april, 2020
Co-presented by Odyssey Impact®, Faith Trust Institute and ACPE Odyssey Impact®, Faith Trust Institute and ACPE are convening a live town hall conversation examining how COVID-19’s stay-at-home orders are impacting the
Co-presented by Odyssey Impact®, Faith Trust Institute and ACPE
Odyssey Impact®, Faith Trust Institute and ACPE are convening a live town hall conversation examining how COVID-19’s stay-at-home orders are impacting the psychological and spiritual isolation of people experiencing, or at risk of experiencing intimate partner violence, and how both chaplains and congregational leaders can help.
We encourage ALL faith leaders, in any context, to join us!
Rev. Amy Gopp
Sr. Minister, Kent United Church of Christ
President, Faith Trust Institute
Rev. Tawana Davis
Co-Founder
Soul 2 Soul Sisters
Imam Mohamed Magid
Executive Imam
All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center
Cortney Fisher, JD, PhD
Deputy Director
Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse (JCADA)
Fr. Charles W. Dahm, O.P.
Archdiocesan Director
Domestic Violence Outreach
Associate Pastor
St. Pius V parish in Chicago
more
(Monday) 2:00 PM - 11:50 PM EST
Odyssey Impact®, Faith Trust Institute and ACPE
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Louis joined the Odyssey Impact® team in 2021. He has graduated from Purchase College with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism with a concentration in Cinema Studies. As a journalist, he has written film reviews and news articles about the entertainment industry for many online publications. He has also co-directed and produced a short documentary that screened at several film festivals in New York.
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Charisse Browner’s expertise spans more than 28 years in the nonprofit and philanthropy industry. With a deep passion for community outreach and engagement, she helped raise more than $37M in combined revenue for various companies and nonprofit organizations including premier radio station, KPWR Power 106FM, Knowledge Is Power Foundation, Motown Records, America’s Charities, and others.
Charisse is known for providing results-driven expertise and experience in strategic planning, business development, fundraising strategies, capacity building, and a host of other services focused on sustainability and impact. Charisse also has a deep passion for Public Relations and previously served as the Vice President/Group Account Director for a multicultural PR firm in Los Angeles. During her tenure, she managed a staff of junior account managers and provided senior-level strategic counsel to thirteen Fortune 1000 clients representing the automotive, medical, pharmaceutical, food, banking, insurance, and utility industries.
Charisse serves on several boards: Education Coordinator at Professional Football Players Mothers Association (PFPMA), President at Impact Philanthropy Group, and as a Board Advisor at EMG Enterprise and Community Charitable Service Center.
Jenise joined Odyssey Impact® as Impact and Data Strategist in August 2019. In 2013, she graduated from Harvard College with honors and an A.B. in Social Studies and Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Jenise later joined Unchained at Last, a nonprofit dedicated to ending forced marriage in the United States, where she led a successful legislative campaign to protect domestic violence victims’ safety by allowing crime victims to access their police reports without cost and keep these requests out of the public record. In April 2014, Jenise joined Sanctuary for Families (SFF), the leading service provider for gender-based violence victims in New York City. In her role, Jenise helped domestic violence victims reach self-sufficiency and independence. In 2017, Jenise co-led SFF’s successful campaign to reduce child marriage in New York State by changing the minimum age of marriage from 14 to 17. In 2019, Jenise completed a Master in Public Administration degree at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. As a graduate student, she co-developed Save Our Moms, a campaign that encouraged more than 6 million people to take greater responsibility for the safety of mothers during and after pregnancy, for the MTV, VH1, and Logo networks.
Juliana Oelkers joined Odyssey Impact® in January 2021 as a Social Impact Intern, helping to create Odyssey Impact®’s TikTok presence and assisting with communications strategies. She worked with other Social Impact Interns throughout their internship to coordinate and plan the Virtual Youth and Criminal Justice Forum. After graduating summa cum laude from Fairleigh Dickinson University in May 2021 with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and a minor in Film Production, Juliana transitioned to her role as the Communications Coordinator.
Taylor is a lifelong technology enthusiast, focusing on the various exciting innovations of our internet age. In his early 20s, he became fascinated with real estate sales, leading teams and creating a very successful career as a licensed agent. Following this time, Taylor was able to grow upon his passions of world travel by visiting over 12 countries on a 3-month trip that circumnavigated the globe. He has since invested the most recent years into the Salesforce ecosystem, as a 3X certified Salesforce Administrator. Taylor believes these new technologies will lead the way to the future of businesses operations.
Originally from the UK, Michelle has worked in production for over a decade on a wide variety of programming including short form for the web, reality shows for VH1 and Bravo, documentary and factual for HBO, BBC World, National Geographic and History Channel, and comedy and live entertainment for BBC, ITV and Channel 4.
Since arriving in the US in 2007, Michelle worked as a freelance Production Manager and Line Producer before joining Transform Films in April 2011. She currently holds the position of Line Producer for the factual programming department creating budgets, schedules and order from chaos. Michelle is a member of the Producers Guild of America, the Production Managers Association and recently completed a class in Critical Thinking at NYU.
David A. Dreilinger is a senior media and entertainment executive with proven leadership qualities and broad experience in large and small, public and private company environments. In addition to being COO of Odyssey Impact®, he is currently CEO and Managing Director of Ducksoup Media Enterprises LLC, a consulting firm providing both business and legal services to the entertainment, media and communications industry.
DME partners with distribution, production and content creation companies and their CEO’s in all media to provide individually tailored solutions for their businesses. Its projects have included, among many others, creating business analyses and strategic plans for multi-media organizations, concluding a complex deal licensing the motion picture rights in a major theatrical property, structuring the development of a cross-platform licensing property, and resolving a long-outstanding dispute among the creators of one of the iconic motion pictures of the last 25 years.
Before founding Ducksoup Media Enterprises, Mr. Dreilinger was President and CEO of Lightworks Enterprises, Inc., an integrated television and motion picture production and distribution company, for which he created the strategic plan. Previously, Mr. Dreilinger was President and Chief Executive Officer of Unapix Entertainment, Inc., an American Stock Exchange-listed film, television, home entertainment and music production and distribution company, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Prior to Unapix, he was Senior Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs and a member of the Board of Directors of BBC Worldwide Americas, Inc., handling all of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s business operations throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Before joining the BBC, Mr. Dreilinger was Head of Business and Legal Affairs and a member of the core management team of D.L. Taffner, Ltd., the privately-held worldwide entertainment company responsible for the importation and distribution of such projects as Three’s Company, Too Close For Comfort and, Rumpole of the Bailey. Prior to that, Mr. Dreilinger was Vice President and General Counsel of Viacom, having the distinction of being the youngest in its history. Mr. Dreilinger has been an Adjunct Professor of Entertainment Law at the Syracuse University College of Law and is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He earned a Masters of Laws in Taxation from the New York University School of Law and is a cum laude graduate of the Syracuse University College of Law. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Syracuse University.
As COO, Daniel Tibbets brings to Odyssey Impact® a business discipline and creative acumen of content development, production finance, and business operations, which has led him to successfully execute new business models and create content for SVOD, AVOD, and linear television distribution. Prior to joining Odyssey, Daniel was President & General Manager of El Rey Network, a platform for Hispanic voices and audiences, adding his perspective on how to identify and program to “mass-niche” audiences. Keying on that hyper-targeting content strategy was the impetus for El Rey network to create two new business units – El Rey Network Studios and La Reyna, a Joint Venture with VICE Media. Prior to El Rey Network, Tibbets served as Chief Content Officer of Machinima, responsible for content strategy and development, program planning and scheduling, production, acquisitions, and business affairs. Under his leadership, he developed and put into production over 600 hours of original content for go90, Sony Vue, Youtube, and other platforms including the hit series “Street Fighter: Resurrection” and “Transformers: Combiner Wars.” He segued there from Bunim/Murray Productions where he led its digital department as an SVP Digital Media, developing short-form programming for web, mobile, and other platforms including branded original series “Best Year Ever” (Target) and “The Controller” (EA).
