Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Shannon Denise Evans
Welcome to NYWIFT, Shannon Denise Evans! Shannon Denise Evans is a multidisciplinary creator and Founder of Storycraft Eleven, focused on character-driven stories where the supernatural is hiding in plain sight. She is an award-winning writer/director/actor with over 65 awards associated with her various original works in film, television, theatre, and publishing. Shannon is a member of WGA, SAG-AFTRA, Dramatists Guild, American Federation of Musicians, Society of Composers and Lyricists, and Actors' Equity Association.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Molly Rydzel
Welcome to NYWIFT, Molly Rydzel! Molly Rydzel (WGAE) is a screenwriter specializing in female-driven horror and dark satire. She was a staff writer and story editor on Alejandro Iñárritu’s The One Percent for Starz and head writer of the web series Assisted Living. Her horror play, Serial Lover, was developed with Ars Nova and Sanguine Theater Company. Molly teaches screenwriting at New York University and Pace University, specializing in horror, fantasy, and science fiction. She is developing a slate of mythic horror features and is committed to creating more opportunities for women in genre film through bold, commercially viable storytelling.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Julie Pham
Welcome to NYWIFT, Julie Pham! Julie Theresin-Pham is a Vietnamese American actor, storyteller, host, writer, producer, and business strategist based in New York City. A first-generation immigrant and mother, she creates experiences that bring people together through storytelling, hospitality, and community. Her work explores identity, family, belonging, and human connection across film, performance, and documentary storytelling. She trained at the William Esper Studio, graduated from the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) improv training program, serves on the Junior Board of TADA! Youth Theater, and is developing her first documentary, American Daughter: Stories We Carry. She is also an active NYWIFT member who values collaboration, mentorship, and connection.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Bella Rieth
Bella Rieth is a first-generation Brazilian-German, NYC-based director and producer, and a graduate of the School of Visual Arts who also studied at the Atlantic Acting School Conservatory. Before film, she trained at the New England Conservatory and performed in theatre internationally, building a life of storytelling that eventually pulled her behind the camera. Her recent shorts, including Lottie, Poor Creature, Ebba, and Icaro, have played at festivals from Tokyo to Santa Cruz to Florence. Alongside her own films, Bella produces and field produces across narrative, commercial, music video, and documentary projects throughout New York and beyond.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Ayo Oti
Welcome to NYWIFT, Ayo Oti! Ayo Oti is a media creative, social impact professional, and emerging filmmaker. She publishes Sounds Like Impact, a curated resource for social impact podcasting, and hosts Audio For Action Live. Previously, she produced for How to Save a Planet and Degrees: Real Talk About Planet-Saving Careers. Ayo is currently developing two documentary films: one exploring first-generation Nigerian identity and another examining African American creatives inspired by Mexico and its artistic practices. Beyond her own work, she collaborates on social issue documentaries as a producer, supporting projects across production, strategy, and impact distribution to help stories reach and engage audiences.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Allie Delury
Welcome to NYWIFT, Allie Delury! Allie Delury is an award-winning producer and director known for Fault (Tribeca 2026), The Last Goodbye (AFF 2025), Tender Thoughts (Tribeca 2024), and Ivy Grace (CNN NBC Nightly). She was featured on the cover of MovieMaker Magazine for producing All Is Well in 48 hours and has also been to over 100 countries, done vanlife in Australia, sailed around the world, and worked as a combat camera officer in the Air Force. She now owns Work Our Way Productions, a 100% veteran owned-and-operated production company in Brooklyn.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Christine Oliva-Castillo
Welcome to NYWIFT, Christine Oliva-Castillo! Christine is a licensed clinician and award-winning screenwriter with over two decades of experience in substance abuse disorder treatment and public health. Drawing on lived experience and clinical expertise, she writes stories that challenge how we see addiction, recovery, and the systems people navigate to survive both. Her feature screenplay Worthy has earned recognition at the Toronto Female Film Festival, Love Wins Film Festival, Page Turner Awards, LGBTQ Unbordered International Film Festival, and the Script Hall of Fame, among others. She is currently producing YTHROW, a short film set over one night in a county jail holding cell — a story of hope that honestly confronts the barriers standing between people and the care they deserve.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Rhona Silverbush
Welcome to NYWIFT, Rhona Silverbush! Rhona’s windy career path led to her co-writing the award-winning pilot for Dark Ladies, a series she and Sami Plotkin are poised to take into the marketplace. Rhona studied psychology and theater, acted regionally, became a lawyer representing asylum seekers, and worked with the Roosevelt Institute before returning to her first loves – theater and writing. She co-produced/co-directed Conversations with Shakespeare with Daniela Varon at Symphony Space. She’s written Speak the Speech! Shakespeare’s Monologues Illuminated with Sami Plotkin; ‘wichcraft: craft a sandwich into a meal–and a meal into a sandwich’ for chefs Tom Colicchio and Sisha Ortuzar; and the Terrific Toddlers picture books with Carol Zeavin. She’s also a story consultant for documentarian George Nierenberg. In our interview, Rhona shares insight on pivoting careers, the lessons she’s learned along the way, and all things Shakespeare.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Asha Dahya
Welcome to NYWIFT, Asha Dahya! Asha Dahya is a social impact filmmaker and storyteller. She is the director and producer of an award-winning short documentary about later abortion called Someone You Know, which premiered at the 2024 Athena Film Festival. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for My Name Is Siri, an autism awareness documentary that premiered on PBS. In 2025, Asha executive produced and co-hosted an award-winning audio and video series about Latin America’s Green Wave abortion rights movement called Green Tide Rising. Her latest short documentary is A Tiny Revolution, the story of how Meg Crane invented the first home pregnancy test.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Rachel Schwartz
