JOSHUA A. FOSTER is a graduate of NYU Tisch MFA graduate film program and earned an IMBA graduate degree at the University of South Carolina. Joshua produced or directed sixteen short films while at NYU Tisch. He has over twenty years of experience in the financial sector trading future contracts, M&A and managing high net worth clients’ assets. Currently, he resides in New York City with his family working as an executive for Cinetic Media in the film finance and production department. Cinetic has worked on such films as Boyhood, Parasite, Green Book, and Summer of Soul.

DANA GILLS is Senior Vice President of Development and Production at Monkeypaw where she works across TV and film. Most recently, she was an Executive Producer on the company’s first feature acquisition with Focus Features, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul, after its 2022 premiere at Sundance Film Festival.

Prior to Monkeypaw, Dana was Head of Development and Production at Wondaland Pictures where she built and oversaw a slate of projects reflecting the company’s radical and rebellious ethos including Ziwe Fumudoh’s The Nigerian Princess with Amazon and De La Resistance with A24. Dana started as an executive in Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group where she developed and managed various feature projects. While there, she also hosted workshops, screenings and conversations with cultural game-changers through her role as Co-Chair of the Multicultural Employee Resource Group.

Dana has been recognized for her work creating inroads and pipelines for underrepresented talent and voices. Her first foray into entertainment was by co-creating a web series after working in advertising and media in New York City. Dana is an alumna of Spelman College and the UCLA Producers Program, and a proud Chicago native.

KYRA NOONAN is the Vice President of Film & TV Development at Sam Levinson’s company tiny goat, the team behind HBO’s Emmy-winning series Euphoria with Zendaya and the upcoming series The Idol, starring The Weeknd and Lily Rose Depp. On the film side, Kyra has worked on Pieces of a Woman, Malcolm & Marie, A24’s X and Pearl, and most recently, Breaking, starring John Boyega. Prior to joining tiny goat, Kyra began her career at Teddy Schwarzman’s Black Bear Pictures having worked on I Care a Lot, Ben is Back and more. Kyra is a writer as well as producer. Her first animated series, Fables, is in post-production, directed by Azazel Jacobs and starring Ricky Gervais.

NICK OGIONY is an Agent in the Media Finance department at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Ogiony is based in the Los Angeles office and represents many of the world’s leading producers and directors, and specializes in packaging and arranging financing for motion picture projects. Since joining CAA in 2009, Ogiony has packaged and arranged financing and distribution for such films as Good Luck to You, Leo Grande; The Ice Road; What We Do in the Shadows, Search, Gaga, Five Foot Two, The Guest, Imperial Dreams, Insidious, Kodachrome, The Wife, First Reformed, and Boss Level, among others. Prior to CAA, Ogiony was in the independent feature division of William Morris Agency (WMA). He began his career in entertainment at HBO Films. Ogiony graduated from Boston University with a degree in Film.

DANIEL RAK is a part of the film finance team at WME Independent. Formed in 1898, WME is the longest-running talent agency. In 2009, William Morris Agency (WMA) merged with Endeavor to become one of the leading entertainment and media companies with an unparalleled list of artists and content creators. In 2014, WME acquired IMG, the global leader in sports, events, media and fashion, forming Endeavor.

YVONNE WELBON is an award-winning filmmaker and founder and CEO of the Chicago-based non-profit Sisters in Cinema, inspired by her documentary of the same name, about the history of Black women feature film directors. She is a Senior Creative Consultant at Chicken & Egg Pictures, and has produced and distributed over two dozen award-winning films, including Living With Pride: Ruth Ellis @100. Welbon’s produced work has been broadcast on PBS, Starz/Encore, TV-ONE, IFC, Bravo, the Sundance Channel, BET, HBO, Netflix, iTunes and screened in over one hundred film festivals around the world. Projects in development include The Spies Who Loved Me, a thrilling exposé on surveillance which focuses on the six-years she lived in Taipei, Taiwan and American Pride, a Black lesbian coming-of-age series set on the south-side of Chicago. She has taught at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University and chaired the Journalism & Media Studies Department at Bennett College. Raised in an Afro-Latinx Honduran household on the South Side of Chicago, Welbon holds a B.A from Vassar College, a MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, and is a graduate of the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women. In 2020 she became a member of the Documentary branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences.