A Social Impact Campaign is a strategic engagement program providing the resources for faith and secular communities to address the most critical social issues in our society. The guiding principle of each campaign is to use film to raise audience awareness, shifting attitudes and inspiring action among people of faith and goodwill.
The result? A society connected, engaged and united.
Unique in the emerging impact media landscape, Odyssey Impact’s social impact campaigns use documentaries as tools to educate, build awareness and prompt action among both secular and faith-based change makers. By tapping into the attention and resources of locally based organizations, place of worship, campuses and advocates, Odyssey Impact creates opportunities for constructive dialogue, learning, interfaith collaboration, and civic engagement on issues that often divide–rather than unite–us. Working closely with secular and faith-based organizers and leaders, and customizing our approaches to the needs and priorities of each particular film, we deploy a tried-and-tested formula for using film as a vehicle for community engagement and social action.
Our campaigns are multi-phased endeavors that pair deep strategy work with diligent execution. Every full-service campaign includes a six-week Landscape Analysis Phase and a six-month (or more) Active Impact Campaign Phase.
To begin a conversation about collaborating with Odyssey Impact, please submit your film and any related press or social impact materials (press kits, decks, discussion guides) to [email protected]. We look forward to discussing your needs, answering your questions, and providing a quote for our proposed services.
With a 30-year history of building coalitions around more than 1,000 films and videos, Odyssey Impact reaches and empowers coalitions of change makers to build strong communities anchored by compassion, justice and hope.
Odyssey Impact believes in the power of stories to inspire social justice. We use multimedia content to amplify and lift up these stories and to raise audience awareness, shifting attitudes and inspiring action.
“Every year, millions of Americans are incarcerated before even being convicted of a crime – all because they can’t afford to post bail. How did we get here? “Trapped: Cash Bail in America” shines a light on our deeply flawed criminal justice system and the activists working to reform it. This new documentary explores the growing movement to end the inherent economic and racial inequalities while highlighting victims impacted by an unjust system, the tireless campaigners fighting for criminal justice reform, and a bail industry lobbying to maintain the status quo. “Trapped: Cash Bail in America” is produced and written by Chris L. Jenkins and edited and directed by Garrett Hubbard.”
Odyssey Impact will conduct the national social impact campaign designed to educate, engage and activate the public around the important and timely issue of cash bail in America, while highlighting the multifaceted ways in which cash bail punishes individuals, upends families, and destabilizes communities; all without a guilty verdict.
If you are interested in participating in the campaign by hosting a screening in your community or partnering with us for this campaign, please contact [email protected]
The United States is experiencing a surge in hate crimes as a tide of white supremacy gathers momentum nationwide. Muslim and Jewish communities are particularly at risk. Stranger/Sister is the story of two ordinary women, one Muslim and one Jewish, who dare to believe they can join hands to stop the wave of hate. Overcoming a long history of distrust between their two religions, they build a movement that turns strangers into sisters, challenging our assumptions about how to fight hate in America. Intimately following women from Sisterhood chapters in Austin, Chicago and across the Nation, the Sisters build a powerful network of hope in a time of chaos and hate.
Odyssey Impact will conduct the national social impact campaign for the relevant documentary film designed to stop hate and teach people how to unite by building trust with each other through relationships.
If you are interested in participating in the campaign by hosting a screening in your community or partnering with us for this campaign, please contact [email protected] or visit https://strangersister.odyssey-impact.org
When mass trauma strikes, faith leaders are called upon to guide and sustain communities through the aftermath. Their role is to help us heal.
But who heals the healers?
Healing the Healers is a new media resource intended to support clergy, laity, social workers, first responders and other spiritual care providers facing community-level trauma. The five-part film series is accompanied by a discussion guide including written reflections by scholars, clergy and other experts.
In the series, Rev. Matthew Crebbin of Newtown Congregational Church, leads an important conversation with faith leaders who’ve experienced mass trauma, either suddenly, as at Newtown or during 9/11, or through ministering to a community facing chronic violence, such as Hartford, CT or St. Louis, MO.
