Kick It Up LA

Spokesperson Julie Foudy (GlobalGirl Media Spokesperson)

Former U.S. Women’s Soccer Team, Sportscaster, ESPN, Julie is one of the world’s top female soccer players. Foudy garnered two Olympic Gold medals, one Olympic gold- silver medal, and two World Cup championships during her seventeen years playing on the national team. She was one of the founding players of the first Women’s Professional Soccer League, the WUSA. Foudy won the 1997 FIFA Fair Play Award for her work against child labor, the first woman and first American to win the award, and in 2007 was inducted into the National Hall of Fame. Since 1988, Foudy has served as a soccer analyst and commentator for ESPN, where she has covered World Cups, Women’s World Cups and numerous international and national soccer events, in addition to serving as a commentator on SportsCenter, First Take and other ESPN programs. Foudy is slated to be part of the ESPN reporting team for the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa next summer.

Amie Williams (Executive Director/Co-Founder)

Amie Williams is an award winning producer/director specializing in film and video for NGO and international development organizations. Her films, such as the feature length Jula Kalr (Harsh Sun), Amani Noma (A Hard Peace), No Sweat and Uncommon Ground: From Los Angeles to South Africa have won numerous awards, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Peace Grant, the International Documentary David Wolper Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Media Grant, the SONY/Streisand Award for emerging female filmmakers among others. Amie’s work has appeared on the Discovery Channel, PBS, BBC, Current TV, Al Jazeera English and Kenya Television Nation. After graduating from Yale University, Amie lived and worked in Kenya as a teacher and health-communications consultant for the Ford Foundation and Care, International.

Juan Devis (Executive Producer, KCET)

Devis is the Director of Production at KCET New Media – PBS Los Angeles, in charge of all original online content and special projects, including; Webstories: Cultural Journalism in Southern California, the interactive documentary series Departures and SoCal Connected Online, and CPB’s gaming initiative Participation Nation. Devis has also collaborated with a number of non-profit media arts institutions in Los Angeles serving as producer, director and educator. Some of these projects include: Tropical America, an interactive game about the history of Latin America, the TV pilot Inter-State: Video on the Go, the media literacy project OpenPlay and many others. Devis’ film, TV, video and interactive work has been screened and exhibited across the globe. In the press, Juan Devis was presented as a major “influencer” in Los Angeles by the LA Weekly news publication, and his online series Departures was celebrated in the Sunday Arts section of the New York Times. Devis has received numerous grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Macarthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, among others and was the recipient of the Arnon Milchan Award for his film The Petty Curse of Having this Body.

Gary Dauphin (Executive Producer, KCET)

Gary Dauphin is Site Manager and Editor for KCET.org. Over the last 10 years he has held a number of senior positions at a number of national websites, including founding Director and Editor-in-Chief of AOL Black Voices, Editor-in-Chief of Africana.com and Editor-in-Chief and Site Manager of BlackPlanet.com. In addition to his work in new media, his writing has appeared in Bidoun, Essence, Interview, Lacanian Ink, The Root.com, Vibe magazine, the Village Voice, and other print and online publications.

Therese Steiner (Content and Distribution)

Therese Steiner, head of Therese Steiner Consulting, brings over 25 years experience in the media and entertainment industry to her work as a consultant with creative organizations. She has worked with both global and US based entertainment companies such as ESPN, Showtime, ABCnews.com, ABC Radio, AOL, Harper Collins Publishers, PBS, Sesame Workshop, Viacom and others. Previously, Therese served as Deputy Director of the Production Center at WNET/ Thirteen in New York, overseeing the production and distribution of WNET’s national programming portfolio including Great Performances, Nature, The MacNeil/ Lehrer Newshour, American Masters, among others. Ms. Steiner was a Field Producer on the Peabody, Emmy and Christopher Award winning series Heritage: Civilization and the Jews, with Abba Eban. Therese is on the Communications Council for Global Fund for Women and holds an AB from Harvard University and a MFA from Columbia University.

