BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Our BOARD MEMBERS are the heart and soul of Bay Area Women in Film & Media. They orchestrate our Monthly Members Event , Community Co-Presentations, handle all our marketing efforts and bring inspiration into our community! Each Board Director has made a two (2) year commitment to BAWFIM, attends 12 monthly work meetings, and plans and executes monthly events to make it all happen.

If you are a current member and interested in participating in the BAWIFM Board, please come to our next general monthly event and introduce yourself to one of our Board members at the BAWIFM Registration Table. We'd love to hear your story of inspiration and how you'd like to get involved!

Board of Directors

President: Soumyaa Kapil Behrens

soumyaa@bawifm.org

Soumyaa Behrens is an award-winning director and producer whose projects have screened at festivals nationwide. She is also the Director of the DocFilm Institute at San Francisco State University. Her work engages issues that influence the human condition and the political landscapes that shape identity and power structures within marginalized communities. She is in post-production on a documentary film, 780 Abbreviated, that chronicles the forced demise of an integral community-recycling center in San Francisco due to gentrification efforts. Behrens produces and directs a range of projects at the DocFilm Institute including the Veteran Documentary Corps, Madame Mars, The Love Boat, The Life of a String Quartet, and Abina and The Important Men. She recently appeared on CNN Dialogues in conversation about film and social justice. She has also presented work at the Tides | Thoreau Center series, Righting Wrongs: Celebrating Human Rights in Action.

Vice President & Secretary: Lorna Parial

lornamarie@bawifm.org

Lorna is a San Francisco Bay Area Producer and Digital Media Maven, she has worked in an extensive range of areas of media, such as radio, television, film, video production and mobile gaming. She also has experience working in education, recruiting, university relations, career advising, human resources, marketing and event management. She is proud to serve on the BAWIFM Board to advocate to empower and advocate for women's voices and to connect the dots between individuals and opportunities. She is passionate about media as an art form and strives to give artists a platform to tell their stories.

Lorna makes it a point to read the newspaper daily.

Membership Chair: Natalie Teter

natalie@bawifm.org

Natalie Teter is a San Francisco based filmmaker and multimedia education professional. In multiple capacities she dedicates herself to empowering diverse storytellers and connecting their art to broader audiences. Her latest project is helping to produce the narrative film The Last Black Man in San Francisco currently in development. She also works full-time for Bay Area Video Coalition conducting outreach and recruitment for their various education programs, mentors youth in media creation and political engagement, and works to expand employment opportunities for young people with the Youth Employment Coalition. She's excited to bring her management skills and passion for womyn storytellers to BAWIFM.

Treasurer & Communications Chair: Maria Judice

maria@bawifm.org

Writer | Director | Producer

M is a visual storyteller working in cinema, photography, and digital content. She received her M.F.A. from CalArts in Film/Video. As an award winning writer/director, she has received the Adrienne Shelly Award for excellence in directing and for her films "Palm Trees ..." and "moonless." "Palm Trees..." also aired on BET's Lens on Talent. Holding a position on the board of Bay Area Women in Film and Media (BAWIFM) grants M the opportunity to build and connect artists/filmmakers. As a Creative Producer, she continues her mission to bring underrepresented stories to global audiences. Futurism and technology feed her love for science fiction, surrealism and fantasy. Projects in development, "Where's the Rabbit?" and "Eventually Everything is Fine" view sci-fi through a lo-fi lens. Currently, she is working on her first long-form film "in this world". She can be found in her hometown of San Francisco kicking around the fog.

@mariaajudice