BOARD MEMBERS

We are proud to introduce the dedicated individuals who serve on the board of Black Film Space.

Click the + symbol below to read their full bios.

  • Chana is a cultural entrepreneur who has long been obsessed with storytelling and marketing that instigates a more equitable society. She has funneled this commitment into her work in beauty, retail, film, and publishing - all of which has centered on multicultural and inclusive audiences. Chana self-funded a subscription box company that featured books, lifestyle products and experiences curated by iconic Black women.

    This experience led to her role as founder/CEO at GEENIE, a culture-first beauty platform for undiscovered creators. For nearly a decade before GEENIE, Chana led digital marketing campaigns for Emmy award-winning and Oscar-nominated documentaries for film festivals, broadcast, and theatrical release; clients included PBS, Netflix, Discovery, Firelight Media, and various independent production companies. Beyond her film marketing experience, Chana is an Executive Producer on the hybrid narrative-documentary project, "I Love Bed-Stuy" (in production). Chana is also the author of the bestselling children’s book "An ABC of Equality"(with illustrations by Paulina Morgan), which introduces complicated concepts like equality, identity, and social justice.

    Chana is a thought leader at the corner of culture, community, and commerce; her work has been featured in Yahoo! Finance, Nasdaq, BET, Black Enterprise, Bustle, Coveteur, Essence, Vogue, and more. And she has participated in panels and fireside chats at CES, NRF’s Big Show, SXSW, The Female Quotient, Social Media Week, The Junior League (Seattle), plus dozens of elementary schools and libraries across the United States. Originally from Boston’s Black cultural center—Roxbury, Chana graduated from the University of Virginia and now calls Brooklyn, NY home.

    Chana is active in the city’s arts, social impact, and business communities; she's on the Board of Black Film Space (a non-profit supporting the careers of Black filmmakers); the Advisory Board of TheLi.st (a for-profit community of high impact women and non-binary folks across media, technology, and entrepreneurship); and she serves as a Career Advisor via Women NYC (a program of NYC Economic Development Corporation).

    Follow Chana: @Chanaewing

  • With over 15 years in television, Tiffanie Young is a production expert who devises production schedules and structures, writes budgets that receive network approval, and excels at building and fostering production teams that creatively and effectively produce outstanding programming. She has produced series, pilots and development projects in various genres including docu-soap, true crime, home renovation, style makeover, competition, culinary, clip shows, and more.

    Tiffanie oversees projects domestically and internationally, on location and in studio, with staff and crew ranging from 10 to 100+ people. She communicates and meets with network execs, reviews releases and contracts with legal prior to and throughout production, sets up payroll and insurance, creates cash flows and monitors network payment milestones, maintains detailed cost reports, liaises with talent agents and managers, and negotiates graphics and other vendor agreements.

    Strategizing success is a constant process, not just for a large-scale media company, but for the individual freelancer as well. Tiffanie recognized this early on in her career and began coaching clients on how to navigate their careers. Now, she offers her guidance to college seniors seeking to enter the industry.

    Some of Tiffanie's production credits are Beat Bobby Flay, BBQ Brawl: Flay V Symon, Flipping Exes, The Flay List, Love At First Swipe, Rachael Ray's Kids Cook Off, and What Not to Wear. She has produced projects for Food Network, TLC, Bravo, HGTV, Lifetime, and several others.

    Creatively, Tiffanie is the writer and producer of “It Is Finished,” a play first performed in 2012 and the screenwriter of “Back In The Game,” a feature-length script. She is passionate about developing programming that enhances family, faith, and social values.

    Tiffanie holds a Master of Arts in Producing for Film and TV, specializing in production management and entertainment law, and a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Media and Spanish from American University in Washington, DC.

    Follow Tiffanie: @Tiffanieyounglofton

    Visit her website: www.tiffanieyounglofton.com

  • Hollann Sobers is a multidisciplinary leader and Production Executive overseeing cross-platform entertainment from conception through distribution in television, short film, documentaries, promos, and events.

    Hollann rose to the position of Production Executive in her time at Viacom, where she worked on documentaries under VH1’s award-winning Rock Docs franchise and various original series, including the launches of Love & Hip Hop and Black Ink Crew.  After VH1, she worked at Al Jazeera America and Sundance TV before joining Complex Networks in 2017 as the Director of Production.   Hollann worked across all original programming brands while building an infrastructure to support 30-plus series per year,  including some licensed by Netflix, Hulu, and Roku. Before leaving Complex, she executive produced the ComplexCon(versations) series and was Sr. Director of Integrated Development & Programming Operations, which entailed a combination of innovative content development, original programming, and operational excellence.

