Speakers and Panelists
Click on Speaker/Panelist’s Image to Read their Bio
David Holland - Deputy Director | WESTAF
Tom Mara - SIFF Executive Director
NOBI - Musician, Artist
Manny Cawaling - Executive Director, Inspire Washington
TraeAnna Holiday - Emmy-Award Winning Media Personality & Producer, and Community Advocate
Mujale - Multifaceted Multimedia Visual Teaching Artist
Shannon Roach Halberstadt - Creative Economy Sector Lead at Washington Commerce
Tom Florino - Seattle Film Commissioner Commercial producers or production companies
Omari Salisbury - Converge Media
Michael Huang - Seattle Film Commissioner Vice Chair
Melissa Purcell - Seattle Film Commissioner film industry labor unions
Boyd Morrison - actor, engineer, Jeopardy! champion, and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of fourteen thrillers.
Mark Freid - Seattle Film Commissioner Location Managers
Kat Ogden - Seattle Film Commissioner Chair
Drew Hobson - Embrace The Stage Workshop Confidence Building & Sustaining for Aspiring Actors/Artists Instructor
Champ Ensminger - Seattle Film Commissioner - Post Production
Budi Mulyo - Immersive technology and emerging technology businesses
Beth Barrett - Artistic Director SIFF, Seattle Film Commissioner - Film Festivals
Sebastian Siegel - Writer, Producer, Director
Anthony Tackett - Filmmaker, Advocate
Zach Cox - Literary Manager Circle of Confusion
Rae Isla - independent singer-songwriter and streaming pioneer
Chaitra Vedullapalli - Women in Cloud | MXW Film Fund Owner
Rahul Sood - AI Tech Company CEO who is disrupting movie development
Michelle Pruitt - Microsoft Strategy and Transformation Leader Investor View
John Gauntt - Founder of Culture & Code
Terra Nobody - Alt-Pop band
Kate Becker - King County Creative Economy Director
Ever Kipp - A DICE LAB Partner
Val Wolfe - Senior Agent at Paladin Artists
Andy Moreno - Capacity Entertainment
Olivia Howell - Founder of Design Studio and Talent Agency, T.O.N.E
Lara Lavi - Artist, Actress
Emily Washines - Writer of Native Friends, Professor at Yakima Valley College and The Evergreen State College.
Darryl Crews - CEO, The January Group
Keith Ancker - Founded The Soundcasting Network
Roy Hsu - Screenwriter, Producer, and Actor
James Miles - Professor, Board of the Frye Art Museum, MoPOP, on the Advisory Board for SXSW EDU, and is a mayoral appointee to the Seattle Arts Commission.
Martin Cohen - The Cultural Planning Group
Winfield Ezell, Jr. - Founder and CEO of Obsidian Creative Studios (OCS)
Jeff Ayers - Author of Voyages of Imagination
Laura Jean Cronin - Seattle Film Commissioner Film Schools & Education
Burt Weissbourd - novelist, screenwriter, and producer
Christopher Lockhart - Lead Story Editor WME
Lowell Deo - SAG-AFTRA Actor
Stewart A. Lyons - Producer, Production Manager | Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad
Pablo Hidalgo - Lucasfilm Creative Executive
Tom Skerritt - The Legend
Jamie L. Lorente - Writer, Writing Teacher & Mentor
King Youngblood - Seattle Alt Rock Band
Matthew Bennett - Master Entrepreneur
Vanessa Leigh - Award Winning Filmmaker
Brialynne Massie - Independent Filmmaker