advisory board
Talora Michal is an artist: a singer, actress, director, writer, filmmaker, and photographer. Talora graduated from a high school for the performing arts with an emphasis on musical theater and went on to focus her study of the arts in Orlando, Florida. While at The University of Central Florida, Talora acted in local theatrical productions as she studied creative writing. Upon graduating with a B.A. in English, Talora decided to continue her studies at Antioch University-Los Angeles where she earned an M.F.A in Fiction. Talora was privileged to study with several impactful authors including Pat Rushin, Tara Ison, and Susan Hubbard. Talora continued her education studying film at Broward College and Palm Beach State College.
In 2012, Talora teamed up with the owner of I am Spartacus Entertainment, Georgia Van Cuylenburg, to produce two documentary films: a short film about voting—"One Voice" (2015)—and a feature-length discussion about civil rights—"Four Corners" (2021). Talora continued her filmmaking, teaming up with high school friend Robert Lee Tayor to dramatize the poem by Sharon Olds, "On the Subway" (2018). Talora's films have been included in a dozen festivals including Awareness Festival, International Women's Film Festival, and Utah Film Festival, and received recognition: "One Voice" won Best Documentary Short at The Short Film Awards (2015) and "On the Subway" won Best Experiential Short at AltFF Alternative Film Festival (2018).
Eric Santiestevan has composed music for such films as DIVIDED WE FALL: AMERICANS IN THE AFTERMATH, THE GREY AREA, and PHD: THE MOVIE. He works as a composer's assistant to Paul Buckley, and has mixed, recorded, and transcribed for many shows, including "Odd Squad", "Wallykazam!" and "Go, Dog, Go!". Some of his highlights have included mixing children's songs sung by "Weird" Al Yankovic and Tony Bennett. He lives in Los Angeles on Tongva land, and is reconnecting with his Indigenous heritage through language study and music writing.
Kwame "Michael" Brako is an award-winning artist, filmmaker, actor, and musician. Kwame holds a BA in Broadcast Journalism and Communications with a minor in Studio Art and an MFA in Visual Effects and Animation from Digital Media Arts College. Working with Stereo D in Burbank, CA he worked on blockbuster feature films including Iron Man 3, The Avengers, Pacific Rim, GI Joe: Retaliation, Star Trek: Into The Darkness, Guardians of the Galaxy and many more. He won a music award for independent music in 2003 by Midwest Entertainment Music Association (Omaha, NE 2003). Kwame is CEO and a designer foo Afri'Ko Made where his own above-Multi-dimensional Afro-cosmic art is featured.
Lara Vizcarra is a Los Angeles-based writer, producer and director with over 20 years of experience working in television. With a focus in documentary and unscripted production, Vizcarra has produced projects for ABC, NBC, Discovery and Oxygen. In recent years, Vizcarra joined forces with a group of creative professionals to create campaign ads for women running for public office and is currently creating content for digital platforms. Passionate about giving back to her community, Vizcarra volunteers her time to coach basketball, build playgrounds and work with political organizations on both a local and national level.
Nicole Kovacs is an actor, multi-award-winning director, writer, photographer and producer. Nicole took to the stage at a very young age and continued to perform in theatre throughout her formative years. It wasn't until Nicole moved to Atlanta, Georgia that she truly began pursuing her film acting career, signing with the Jana VanDyke Agency in 2011. Since then, she has starred in Investigation Discovery's Swamp Murders and appeared in several films, most recently, Nightbird and Magpie. Nicole's first film Friends Like Mine won several awards including multiple prizes for Best Director and Best Short Film. The success of Friends Like Mine launched Nicole's career in writing, directing and producing, while she continues to pursue acting. In 2016, she branched out alongside actor/producer Dominick Racano to open her own production company, Wild Palette Pictures. The two have recently completed two more short films, Inside and Model Citizen, which premiered in the winter of 2016.