At first glance, Repeter ‘Pete’ Monsanto lives a glamorous life – a celebrity photographer who works with boldface names like Meek Mill, Rick Ross, Ludacris, Nicki Minaj, Big Sean and others. But look deeper and you will see a man with father-sized hole in his life. When he was just six years old, Pete’s father, Peter Monsanto, was arrested and convicted of racketeering and sentenced to life without parole. Pete remembers vividly when he was just six years old and law enforcement burst into his home in the middle of the night and took his father away. Life had been good for him before that – his family lived in the luxury that comes with being the son of a drug kingpin – courtside seats at Madison Square Garden, great clothes, etc. Although Pete Sr. was running a criminal enterprise, he was also a constant and reliable presence in his son’s life. When you’re that young, you don’t know what your Dad does for a living, you just love him. When his dad was sent away, Pete’s life changed dramatically. His mom worked hard to hold the family together, in spite of a difficult journey that included bouts of entanglement in the shelter system. It’s a common tale for the children of the incarcerated, for whom Pete is now an advocate. He is a board advisor for We Got Us Now – a movement built by, led by & about CoIP (Children of Incarcerated Parents).
For 32 years, Pete and his father have worked to maintain a long distance relationship, mostly by weekly phone conversations. Pete Sr. is now 69, and since his incarceration he has maintained a disciplined routine, keeping mind and body strong while running in the prison yard. Trying to be a positive force in his son’s life in spite of his criminal past and its consequences. Pete is now the same age his father was when he was sent away. Inspired by his father’s strength and resilience, Pete will run the 2018 NYC marathon. His participation in the 26-mile race through their hometown is the subject of a new project by Transform Films©: “Run for His Life.”
If you are interested in hosting a screening in your community or partnering with us for this campaign, please contact [email protected] or visit www.runforhislife.com
The Sentence explores the devastating consequences of mass incarceration and mandatory minimum drug sentencing through the story of Cindy Shank, a mother of three young children serving a 15-year sentence in federal prison for her tangential involvement in a Michigan drug ring years before. A lyrical, intimate story documented over 10 years by Cindy’s younger brother, filmmaker Rudy Valdez, The Sentence follows Cindy’s struggles to be present in her children’s lives from behind bars and her daughters’ experiences growing up without their mother at home, while her husband, parents and siblings fight for her release before the last months of the Obama administration’s Clemency Project. After winning the 2018 Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival The Sentence was acquired by HBO.
Odyssey Impact is collaborating with director Rudy Valdez and production company Park Pictures to launch a six-month community engagement and impact campaign for The Sentence in January 2020, with the aim of bringing the film to the experts, stakeholders and families experiencing the wide-ranging impacts of parental incarceration.
Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story navigates the complex circumstances surrounding a 16-year-old girl who committed murder in Tennessee. Beginning in 2004 when Cyntoia Brown was first arrested, and filmed over 15 years through extraordinary access, this feature documentary explores the justice system through the lens of one girl’s story. We gain insight into her mental health, her biological and adoptive families, and how her actions led to being convicted of felony murder and receiving a life sentence (60 years) in prison. Through perseverance, activism, and legislative and legal changes, we see how a series of events led to her early release from prison after serving just 15 years.
This documentary premieres on Netflix in April 2020
Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper, was gang raped by six white boys in 1944 Alabama. Common in Jim Crow South, few women spoke up in fear for their lives. Not Recy Taylor, who bravely identified her rapists. The NAACP sent its chief rape investigator Rosa Parks, who rallied support and triggered an unprecedented outcry for justice.
The film exposes a legacy of physical abuse of black women and reveals Rosa Parks’ intimate role in Recy Taylor’s story. An attempted rape against Parks was but one inspiration for her ongoing work to find justice for countless women like Mrs. Taylor. The 1955 bus boycott was an end result, not a beginning.
The film has screened at Venice Film Festival where it received the Special Prize for Human Rights Award (2017) and was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2018 NAACP Image Awards. It made its National Television Broadcast on STARZ July 2, 2018.
If you are interested in hosting a screening in your community or partnering with us for this campaign, please contact [email protected] or visit therapeofrecytaylor.com.
MILWAUKEE 53206 chronicles the harsh reality of those living in the zip code that incarcerates the highest proportion of African American men, up to 62%. Through the intimate stories of three 53206 residents, we witness the high toll that excessive sentencing and mass incarceration takes on individuals and families. Beverly Walker, a mother of five, tirelessly works to raise her children and free her husband Baron from an excessive prison sentence. Chad Wilson, a newly released citizen, confronts the uphill battle of finding viable employment with the help of Dennis Walton who works with fathers re-entering society from prison.
MILWAUKEE 53206 personalizes the crisis of mass incarceration and intimately depicts the destructive hold this system has on the families and the communities it affects. The stories in this film are not unique to 53206 and can be used to inspire change in ZIP codes across the country. MILWAUKEE 53206 can be used as a tool to educate and activate your community, house of worship, university, and/or workplace.
To date the film has been awarded the Special Recognition Award at the (In)Justice for All Film Festival 2017, Best Documentary at the Urbanworld Film Festival 2017, National Council on Crime and Delinquency Media for a Just Society Award and more. Additionally, on Thursday, September 13 the film screened at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 48th Annual Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. The screening was followed by a panel moderated by Odyssey Impact’s Head of Social Impact and Communications, Melissa C. Potter, with Van Lathan, Senior Producer at TMZ and host of the Red Pill Podcast, Twyla Carter, Attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, Rev. Derrick Harkins, Senior Vice President for Innovation in Public Programs at Union Theological Seminary, Indira Henard, Executive Director at the D.C. Rape Crisis Center and very special guests Baron and Beverly Walker, featured in the documentary. Baron was released from prison after 22+ years on August 17, 2018.
To learn more about MILWAUKEE 53206 visit milwaukee53206.com.
The Odyssey Fellows program supports graduate students at theological schools, and the field education faculty and programming of their institution. The program’s goal is to support and train these emerging faith leaders working in communities to engage difficult civic issues and provide resources for seminaries to meet the growing needs of contextual education. Engaging the immersive power of documentary film, Fellows convene brave and healing conversations across lines of difference within their community, resulting in faithful actions inspired by their leadership. Odyssey Fellowships support the valuable intersection of innovative new leaders, the wisdom of educational institutions, and the on-the-ground opportunities of faith-related communities.
Through the course of an academic year, the Fellows’ work has two basic phases. In the fall semester, they engage various subsets of their community, using the power of documentary film to spark conversation on a selected civic issue, such as mass incarceration, racial injustice, gender-based violence, or gun violence. These conversations, paired with engagement of those in the community most affected by the issue, shape discernment of exactly how the Fellows and the congregations feel moved to act. In the spring, these conversations culminate in each Fellow’s leadership of a community-generated action or response to the issue, as well as theological/scholarly reflection within the rubrics of each institution.
Not only does Odyssey Impact provide access to powerful media and written resources to the Fellows, their seminaries and congregations and organizations they serve, but also engagement with filmmakers and film subjects, roles in the process of creating support materials for faith communities, leadership opportunities across Odyssey’s virtual and in-person events and screenings, as well as innovative training experiences with leading experts and practitioners. An Odyssey Fellow will graduate with skills to engage both faith and secular spheres, and gain fluency in using film to inspire brave conversations, new partnerships and faithful actions in response to complex difficult civic issues.
Perhaps best of all, Fellows experience the transformative power of their cohort: dialogue and relationship with talented peers from other institutions and regions. Odyssey believes that when emerging leaders are properly supported, they are often allowed to experiment with different ways that they might engage on tough issues, with new community partners. With the Odyssey Fellows program, everyone wins: tough conversations are advanced, new partnerships are built, and faithful action happens!
The 2020-21 Odyssey Fellows cohort is a diverse, talented group of emerging leaders, engaging justice issues within faith spheres, innovating new ways of virtually convening communities via film and healing conversations.
Fellow Jonese Austin
Jonese Austin (Atlanta, GA)
Candler School of Theology | Ebenezer Baptist Church
Deirdre “Jonese” Austin (she/her/hers) is a writer and justice seeker. She aspires to employ a radical love ethic in working towards healing and wholeness through good theology, research, direct action, and public policy; she hopes to enter a career at the intersections of ministry, academia, nonprofit work, and politics. Jonese understands her calling as one dedicated to exploring the ways in which healing can be facilitated in and through the Black Baptist Church, and her research interests lie at the intersections of religion, race, justice, and healing. Currently, Jonese is a second year Master of Divinity student at Candler School of Theology pursuing certificates in Black Church Studies and Baptist Studies. She is also a licensed Baptist minister, licensed at the historic Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in DC, who will be interning at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church this fall. In 2019, Jonese graduated from the Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service, with honors, where she majored in Culture and Politics focusing on Religion and Social Justice, minored in African American Studies, and earned a certificate in Religion, Ethics, and World Affairs. Her favorite scripture is Micah 6:8: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God,” and she lives by the philosophy and Emily Dickinson quote, “If I can stop one heart from breaking I shall not live in vain.” As an Odyssey Fellow, Jonese is most looking forward to having brave and healing conversations on topics related to mass incarceration, especially amidst the Christian-Jewish interfaith fellowship of young professionals of Ebenezer and the Temple.