Previously he co-founded and led the e-publishing company Premier Digital Publishing (acquired in 2014) and spent six years as Studio Chief at the innovative, first mover VOD mobile content company GoTV Networks, building it into the largest mobile media network and original content syndicator, launching over 20 original VOD channels before it was acquired in June 2011. From 2002-2005 Tibbets was vice president, production at Twentieth Television and oversaw the FoxLab, where he was responsible for overseeing over 2500 episodes of television production and developed and executive produced the first two original content mobisodes™ “Love and Hate” and “Sunset Hotel” which launched on Verizon’s early mobile platform, VCAST. This followed four-years as VP, Entertainment for Fireworks Television and VP, Papazian-Hirsch, where he sold and developed projects for syndication, cable, and broadcast networks, most notable the HBO series “Rome.” Earlier in his career, Tibbets served as a writer and producer on several notable television programs and specials including the Emmy®-Award-winning, “Streetwise.” He produced and/or contributed to the production and development of other award-winning, made-for-television series, including “Martha Stewart Living,” “Home Again with Bob Vila,” “America’s Most Wanted,” “Good Day Live,” “Judge Alex,” “On-Air with Ryan Seacrest,” the BBC/PBS mini-series “Signs and Wonders” starring James Earl Jones and many others. Daniel Tibbets earned a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing with an emphasis on international marketing and business from Arizona State University.
Ann has been a fundraising professional for over 20 years. As a mission focused professional, Ann has successfully raised millions for organizations such as The United Way, YMCA, Audubon and a private school. Through inspirational partnerships with volunteers, staff and organizations, Ann has managed Annual Fund Campaigns, Capital Campaigns, Festivals, Golf Tournaments, Lectures, Galas and securing transformative million dollar gifts from individuals and foundations. Ann received her BA from Assumption College and a Masters in Education from Cambridge College.
Evy Constantine joined Odyssey Impact® as Screenings Strategist in 2018. She is a graduate of Northwestern University’s School of Communication where she earned a Master’s degree in Leadership for Creative Enterprises, graduating summa cum laude. She holds a Bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from The New School in New York City where she majored in Film and Media Studies, concentrating on all aspects of screenwriting. She has produced award-winning films with KaplaniKid Productions, which have had their debut screenings at the Festival de Cannes.
She has held positions at various film and media companies, including Media Strategist at Spark Foundry, and handling Acquisitions and Development Strategy for film streaming start-up, Flix Premiere. She is an IDA, ACLU and NAACP member, and a very proud and active member of both The New School Alumni Association and the Northwestern University Alumni Association, where she serves on the Alumni Admissions Council.
Ebonie Johnson Cooper believes black giving is magic! She is the Principal Consultant of Friends of Ebonie, LLC, and founder of the Young, Black & Giving Back Institute (YBGB). For the past decade, Ebonie has used her research, thought-leadership, and expertise to inform national and local projects and speaking engagements related to nonprofit DEI, African American donor engagement, church ministry, partnership development, and fundraising strategies. Strategic partnerships for her consulting work have included the Lilly Endowment, Wells Fargo Advisors, IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Central Carolina Community Foundation, The Cleveland Foundation, Board Source, Teach for America, United Way of the National Capital Area and unum.
