomeka M. Winborne so let's talk her... on every other Thursday! Music by Julius Ames.  Please subscribe and listen  to Tea Talks with Tomeka Podcast and  leave a review.

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Tea Talks with Tomeka Podcast

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