See the event's slideshow:
Lisa Cortés, Producer (pictured above), is a veteran of both the film and music industries. She began her career in the music industry working with label chiefs Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin to launch the Def Jam brand. For a decade Cortés served as Vice President of Artist and Repertoire at Mercury Records, where she worked with such artists as Vanessa Williams, Brian McKnight, Black Sheep and produced several Grammy-nominated albums. In 1995 she founded Loose Cannon Records which was a subsidiary of Polygram Records. Most recently she executive produced the film
Precious, which won the 2009 Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance and was nominated for three Golden Globes. Cortés began working with Lee Daniels Entertainment shortly before the firm's 2002 debut film,
Monster's Ball, went into production. Additional producer credits include
The Woodsman, Shadowboxer and
Tennessee. Cortés serves on the boards of Yaddo, Trajal Harrell Dance and was recently elected to the board of directors of The Independent Television Service (ITVS) which brings independently produced public broadcast and new media programs to local, national and international audiences. She has also launched her own production company, Cortés Films.
Chyna Lane has generated buzz for her most recent role as Rhonda in the feature film
Precious. She has also been seen as Juanita in
Cadillac Records, as a teen geek in
All Screwed Up and as Deyah Kingston in the HBO film
Life Support. A Deeper Love marks her first producing credit, and was the first project produced by her company, Lawrence Layne Productions. It was honored as Best Religious Film at the 2008 San Diego Black Film Festival and was an official selection at the American Black Film Festival, the Martha's Vineyard African-American Film Festival, the Pocono Mountains Film Festival and the Tomi Film Festival in New Orleans.
Tuliza Fleming,
Moderator, serves as a curator for the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian. Currently, she is co-curating with Dr. Guthrie Ramsey the first major exhibition to document the history and relevance of the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
Ain't Nothing like the Real Thing: The Apollo Theater and American Entertainment will open in April of 2010 at the National Museum of American History and tour the country for three years. Prior to joining the museum, she worked for five years as the Associate Curator of American Art at the Dayton Art Institute in Ohio as well as at other institutions.
Produced by Rachel Gordon and Dolly Turner