Ebonie was recognized by ESSENCE Magazine and JET Magazine, in November 2016 and September 2013, respectively, as one of the nation’s top leaders for her innovation around African – American millennial philanthropy. Ebonie’s leadership and achievements have also been featured on CNN’s HLN network, The Washington Post, and Huffington Post Impact. She is a National Museum of African American History & Culture Ambassador, and a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Black Benefactors Giving Circle (DC) and Reid Temple AME Church. She is also currently on the ordination track within the AME Church’s 2nd Episcopal District. Ebonie is a proud graduate of North Carolina A&T State University (BS), New York University (MS) and Wesley Theological Seminary (MDiv.)
The power and brilliance found with black philanthropy feeds my passion for the work that I have been called to do. Through a unique blend of leadership development, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) education and yes, ministry, I have found a way to live my best professional life.
Since 2010, I have embarked on a mission to educate the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors about black giving, especially among my “millennial” peers. (I hate the term millennial, but we can talk about that later) At the same time, I want to ensure my peers are effective in their philanthropic leadership. As such, through my nonprofit, Young, Black & Giving Back Institute, I create safe spaces for philanthropic leaders of color to network, learn and grow together in their respective roles as donors, board members and social entrepreneurs.
The end result of all of this creates pipelines, connecting civically engaged black professionals with foundations and nonprofit organizations who need them.
In my former life, I was a proven communications strategist with a specialty in social media strategy, fundraising, and diversity engagement. I even received a National Boys & Girls Clubs of America Social Media Award for a six-week campaign in which I raised more than $23,000!
Austin is a native of Grand Rapids, MI. He recently graduated from the historic Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA, with Cum Laude honors and as an Oprah Winfrey International Scholar. Now he is a Master of Divinity student at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.
The Reverend Austin J. Young is an Ordained Itinerant Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (A.M.E. Zion Church). Within the denomination, Rev. Young holds numerous positions in the areas on prayer, youth engagement, protocol, Christian Education, and statistician work that serves six states within Midwest United States and Trinidad and Tobago. Most namely he is the Central Region Co-Regional Vice President of the Assembly of Christian Educators (ACE). Ecumenically, Rev. Young is a councilmember on the World Methodist Council and represents the entire A.M.E. Zion Church.
Coupled with ministry, Young is also involved in community engagement. Austin serves on the Board of Directors and philanthropic committees of non-profits in the Atlanta, GA and Grand Rapids, MI areas. Currently Austin works for the Wesley Innovation Hub, in which he leads three diverse congregations throughout the greater Washington, DC area in design/innovation thinking projects and consulting work on programming and standard operations and procedures. Additionally, Rev. AJ as he is affectionately called, is the Administrative Minister at the Union Wesley AME Zion Church in Washington D.C.
Young’s work is motivated by the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who paraphrased Matthew 10:16, “To have a tough mind, and a tender heart.”
Reverend Omari K. Hughes serves alongside his sister in Christ, Rev. Sheleta E. Fomby as the Co-Pastor and Co-Founder of the New Life Church in Laurel, Md. Born in Richmond, Va, Pastor Hughes is the son of Frank and Cheryll Hughes, the proud father of an amazing son, Khalil Omari and husband of the love of his life Natalie Mischel Hughes.
He obtained his B.A. in broadcast journalism from Hampton University and his M. Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary in the spring of 2012.
From 2012-2018, Pastor Hughes was blessed to serve as the Pastor of the Church of the Redeemer Baptist in Philadelphia, PA. In 2018 he was called to return back to his home church-Reid Temple AME, where he was blessed to sit and serve under the visionary leadership of his Father in Ministry Dr. Lee P. Washington, former Senior Pastor of the Reid Temple AME Church. It was under Dr. Washington’s spirit lead leadership, that he was first called to serve alongside Rev. Fomby, as the Co-Lead of Reid Temple’s New Life Laurel, an off-site ministry of the church. Under their Co-Leadership, that ministry grew from a monthly bible study, to a weekly gathering averaging over 400 persons in attendance.
In the spring of 2020, Reverend Hughes left Reid Temple to plant and serve as the Co-Founder and Co-Pastor of New Life Church. In doing so, he sincerely believes that he is fulfilling his Kingdom assignment, pursuing his destiny in Christ and answering the unique call upon his life to serve God’s people during such a time as this.
Rev. Lauren Bennett mostly grew up in the Evergreen State outside of Seattle. She was a church skeptic who found a community of radical queer disciples who preached liberation of all people in update New York when attending St. Lawrence University. Through a long discernment process, lots of reading, and even more conversations, she eventually committed to following the Way and was baptized.
Always up for an adventure, she packed her worldly possessions in her Subaru and drove to Florida to work in the ways of Cesar Chavez as a community organizer in 2011. This work led her to King of Peace MCC where she was energized by a community who merged sexuality and spirituality. A few years later, she began working for Metropolitan Community Churches as the Conference/Meeting Coordinator planning General Conference, among other things, where she remains on staff part-time.
In 2015, she moved to Washington, DC to begin studies at Wesley Theological Seminary and become an active part of MCCDC. She took the summer of 2018 off to work with San Francisco Night Ministry before entering her last year of studies. In May 2019, she graduated with honors from with her Masters in Divinity, with a concentration in Urban Studies.
On August 31, 2019, she was ordained in Washington, DC and is so grateful to be on staff at MCCGL where she focuses on programming, community partnerships, and congregational care. In her free time she likes being outside, reading, drinking coffee, or dancing when not hanging out with her partner AhSa-Ti and step-son Ahmmit.
Christina M. Jones is a proud resident of the District of Columbia. Christina is currently the Special Counsel for Strategic Youth Initiatives for the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia. In her position she advises the Attorney General Karl Racine on youth facing policy and programming. Christina is a strong advocate for sexual assault prevention. She has used her training and experience to design and implement seminars on consent and sexual assault to teenagers around Washington D.C. Prior to her appointment as Special Counsel, she was the Assistant Chief for the Juvenile Section for the Office of Attorney General for the District of Columbia where she helped shape juvenile justice policy in the District of Columbia by directly supervises attorneys who handle the juvenile delinquency cases.
Christina continues the work that began in Prince George’s County, Maryland with the “I Belong Here!” truancy reduction initiative that partners the Office of the Attorney General with D.C. Public Schools and Howard University to provide encouragement and incentives that empower students to invest in their school, their education and ultimately themselves.
Christina is the co-host of the “Mary and Martha Podcast.” A podcast for women of color to understand the Bible in a way that is relevant to their daily lives. The podcast launched in March 2019 and has over 22,000 downloads. Christina is married to Jason Jones, Pastor of Zion Church Woodbridge.
Shakisha is an entrepreneur, attorney, and consultant practicing in the DMV.
Shakisha is admitted to practice in the Court of Appeals of Maryland and the US District Court for the District of Maryland. She is the President of the Women’s Bar Assoc. of PG County, and a member of the MD State Bar Association, the J. Franklyn Bourne Bar Association, the Prince George’s County Bar Association, and Georgetown Law’s Women’s Legal Alliance.
Before entering private practice, Shakisha served as a judicial law clerk to both the Honorable Larnzell Martin, Jr. and the Honorable Sheila R. Tillerson Adams at the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County. She also served as a law clerk to the Honorable David C. Simmons, Chief Administrative Law Judge of the D.C. Commission on Human Rights.
Shakisha received her Juris Doctor from Georgetown Law, where she was the Administrative Editor of the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law, a student attorney in the Criminal Defense and Prisoner Advocacy Clinic where she represented indigent defendants before the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and served in multiple leadership roles within the Black Law Students Association, Shakisha is also a graduate of Stanford University, and a member of Alpha Kappa Psi, Professional Business Fraternity, Inc.
