Sista Brunch

Diana Elizabeth Jordan is an award-winning actor, solo artist, theatre- and filmmaker, artist educator, and disability influencer. She has been cast in over 60 film, TV, and theatre productions, including CBS’s SWAT.  Diana is also the founder of two production companies: Dreaming Big On A Swing Entertainment and The Rainbow Butterfly Café. Diana is a member of SAG-AFTRA and Actors Equity Associat...

Anne Marie Fox is a prolific and versatile photographer specializing in portraiture, film & television unit stills. She built her portfolio shooting images for travel and fashion magazines before getting her film break on Kenneth Branagh’s Frankenstein, and since then has been the still photographer on films like Dallas Buyers Club and Wild and TV shows like HBO’s Insecure. She talks to Anya a...

Heidi McGowen has worked as a production manager or unit production manager on shows like INSECURE, BLACK-ISH, SILICON VALLEY, and BODY OF PROOF. She has also worked as an Assistant Director on feature films like BLACK DOG, BIG MOMMA’S HOUSE, SIGNALS, and on the TV side for shows like GIRLFRIENDS and UGLY BETTY. Heidi has earned membership into the Directors Guild of America and is a 20-year film...

Cheryl Bedford is a NAACP Image Award Nominee for “Dark Girls” and Baltimore native who holds a BFA from NYU’s TSOA and MFA in Producing from AFI. As a production manager, line producer, and producer, Cheryl has worked on countless film/tv/digital projects, including 17 Independent Features. She was the first Chair of Diversity Development and a Producing Instructor at New York Film Academy in Los...

Michelle Crenshaw is a cinematographer, camera operator and director of photography with more than 30 years of experience in the industry and over 60 IMDB credits to her name. She has worked on films such as The Watermelon Woman and Home Alone. Most recently she worked as the camera operator for Netflix’s HANNAH GADSBY: DOUGLAS and CBS’s BOB HEARTS ABISHOLA. In this episode, Michelle talks to Fans...

Over the past five years, Kamari Somers has been working her way up in the film industry in Pittsburgh and around the US. She got her start as a staff production assistant on shows shows and films like MINDHUNTER, HAPPIEST SEASON, and THE HARDER THEY FALL and recently moved to Showrunner’s Assistant for Amazon Studios’ A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN. Listen as Kamari talks to Anya and Fanshen about her exp...

Alex Newell is known for their role as Unique Adams on the Fox musical series Glee and Mo on Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (for which they earned a Critics Choice Award nomination). Newell also starred as Asaka in the 2017 Broadway revival of Once on This Island at the Circle in the Square Theater and received a Grammy nomination for the role. As a singer, Newell has released tracks with Clean Ban...

Sista Brunch takes a look back at some of the show's most memorable interviews of 2021. Actress, model and disability rights activist Tatiana Lee talks to Sista Brunch about how she uses her experience breaking into the entertainment industry to further disability inclusion in film and media. Susan Lewis, senior vice president and head of drama development for ABC Signature, which is a part of Dis...

We’re taking a look back at some of Sista Brunch’s most memorable interviews over the past two seasons. In this episode, we revisit our conversation with Amazon Studios Global Head of Diversity Latasha Gillespie and Head of Good Robot at Bad Robot Miki Woodard. They talked about how their work as DEI and social impact leaders has evolved following 2020’s Black Lives Matter movement. We also spoke...

On our final episode of the season, propmaster Reese St. Amant shares her experience in one of the most unsung professions in the entertainment industry: the art department! From set design and dressing, to painting and props, to working with exotic animals—Reese has done it all, and with aplomb. Listen as she talks to Anya and Fanshen about standing out as a Black woman in props, gaining the trus...

"Trust yourself, even if that means not really know what's next. Because what's next is coming." Today, our hosts Anya and Fanshen speak with triple-threat/award-winning actress, producer, and director Winter Dunn! Currently a Directing Fellow at Film Independent, Winter talks about breaking in and putting yourself out there to get ahead, building a body of work, being prepared for the right oppor...

In our last episode of the series with TIME'S UP Foundation, Amazon Studios Global Head of Diversity Latasha Gillespie and Head of Good Robot at Bad Robot Miki Woodard talk with Fanshen and Anya about the evolution of diversity, equity, and inclusion work, bringing up the next generation of executives and talent, why risk-taking pays off, and the limitless power of listening to yourself.

