board members
CHANA EWING
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
TIFFANIE YOUNG lofton
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
ADVISORY members
marissa crespo
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
Alece Oxendine
Alece has dedicated her 12+ year career to helping filmmakers achieve their goals, something she's actively pursued working at film festivals, art house theaters, streaming platforms, and distribution companies.
Currently, she is the Director of Industry and Festival Outreach at Columbia University’s Film Program, where she is an esteemed alumna and is committed to giving back to the Columbia community.
She is also a proud HBCU graduate of Winston-Salem State University where she received a magna cum laude distinction.
Alece is originally from Durham, North Carolina and has lived in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and is glad to call New York City home again.
Visit her website: aleceoxendine.com