    Most recently, Hollann served as a Production Executive at Amazon Studios overseeing their unscripted programming.   In addition to being an active member of the  PGA, NYWIFT, and NAMIC, she is in her second term on the Television Academy’s Board of Governors representing the Production Executive Peer Group. Currently, she serves as Vice Chair of the Diversity Committee.

  • Lande Yoosuf is a Nigerian-American novelist, screenwriter, filmmaker and co-founder of Black Film Space. She has 15 years of production, development and casting experience in non-fiction programming, and has worked with several networks, including MTV, A&E Networks, NBC, WEtv, and Bravo.

    Her short film, “Privilege Unhinged”, screened at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, Big Apple Film Festival, the DC Black Film Festival, aired on AMC’s Shorts TV and was a finalist for “Insecure” star Jean Elie’s short film contest under his company banner, Bassett House.

    Yoosuf’s second film, “Second Generation Wedding” screened at the Bronze Lens Film Festival, Black Girls Rock! Film Festival, and inspired the novel, “Ko-Foe.” She has an affinity for telling stories that explore media influence, sociology, gender/race relations, pop culture and self-image themes.

    Lande is currently developing a mixed slate of feature films, documentaries andtelevision pilots through her production company, One Scribe Media.

    Yoosuf directed Antu Yacob’s dramatic short film “Love in Submission”, which screened at the Afrikana Film Festival, Noire Film Festival and the New York African Film Festival. The film was accepted into the “Emerging Black Filmmaker Film Collection”, screened in over 60 theaters throughout the country, and was part of a diversity case study discussion about Hollywood at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.

    As Co-founder and Partnerships Director of Black Film Space, Lande works to contribute to expanded control, ownership and media management for content creators of African descent across all cinematic formats and content platforms. She served as a host, workshop facilitator,speaker and moderator for events with organizations like ARRAY, HBO, ABFF, BAM’s New Voices in Black Cinema, The Root and many others. Her speaking engagements received coverage from outlets such as The New York Times.

    Lande earned a Bachelors of Arts from Brooklyn College in Television and Radio, and honed her writing skills through classes taught by Jackson Taylor, the Associate Director at The New School’s Graduate Writing Program. In her spare time, she loves to sing, read, travel and spend time with her loved ones. She reps her Nigerian background proudly and holds down her hometown, the world-famous republic of Brooklyn, New York.

    Stay In touch with Lande @LandeYoosuf and @OneScribeMedia on all social media platforms, or through her website onescribemedia.com.

    If you would like to view Lande’s director reel, please do so here.

  • Reggie is a comedic screenwriter/director and a non-comedic non-profit executive.

    In 2019 he wrote and directed a short film entitled an anomalous love, a romantic comedy about a Black atheist age gap relationship. an anomalous love screened at the Urban World Film Festival, the Pan African Film Festival and the Roxbury Film Festival.

    Most recently, Williams wrote and co-directed a comedic web series entitled Regular Negroes about five roommates in their 30's who struggle to level up in life.

    Regular Negroes won best comedic web series at Black Web Fest, was a finalist at the Charlotte Black Film Festival and Runner Up at the Denton Black Film Festival.

    Born and raised in Boston, Williams graduated from Emerson College with a degree in Writing For Film & TV. During this time Reggie performed at major comedy clubs in New England such as The Comedy Studio and The Providence Comedy Connection, organized shows at Emerson and wrote for Comedy Central.

    Reggie is committed to humanizing Black characters in his work through comedy and romance.

    Watch Reggie’s short, an anomalous love, here. Watch Regular Negroes here.

  • Marissa Crespo, known as the “Culture Curator,” is an entertainment and intellectual property attorney who focuses on copyright and trademark brand protection for content creators in the film, television, literary, fashion, and music industries.

    Marissa has been involved in deals for television shows on major networks such as NBC, VH1, Bravo, BET, and WE tv, including such shows as Love and Hip-Hop and the Real Housewives franchises.

    She has successfully drafted and negotiated film deals for directors, writers, actors, and production companies and has functioned as production legal counsel on films that have premiered at Tribeca and Sundance.  

    A frequent writer and panelist on entertainment related issues, Marissa has been published by Thomson Reuters and in leading entertainment trade journals such as Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts and the New York Bar Association’s Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Journal.

    She is currently a freelance writer for Screencraft.

    Visit her website: crespolawoffice.net