Fellow Ristina Gooden
Ristina Gooden (Nashville, TN)
Vanderbilt Divinity School | Faith Matters Network
Ristina Gooden (she/her/hers) is originally from Cleveland, Ohio. She is currently a divinity student at Vanderbilt Divinity School where she is concentrating on Black Religion and Cultural Studies as well as Religion, Gender, and Sexuality. For the 2020-2021 school year, Ristina will serve as student government President for the divinity school. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Hospitality Management from The Ohio State University. Previously, Ristina had a nearly 10-year career as an event planner at both The Ohio State University and Spelman College. In that career, Ristina has managed over 4,500 events. Ristina has a passion for womanism, equity, cultural competency, and community building which is why doing her field education at Faith Matters Network, womanist-led organization focused on personal and social transformation, was the perfect fit. With their vision of a world of people living in just communities rooted in wisdom, spiritual practices, healing, and courage, Ristina has found a home with kindred spirits. She has begun her ordination process within the Baptist denomination and looks forward to becoming a pastor as well as a birth doula. In her spare time, which is rare, Ristina loves baking and cheering on her Ohio State University Buckeyes during football season.
Fellow Lauren Johnson
Lauren Johnson (Denver, CO)
Iliff School of Theology | Soul 2 Soul Sisters
Lauren Johnson (she/her/hers) is a Southern California native and earned her Bachelor’s Degree at Howard University in Washington, DC. She is currently pursuing her Master’s of Divinity at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, CO with a concentration in Pastoral Care. The Lord placed a burden on Lauren’s heart for Black women who desire healing from wounds of emotional, relational, and spiritual trauma by helping them return to their first loves—God and self. She is passionate about Womanism, healing, liberation, and all matters of the heart. This fall, Lauren will intern with Soul 2 Soul Sisters, a faith-based, Black womxn-led, racial justice organization focused on Black healing and Black liberation. Divine providence led her to the organization as their sacred devotion to their work on providing advocacy, resources, healing, and a voice for Black women aligns perfectly with Lauren’s calling. Lauren will soon begin the process of licensing and ordination in the American Baptist denomination and plans to start a public ministry that will change the lives of Black women. Lauren is a graphic + web designer and owner of Providence & Design, LLC. She enjoys spending time with friends, hiking in the beautiful Colorado mountains, anything floral, and basking in the sun.
Fellow Oriana Mayorga
Oriana Mayorga (New York, NY)
Union Theological Seminary (NY) | CONNECT
Oriana Mayorga (she/her/ella) is the granddaughter of Caridad Esperanza Pereyra, Margarita Mayorga and Henry Mayorga Sr. She is the daughter of Henry Mayorga Jr. and Dr. Norma Fuentes-Mayorga. Oriana is born and raised New Yorker, community organizer, harm reductionist, artist and recipient of the Justice and Peace Scholarship at Union Theological Seminary. The lived experiences of her Latinx family inspire her daily to fight for justice. Oriana is dedicated to dismantling structural oppression, promoting racial justice and ending violence against womyn, as well as building healthier, accountable communities. Currently, Oriana serves on the leadership council of her Bronx-based church New Day, where she is focused on building the mutual aid ministry. In 2018, while working as the community ministries intern for the St. James United Methodist Church in Kingston, NY, Oriana had the opportunity to preach her first sermon at the Clinton Avenue UMC church. Upon returning from her year away in upstate New York, she briefly worked in a south Bronx syringe exchange. She is a longtime advocate of ending the war on drugs, fighting for accessible psychedelic medicine for all and is the Vice Chair of the board of directors for Students for Sensible Drug Policy. Oriana received her bachelor of science from Fordham University in 2014 and a graduate certificate in Harm Reduction Psychotherapy from the New School of Research in 2016. In 2022, she will graduate with her Masters of Divinity with a concentration in social ethics from Union Theological Seminary. As an Odyssey Fellow, Oriana is most excited to facilitate healing circles with survivors of intimate violence during her internship at CONNECT to promote the healing and growth of some of NYC’s faith leaders.