Welcome to NYWIFT, Rachel Schwartz! Rachel Schwartz has been a staff member at the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) since January 2019, in rising roles as the Manager, then Director, and now Head of Daytime and Children’s & Family Emmy Awards. Prior to that, she worked at the American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards, for eight years. Therefore, she is halfway to an “administrative EGOT.” Rachel graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern University with a BA in Theatre and a minor in Women’s Studies in 2005. The crowning achievement of her education was her undergraduate thesis on a proposed new voting system for the Primetime Emmys. She has been obsessed with awards shows since sixth grade, when she passed out Oscar ballots to the rest of her class. She is proud to be a native New Yorker, born and raised in Queens.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Persia White
Welcome to NYWIFT, Persia White! Persia White is an actor, director, writer, visual artist, musician, and activist best known for her lead roles on Girlfriends and The Vampire Diaries. A passionate filmmaker, she co-produced the award-winning documentary Earthlings, narrated by Joaquin Phoenix. Her directing work includes acclaimed music videos such as Vampire, NOLA, and Robot Love, earning international festival recognition. She has also produced and co-written award-winning short films for Russell Simmons and Ovation. Persia co-founded Morgan White Productions with Joseph Morgan, and in 2026, Persia is launching Always and Forever, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting diversity and amplifying female voices in film, TV, and the visual arts.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Isabella Medina Sarria
Welcome to NYWIFT, Isabella Medina Sarria! Isabella is a New York–based film producer originally from Colombia, known for developing and producing internationally-recognized projects. Her award-winning short films include Delusion, which won at the Berlin Indie Film Festival and earned recognition at the LA Indie Film Festival and New York Shorts International Film Festival. She has expanded into feature films, working on Up in the Hills (starring Dylan Walsh and Paris Berelc), Tox (starring Margaret Colin), and Higher Love (starring Dennis Haysbert and Joe Pantoliano), which wrapped production in August 2025. Her work is driven by a strong creative vision, championing well-represented female characters and immigrant stories.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Georeen Tanner
Welcome to NYWIFT, Georeen Tanner! Georeen Tanner is a versatile producer with over 15 years of experience working cross-platform for FOX News Media. She has produced live and taped programming for FOX News Channel and FOX Business Network, and has created content for FOX News Digital. With FOX News Audio, she ventured into podcasting, winning an award from the San Francisco Press Club for her 2022 podcast Nightmare in Chowchilla: The School Bus Kidnapping. She now produces for the streaming service FOX Nation. Her latest project is the four-part series He Killed Them All? The Robert Durst Investigation, which she produced and narrated.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Jaime Schwarz
Welcome to NYWIFT, Jaime Schwarz! Jaime Schwarz grew up in NJ, the daughter of a Korean immigrant mother and son of Holocaust- survivors, father. Jaime earned her BFA in Acting from PACE University in NYC, appearing Off- Broadway in The Doctor at the Park Avenue Armory and on TV in Difficult People (Hulu), Younger (Paramount+), Jane the Virgin (The CW), Sorry for Your Loss, and Elsbeth (CBS). She is the director, writer, and star of the short film The Sandwich Line, which premiered at the Oscar-qualifying Indy Shorts International Film Festival, and her other writing work has been published in Mixed Asian Media and JoySauce. She’s currently developing several projects and is repped by Gersh + MJ Management. In our interview, Jaime discussed her journey from acting to directing and shared her experience of working in TV.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Alyssa Lomuscio
Welcome to NYWIFT, Alyssa Lomuscio! Alyssa Lomuscio is a TV editor, story producer, and assistant director based in NYC. Her work as a story producer has earned her two Daytime Emmy award nominations in the Outstanding Lifestyle Program category. She is also a science fiction writer of short stories, novels and screenplays under the pen name A.M. Lomuscio. A 2019 Clarion writer’s workshop alum, her short fiction can be found in Apex magazine and Uncharted. In our interview, Alyssa discussed her time balancing being an AD and a writer and shared stories of working in TV.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Carmen Matias
Welcome to NYWIFT, Carmen Matias! A graduate of Hunter College in the 1970s, producer Carmen earned a degree in Broadcast with a minor in Theatre. Television was both an escape and a source of fantasy throughout her early life, ultimately guiding her toward a career in the medium, which she came to see as the best possible profession for her creative ambitions. In our interview, Carmen discussed her experience producing and shared her advice for young creatives.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Farah Otero-Amad
Welcome to NYWIFT, Farah Otero-Amad! Farah Otero-Amad is a trilingual video producer and host for The Wall Street Journal, where she writes, shoots, and edits short-form vertical videos that reach millions across platforms. She recently directed and produced her first award-winning short documentary, Breaking the Cycle, which follows a hip-hop school in Medellin, Colombia, where students compete for the title of the city’s top breakdancer. Previously, Farah worked for The New York Times, Apple TV’s The Problem with Jon Stewart, and NBC News. She is a graduate of Columbia’s Journalism School, a Fulbright Scholar, and a former Division I athlete.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Chloe Derian
Welcome to NYWIFT, Chloe Derian! Chloe Derian is a filmmaker, photographer, and creative strategist who combines artistry and strategy to craft stories that inspire and connect audiences. With a strong background in marketing and multimedia production, she has led campaigns and creative projects that elevate brands and highlight authentic voices. Her expertise spans event production, photography, and film, focusing on visual storytelling that balances emotional resonance with strategic impact. Chloe values collaboration and innovation, keeping pace with trends in film, photography, and digital media. She is dedicated to projects that amplify diverse perspectives and spark meaningful conversations.
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