Shakisha is passionate about community service. She serves as a Steward at Reid Temple A.M.E. Church, where she is also the Co-Chair of the 20/30 (Young Adult) Ministry. Additionally, Shakisha personally mentors young women throughout her community and served as the Chair of the PGC Women’s Bar Association’s Diamonds Mentoring Program. She also actively assists the DC Youth Human Rights Ambassador program.
Shakisha has been a featured speaker and panelist at university lectures.
Rev. Dr. Katie Givens Kime has always played an important role in faith-based communities, culminating in her work as Director of Religion and Civic Engagement for Odyssey Impact®. She is an integral part of building and strengthening relationships in key cities, including partnerships with theological and higher education institutions, communities of faith, and secular justice organizations.
With experience that includes congregational leadership, university instruction, community mediation and restorative justice, social justice advocacy, chaplaincy and spiritual caregiving, she brings more than 15 years of experience in motivating theological education and faith communities to take on civic issues.
She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary (NYC) and a Doctor of Philosophy in Religion from Emory University, where she also assisted, guest lectured, and adjunct taught courses at Emory and the Candler School of Theology for more than 8 years. She was a member of the Post-Doctoral Teaching and Research Faculty at the Universität Bern in Switzerland in 2017 and 2018, and served as the Associate Pastor for Mission, Adult Education and Young Adults at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Ga., for six years. Before that, she worked at Marble Collegiate Church and at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, both in New York City. In her research, teaching, and professional accomplishments, Katie is valued for her success in crossing the boundaries of academy, church, health care, theatre, and the public square.
CarolAnne, who is responsible for development of new factual specials and series, has a diverse background in factual television. She’s worked in many genres including history, investigative docs, reality, pop culture, biography, wildlife and adventure, and on subject matter as diverse as shark attacks, crime bosses and how to plan the perfect wedding. She has had success as a network executive, garnering high ratings and awards.
CarolAnne has also worked on the production side of the business, creating successful programs for major cable networks. Prior to joining Odyssey, she was Vice President of Development and Production at WEtv, where she was responsible for a variety of programs such as The Secret Lives of Women and My Fair Wedding With David Tutera. CarolAnne was Executive Producer at NHNZ in New Zealand, where she created shows for National Geographic Channel, Bio Channel, Animal Planet and Discovery, among others. She was Vice President of Documentary Series at A&E Television and also served as executive producer of the Biography series. During her tenure at the helm of Biography, the series won numerous awards, including two Emmys, and was consistently the highest rated series on the network. CarolAnne began her TV career at National Geographic Television, acquiring documentary films for the weekly series Explorer.
Teresa has been a part of the team since January of 2018. She enjoys concerts, traveling, CrossFit and is an avid reader.
Nancy Dionne is a documentary filmmaker, associate producer and award-winning photojournalist from San Francisco. Her focus is to take one “to a threshold” by producing stories that create possibilities for envisioning a better future. The word “Future” is in most of her personal projects.
She says that “A good film shows you what something or someone looks like but a great film shows you what it feels like to be that someone else.”
No matter what her task at Odyssey, she connects people together to inspire calls to action that foster change for new future outcomes.
Nancy graduated on the Deans List from the New York Film Academy’s intensive documentary program and with honors in photography from the San Francisco Art Institute.
Anne Faustin has over a decade of experience in strategic planning and development in both the private and non-profit sectors. She previously served as the Outreach Producer for Bring It to The Table a Talking Eyes Media documentary where she identified and cultivated relationships with colleges, universities, prospect funders, and national organizations in the civil discourse space.
Additionally, Anne served as the Strategic Development Consultant for the Ciné Institute, where she created a five year strategic development plan that addressed the short, and long term development goals of the film Institute.
Anne served as a Working Group Consultant at the Clinton Global Initiative where she was responsible for building and leading a working group of thought leaders focused on health and wellness in the United States. She has also served as a Regional Vice President and Senior Professional Relations Representative in the Healthcare sector.
