ARTIST STATEMENT

I was raised in a house of women: tough, harsh, loving. Growing up in a trailer moving across the west coast certainly isn’t easy. My sisters and I learned to live without excess, to utilize every opportunity we found, and the importance of making do. We weren’t raised to dream but to succeed.

It should be no surprise that my stories tend to center pragmatic women.

My favorite characters defy genre: from HBOs Watchmen’s Sister Night, Elora from Reservation Dogs, Marg of Fargo, Nora of Past Lives, or Tarantino’s Jackie Brown. These are all grounded women made up of a dash of sardonic humor, quick to take action especially a crisis and rarely maudlin.

I’ve found these characters often lie on the fringes of cinema. Supporting roles. But as they finally take center stage they shine.

They may not know what it is to win but they know loss. They have a real need, everything to lose and something to say.

GRANTS & ACCOLADES

2023 Punky Aloha Scholar for Kanaka 'Ōiwi and Pasifika Creatives

2023 Alfred P. Sloan Grant Winner for Thesis “Behind the Curtain”

2023 Women of Color Narrative Initiative Winner from Visionary Justice Story Lab

2022 AFI Daniel and Dorothea Petrie Endowed Scholarship

2020 Portland Art Museum Artist Re:Imagined Grant Recipient

2020 RACC Catalyst Grant Recipient “No Spectators Allowed”

2019 Travel Oregon & Oregon Made Adventure Filmmaking Winner for “Any Oregon Sunday”

2018 SmArt Ventures Grant Winner for The New Frontier