I’m best known for my ability to use a quirky sense of humor and irony, first-person storytelling chops and the power of transparency to tackle some of the most pressing issues of our time — from reproductive technology, corporate malfeasance and toxic chemical exposure to the climate crisis, the “politics of disaster” and deep grief. Three of my films premiered at Sundance and were broadcast nationally on PBS (POV, Independent Lens), HBO and The Sundance Channel. Blue Vinyl received the 2002 Sundance Excellence Award in Cinematography and two Emmy nominations and its prequel, A Healthy Baby Girl, won a 1997 Peabody Award. (I was at a public television conference the week of the awards ceremony, so my mom, who “starred” in the film, proudly accepted the Peabody on my behalf.) I’ve also produced four other long-form films —  Everything’s Cool, The Uprising of ‘34 (with my first mentor, George Stoney), Cooked: Survival by Zip Code and Love & Stuff.

In 2007 I  received a United States Artist Fellowship, one of 50 awarded annually to “America’s finest living artists.” In 2016 I joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Documentary Branch.

Some of my most meaningful work focuses on reshaping the documentary landscape through co-founding two organizations — Working Films and Chicken & Egg Pictures. As Creative Director at Chicken & Egg Pictures I helped design and lead their mentorship and funding programs for nearly a decade, served as a Producer on the Oscar-nominated, Dupont-winning short, The Barber of Birmingham and as Executive Producer on Semper Fi: Always Faithful and Private Violence. I’m now a Senior Creative Consultant at Chicken & Egg Pictures. 

In late 2018 I launched Cooked: Survival By Zip Code, an award winning feature documentary about extreme heat, the politics of disaster and survival by zip code (SFJFF 2019 Freedom of Expression Award). “Cooked” was broadcast on PBS’ Independent Lens (February 2020) and rebroadcast that summer to provide a way of framing the racial and health disparities linked to Covid-19, which is the focus of the film’s current virtual engagement campaign. My newest feature Love & Stuff, inspired by the 2014 NYT Op-Doc of the same name, premiered at Hot Docs 2020, and will be released theatrically and more in 2021. Through our virtual workshops we are also producing inspiring communities to talk about love, mourning and grief in the time of Covid. 

I am the 2020 Bob Allison (Allesee) Endowed Chair in Media at Wayne State University’s Department of Communications and I’m on faculty at SVA’s Social Documentary Program. I taught at NYU’s undergraduate film and television program from 1999 through 2007 and was filmmaker-in-residence at UW Madison in 2007 and 2009 where I taught environmental documentary making to non-film graduate and undergraduate students, including a class built around leveraging the city’s environmental film festival. I’m recognized as a highly skilled pitch trainer and I’ve done intensive training and moderation for Chicken & Egg Pictures’ annual live pitch at the Sheffield Doc Festival/Market, The Athena Festival’s Work-in-Progress Program and most recently the Student Pitch at Double Exposure. I live in NYC with my six-year-old daughter Theodora.