The media is selling young people the idea that girls’ and women’s value lies in their youth, beauty, and sexuality and not in their capacity as leaders. Boys learn that their success is tied to dominance, power, and aggression. We must value people as whole human beings, not gendered stereotypes.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom is a filmmaker, advocate, thought leader, and the First Partner of California. After graduating with honors from Stanford University and Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, she wrote, directed, and produced the 2011 award-winning documentary Miss Representation. As a result of Miss Representation’s impact, she launched The Representation Project, a nonprofit organization that uses film and media as a catalyst for cultural transformation. Her second film as a director, The Mask You Live In, explores how America’s narrow definition of masculinity is harming boys, men, and society at large. And, her third film in the trilogy, The Great American Lie, unveils the underlying cultural causes of inequality in America. She also executive produced the Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated documentary The Invisible War and was an executive producer on the Emmy Award-winning documentary The Hunting Ground.
Jennifer’s films have been seen by over 28 million people worldwide, and The Representation Project’s social action hashtag campaigns have reached more than 830 million people. The Representation Project is responsible for single-handedly shifting the norm of sexist Super Bowl ads with the #NotBuyingIt campaign. Similarly, their #AskHerMore campaign transformed the sexist reporting on the red carpet, and empowered women in Hollywood to address inequalities in the industry, giving early momentum to the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. Since becoming First Partner of California, Jennifer has championed various issues related to gender equity and raising healthy, whole children including the launch of her first initiative, #EqualPayCA. Jennifer lives in Sacramento, California with her husband, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and their four young children.
Jessica Congdon has been a filmmaker for nearly 20 years. Most recently, she co-wrote and edited the film Dolores about Latina civil rights icon Dolores Huerta with director Peter Bratt. The film premiered in the documentary competition at Sundance 2017. She produced, co-wrote, and edited the documentary films The Mask You Live In and Miss Representation with Jennifer Siebel Newsom. The films premiered at Sundance in 2011 and 2015. Prior to that, she co-directed and edited the documentary Race To Nowhere. Other editing work includes the documentaries The Way I See It, John Lewis: Good Trouble, Speed and Angels, Motherland, The Bronzer, and the narrative features Big Girls Don’t Cry and Sundance 2003 award-winner Dopamine.
Julie Costanzo is a producer of film, television, documentaries, commercials, and web content. Her work has included The Virgin Suicides, written and directed by Sofia Coppola, the PBS documentary series Adventure Divas, and feature films The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing, based on the New York Times Best Seller, and The Last Man Standing, based on the life and times of Geronimo Pratt.
Eric Holland is a composer who has been working with music and sound for over 20 years. Past projects include the documentaries The Mask You Live In, Desert Runners, Speed & Angels, Motherland, and Rabbit Fever; the PBS/Sundance Channel series e2 – The Economies of Being Environmentally Conscious narrated by Brad Pitt; and commercial campaigns for Nokia and Blue Cross. He lives with his wife and two daughters in the Bay Area.
Regina K. Scully is the Founder/CEO of Artemis Rising Foundation, a nonprofit committed to projects in media, education, the arts and spirit. She is executive producer of the Emmy, Peabody and Academy Award-nominated film The Invisible War. She is also executive producer of more than 40 socially and culturally transformative films such as: Fed Up, The Mask You Live In, Alive Inside, Anita: Speaking Truth to Power, Brave Miss World, and The Hunting Ground. She is the founding sponsor of both the Robin Morgan Radio Show and The Athena Film Festival, NYC – created to promote leadership and talent among female artists. A national speaker, former journalist, and communications veteran, she is also founder/CEO of Rpr Marketing Communications, a premier marketing and brand PR agency in NYC, representing clients such as Johnson & Johnson, LVMH, and a variety of top consumer brands. She recently created and co-produced segments on PBS TV show Healing Quest about the transformational and healing power of trauma. She serves on the boards of Stanford Philanthropy and Civil Society; Harvard Women’s Leadership; the Representation Project; Project ALS, the Women’s Media Center, and VDay.org.
Sarah E. Johnson is a philanthropist, conservationist, and an environmental and education activist. A former portfolio and operations manager for Franklin Templeton, she is active on the boards of St. Lawrence University, The Aspen Science Center, and Conservation International. Her philanthropy has financed the Law Students for Reproductive Justice and charities throughout Africa and India. Her social issue documentaries include Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors without Borders and The Last Mountain. She founded the children’s clothing business, Spike & Annie.
Geralyn Dreyfous is an executive producer of the film who has a wide, distinguished background in the arts, has extensive experience in consulting in the philanthropic sector, and participates on numerous boards and initiatives. She is the founder of the Utah Film Center, a non-profit that curates free screenings and outreach programs for communities throughout Utah. In 2007, she co-founded Impact Partners Film Fund with Dan Cogan, bringing together financiers and filmmakers so that they can create great films that entertain audiences, enrich lives, and ignite social change. In 2013, she co-founded Gamechanger Films, the first for-profit film fund dedicated exclusively to financing narrative features directed by women. Her independent producing credits include the Academy Award-winning Born Into Brothels, Emmy nominated The Day My God Died, Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning The Square, Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning The Invisible War, and multiple film festival winners such as Kick Like a Girl, In A Dream, Dhamma Brothers, Project Kashmir, Miss Representation, Connected, Anita, and The Crash Reel. She was honored with the International Documentary Association’s Amicus Award in 2013 for her significant contribution to documentary filmmaking. Variety recognized her in their 2014 Women’s Impact Report, highlighting her work in the entertainment industry.