"When I started helping other people, my career took off like a skyrocket." Documentary Editor Dominique Ulloa worked her way up the chain from from being employee number two in the post production office of Oprah Winfrey Network to a Peabody Award-winning documentary editor for her work on the explosive Lifetime documentary Surviving R. Kelly. Listen as Dominique talks to Fanshen and Anya about w...

"When I design a movie, I think about -- how is this going to stand the test of time?"   Camille Friend, known as the hair guru, has been a hair department head for films like Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Tenet, The Hateful 8, Us, Detroit and The Hunger Games. She's also the co-founder of Hair Scholars, an organization that provides hands-on workshops and seminars for aspiring professional hairs...

In the fourth installment of our series with TIME'S UP, Senior Manager of Research and Partnerships Stephanie Odiase and producer Kady Kamakaté talk with co-hosts Fanshen Cox and Anya Adams about employment challenges, healthcare access, and survival for Black women and WOC during the global pandemic—and what it will take for us to thrive when it ends.

In episode three of our collaboration with TIME'S UP, we ask: how can Black women+ representation in advertising and film/TV effect change? Advertising Chief Officer Christena Pyle and actress/filmmaker Winter Dunn sit down with Fanshen and Anya about the challenges around authentic representation, the responsibility of Black creators and white executives, the emotional labor required in diversity...

"I just kind of go where I can tell stories." - Susan Lewis Susan Lewis started off as an unpaid PA on an indie movie, worked her way up to assisting at an agency, became an exec at MTV Films (where she acquired the rights to the mega-hit TWILIGHT), and is now the Head of Drama Development at ABC Signature. Listen as she shares her impressive journey from PA to head exec, eating ramen noodles whil...

Hanelle Culpepper is an award-winning writer/director whose projects span film and episodic television. She was chosen to direct the pilot for Star Trek: Picard, which premiered earlier this year, becoming the first woman to helm a new Star Trek pilot series in its 53-year history. Listen as she talks with Fanshen and Anya about what makes a successful and thorough prep when directing TV, the appr...

Tatiana Lee is an award-winning actress, disability activist, and model who has appeared in campaigns for Target, Zappos, Apple and more. She's also the Hollywood Inclusion Advocate at RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to fight stigmas and advance opportunities so people with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of community. This episode, Fanshen and Anya chat...

News about actresses fighting the Hollywood power imbalance have dominated the headlines for years, but how are women behind the camera protected? In part 2 of our series with TIME'S UP, veteran stunt choreographer La Faye Baker and 1st AD/Director Shawn Pipkin join hosts Fanshen Cox and Anya Adams to talk about improving safety for women behind the camera, navigating (and dismantling) toxic workp...

Ann James is an intimacy choreographer, director, producer, and educator whose organization, Intimacy Coordinators of Color, promotes "decolonized intimacy practices" and inclusive hiring practices in the entertainment industry. In this episode, she reveals how to make set intimacy more inclusive, respectful, and encompassing of various gender identities, sexualities, racial identities, and disabi...

Sista Brunch has partnered up with the TIME’S UP Foundation for a special, 5-part series focusing on safety, equity, and power in Hollywood. We'll talk to Black women+ in the industry about the impact of these imbalances and what's being done to address them. In part 1 of the series, we speak to TIME'S UP Foundation COO Monifa Bandele about the worldwide impact of Black women's art, our voices, an...

We're back with a new season of truth-telling and celebrating with hosts Fanshen Cox and Anya Adams! First up with our hosts is an original "Sista Brunch-er," Shawn Pipkin! Shawn is a 1st AD and director whose list of credits include Grey's Anatomy and Greenleaf. She's also a Directors Guild of America committee member. Shawn talks about the movement that inspired our podcast, the importance of me...

Redelia Shaw is a producer and educator; she leads the Media Production program at Santa Monica College, where we taped many of our episodes for this season. Her projects include "Race Relay," a multi-media production that explores the state of race relations in America today. She co-produced the documentary "Cocaine Prison," which screened at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. An indus...

Felischa Marye is a TV writer. She’s also the creator and co-executive producer of “Bigger,” the hit comedy series on BET+ comedy series which recently got picked up for a second season. Felischa left a successful career in public relations and marketing to move to attend UCLA’s MFA in screenwriting program. While she was in school, she sold a pilot to HBO and was later staffed for two seasons on...