Our identity intersects with every aspect of our lived experience. Our office recently shared a blog on this topic, stressing the importance of and sharing tips for finding a career which supports your personal values and perspective. To continue the conversation, we are proud to announce our upcoming Identity at Work: Film and Television panel, happening on Wednesday, October 21st, at 1pm EDT via Zoom (RSVP Here).
Meet Our Panelists
Our panelists will discuss the intersection between identity and work in Film & Television industries. Attendees will hear from Emerson alumnae Emily Abi-Kheirs ’15, Maddie Breeland ’12, and Paloma Valenzuela ’09 as they share experiences and insights from their professional experience.
Emily Abi-Kheirs, Class of 2015
About Emily: Emily Abi-Kheirs is a multimedia producer from the Boston area. She graduated from Emerson College in 2015 with a B.A. in Visual Media Arts: Documentary Production. She began her career at WORLD Channel, a public media channel dedicated to bringing diverse stories from emerging and diverse makers to a national audience. As Digital Associate Producer, she is involved in content creation and curation for the multiplatform channel. Emily is passionate about documentary programming, and in addition to screening films for WORLD’s exclusive series, she has served on film festival screening committees for Salem Film Festival and Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. She currently serves on the board of Women in Film and Video New England.
Maddie Breeland, Class of 2012
About Maddie: Maddie Breeland is currently Director of Development at Anvil Pictures based in Los Angeles. After graduating from Emerson College in 2012 where she played volleyball and majored in Producing for Film & TV, Maddie began her career as an assistant in film development at Fox 2000. In 2014, she landed an executive assistant position in the president of production’s office for Live Action Features at Walt Disney Studios and worked her way up to Development Coordinator. She enjoyed 6 years at Disney before transitioning to her current position at Anvil Pictures. Films like THE MATRIX inspired her to pursue a career as a producer. She loves content that resonates and exposes audiences to thrilling new experiences and worlds. She’s also a passionate Diversity & Inclusion advocate and occasional group fitness instructor/trainer.
Paloma Valenzuela,
Class of 2009
About Paloma: Paloma Valenzuela is a Dominican-American writer, director and actress originally from the city of Boston. She studied Writing for Film and Television at Emerson College and graduated in 2009. After graduating from Emerson she moved to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic to work on developing projects in film and television including working as Second AD for the television show “Juanita’s Gran Salon y Spa”. In 2017 Paloma was featured on the WGBH television series “Stories from the Stage” which aired on the WORLD Channel. Paloma has worked as Second AD for Dominican feature films such as “Colours”, “Malcriados” and “La Rasante” and in the summer of 2018 in Massachusetts she toured “The Pineapple Diaries” Monologue Writing Workshop. Paloma has been awarded as one of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Creative Luminaries of 2018-2019 and will be collaborating with the museum as a guest artist. She currently hosting her Monologue Writing Workshop in Boston and beyond and recently hosted it at the LEAD Conference 2019 at Harvard University. She is also a Teaching Artist for GrubStreet in Boston. In 2018 she was awarded the Opportunity Grant from the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture to write Season Three of “The Pineapple Diaries”and is preparing to produce the third season in 2019.
Join us on October 21st
October 21st, at 1:00pm EDT via Zoom