Anne was born in Brussels, Belgium, and grew up in New York. She graduated from New York Medical College with a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Health Policy and Management and from Manhattanville College with a BA in Management. Anne received her Certificate in Television and Film Producing at NYU.
Kirsten is an Impact Producer for Odyssey Impact®, overseeing development and production of long- and short-form documentaries and impact film production. She is an Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker and her recent film, The Homestretch, a feature documentary about homeless high school students in Chicago Public Schools, was a co-production with Kartemquin Films and Spargel Productions, her company with film partner Anne de Mare. The Homestretch was broadcast on PBS Independent Lens as part of the American Graduate Initiative with Corporation for Public Broadcasting and ITVS. Previous film projects include the award-winning Asparagus! Stalking the American Life and the upcoming The Girl With the Rivet Gun — an animated new media project about Rosie the Riveter.
Her work has been supported by the ITVS, CPB, AmDoc, MacArthur Foundation, the Sundance Institute, Fledgling Fund, Chicken and Egg, Good Pitch and Bertha Foundation/Brit Docs. She was recently awarded the ‘2015 Spirit of Youth Award” from the National Runaway Safeline for her advocacy work supporting homeless youth surrounding the The Homestretch Impact Campaign. Kirsten is also a theatre director and arts educator and was awarded the President’s 2014 Award for Youth Programs in the Arts & Humanities. She has a diverse background in developing new content for both film and theater which focuses on social justice issues and worked several years on National Geographic’s Explorer series.
Kirsten is a Fellow at the Sundance Documentary Institute and a graduate of the Master’s Directing program at The Juilliard School.
“If all people said was ‘great film’ but did nothing [about a social issue], then we have failed,” says Odyssey Impact®’s CEO and visionary Nick Stuart. He’s talking about the organization’s mission of social impact beyond just making great documentary films. It’s a role that he calls “a calling, not a job” and it’s the culmination of a lifetime of experience in mainstream television news and entertainment production on both sides of the Atlantic, from BBC to Discovery.
His prior experience with traditional media outlets allowed him to explore current issues, but not prompt action afterwards.
On his arrival, Stuart masterminded a wholesale shift in Odyssey from an interfaith cable TV network to a documentary-filmmaking and coalition-building organization that facilitates change via telling stories of spirituality making a difference in people’s everyday lives, no matter the religion. He cites instances where progress would never have been made without faiths working together, such as in “The Troubles,” Northern Ireland, a story he covered extensively for the UK’s largest network, ITV. He says, “Below the surface, there were priests and ministers working to build trust. A Catholic priest and a Protestant minister would work together when someone got killed; they would call on the widow or family of the dead person and offer pastoral care and healing. These were ordinary people, not superheroes, and they weren’t looking for the limelight. Priests also served as go-betweens among the Irish government, the IRA, and the British government.” He also cites the example of faith leaders collaborating with secular activists in South Africa to end apartheid. He continues, “They went into that poisonous space and when things were collapsing around them, managed to hold that country together, playing a part and helping to solve an ‘unsolvable’ problem.”
Odyssey works to take films back into the communities represented as well as to other nonprofits and organizations to continue the conversation on a person-to-person level, even among constituencies that disagree radically. In the case of the film “MILWAUKEE 53206,” about families left behind in a zip code of Milwaukee where 62% of adult Black men are currently in prison or have served time, a local screening and discussion was met with lines around the block.
In generating these outcomes of change, British-born Stuart brings a background of looking at world events and human stories via the role of faith, from his early days at British TV network ITV through time as an MTV producer, as a BAFTA judge, at the Discovery Channel, and in various BBC posts. His experience varies from creating a comedic religious game show to reporting from the front lines of the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the end of apartheid in South Africa and the rise of Hamas.
A filmmaker must also deal in trust. The subjects of Odyssey’s films know that they’ll be portrayed as real people, not tokens. He reflects, “We deal with the stuff of people’s souls.
Nick is a member of the Producers Guild of America (pga) and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).
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