Fellow Staci Plonsky
Staci Plonsky (Cocoa, FL)
Iliff School of Theology | Suntree United Methodist Church
Staci Plonsky (she/her/hers) has felt a call to ministry and social justice work since she was a preteen. She has served in ministry in many capacities, including as a camp counselor, a youth director, and a children’s director. Staci has also attended to hundreds of families as a certified birth and postpartum doula, as well as training new doulas. A graduate of Florida Southern College, Staci is currently earning her Master of Divinity degree from Iliff School of Theology, is a certified candidate for the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, and serves as intern at Suntree United Methodist Church. Staci is most excited to learn how churches can partner with their communities to promote mercy and justice. Staci resides with her husband and three children in Cocoa, Florida with horses, chickens, dog and cats. Staci loves camping and visiting Florida theme parks with her family.
Fellow Darrin Sims
Darrin “D.J.” Sims (Atlanta, GA)
Candler School of Theology | Providence Missionary Baptist Church
“Theo-Organizer” Darrin Lamont Sims Jr. (he/him/his) was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. Growing up in such a racially divisive city had a large impact on the way Darrin saw social justice, even from a young age. At Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, he double majored in Political Science and History. Upon graduation, Darrin served as a teacher for Teach for America in Nashville and St. Louis. It was during the Ferguson Uprising that Darrin decided to focus on community organizing and abolition. Soon after, Darrin followed the Lord’s guidance to move to Atlanta, Georgia and enter Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Since then, Darrin has devoted his work and research to social justice through a theological lens. Darrin currently teaches, preaches and organizes around faith-based approaches to reducing recidivism, voter suppression and police and prison abolition in southwest Atlanta, Georgia, building on his recent involvement in the Theology and Racialized Policing Cohort Program of Sojourners Network, and his continued role as Community Manager for The People’s Supper. Darrin is most excited about the holistic reentry work this fellowship will allow him to continue at Providence Missionary Baptist Church in southwest Atlanta. He is supported by his beautiful wife Chauncey and their two children Emmett and Zora.
Fellow Erica Bitting
Fellow Vincent Jones
At the heart of Odyssey’s Impact mission is connecting people, communities, and organizations to the stories that uplift our society’s most pressing issues. Organizational and individual partners are vital to our work, and we are thankful to those working alongside us, particularly because their work is often behind the scenes. In particular, our partner relationships are critically important to our on-the-ground work, as they connect local changemakers, stakeholders, advocates, students and educators to our resources and enhance the work they do in their communities to drive positive social change.
Our productions and co-productions have reached people across the nation, catalyzing engagements and creating connections needed to drive change. Our films are seen at hundreds of local community institutions nationally; broadcast on STARZ, HBO, PBS and OWN, and seen on global online platforms like Netflix.
Interested in building connections in your community? Connect with us.
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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.
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.
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.
Serena Smith Joined Odyssey Impact as the Department Assistant in May 2019, shortly before transitioning to her role as the Interim Communications Coordinator. Before joining Odyssey’s team, Serena graduated on the Dean’s List from New York Film Academy in Documentary Filmmaking in 2018. Soon after she began freelance work on short and feature films, taking her to shoots in India, London, and across the US.
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.
Prior to joining Odyssey in 2011 to work with its expanding short form production department, Michelle was a freelance Production Manager and Line Producer, working on productions for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, History Channel, National Geographic, TLC, MTV, VH1 and Bravo. With over fifteen years in production on both sides of the Atlantic, Michelle has been involved with the production and delivery of over one hundred hours of broadcast television and produced over 1,000 digital shorts. Since becoming Head of Production in 2016, Michelle has overseen all production, post production and delivery of all short content and documentaries produced by Transform Films, including award winning films Newtown, Lessons from a School Shooting, Milwaukee 53206 and Run for His Life.
“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).