Meena Nanji (International Programs/ Co-Founder)

Meena Nanji, a graduate of California Institute of the Arts, is an award winning independent film/video-maker whose work focuses on explorations of race, cultural diasporas, gender rights as seen across the backdrop of social justice and human rights. Her internationally acclaimed projects, including Voices of the Morning, It is a Crime, and Net of Jewels, have been shown at film festivals, museums and galleries around the world. Her documentary,View from a Grain of Sand (2006), about women’s rights in Afghanistan, has won several film festival awards and was broadcast on PBS and internationally. Meena has received grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, National Endowment of the Arts, Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), Women in Film Foundation, Durfee Foundation, Paul Robeson Fund, among others. She served as a juror/panelist for grant-giving organizations and has taught and lectured at universities and conferences around the world.

Kamala Lopez (National Programs)

Kamala Lopez, founder of Heroica Films, is a filmmaker, actress and Yale graduate. Her award winning feature film debut A Single Woman is about the life of first US Congresswoman, noted pacifist and co-founder of the ACLU, Jeannette Rankin. Other award winning films include: Filet of 4, Ese Beso, Legal Affairs, among others. Born in New York City to an Indian mother and a Venezuelan father, Kamala is known for her many roles in television and film, such asSesame Street, Deep Cover, Born in East LA andI Heart Huckabees. She recently hosted the PBS series Wired Science and is a frequent blogger for the Huffington Post. Kamala is a fellow of Film Independent’s Director’s Lab, Writer’s Lab and sits on the Advisory Board of The Women’s International Film and TV Showcase.

Jessica O’Keefe (Ggmla Documentary Director/Producer)

Jessica Rebecca Gerstenzang O’Keefe is a true “European-mutt,” born to a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, free-thinking primarily Jewish family in St. Louis, Missouri and raised in Southern California where she produces, directs, writes and acts in her and her husband’s short filmsDeath and the Woman, Law of Sin andRetrograde, branching into documentary and educational filmmaking in 2009 with O’Keefe Films – focusing on female to female stories, art exhibits and internet promotions for Women’s Studies, LGBT Studies, the Equal Rights Amendment Movement and innovations in Psychology and Medicine. She will be attending UCLA in the fall, and is now producing, directing and editing documentary footage of the Los Angeles Global Girls.

Kenneth O’Keefe (Ggmla Documentary Director/Producer)

Co-owner of O’Keefe Films, of Black Irish, Italian and German heritage, Ken is a Los Angeles based editor, director and producer born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Trained at the University of Notre Dame’s Film School, his work can be seen in The Picture of Dorian Gray, Quid Pro Quo, Winged Creatures, Death and the Woman, Retrograde and Mars Needs Moms and many other feature and short films in addition to “Internet Promotionals” created with O’Keefe Films. Currently producing, directing and editing documentary footage of the Los Angeles Global Girls.

Shira P. White (Development and Outreach)

Shira P. White is President and Founder of SPWI Group, specialists in innovation management and design, consulting to companies such as Viacom, NBC, Kraft General Foods, Citigroup, Procter & Gamble, Pfizer, and Eastman Kodak. Shira is the author of the critically acclaimed international best seller New Ideas about New Ideas (Perseus Books, Financial Times/Pearson). An award-winning speaker on the subjects of innovation and creativity, Shira has appeared on television programs such as CBS Marketwatch, Bloomberg, and The World Show (PBS), as well as radio and print interviews around the world. She has also appeared at prominent international and regional conferences and corporate seminars. Previously, Shira worked as a creative director at some of the world’s top advertising agencies, including Ogilvy & Mather, Saatchi and Grey. Shira holds a BA from Temple University, a BFA from the School of Visual Arts, and an MBA from New York University Stern Graduate School of Business. She has also served as an instructor and guest lecturer at these institutions.

Kgomotso Matsunyane (Program Director-South Africa)

Kgomotso Matsunyane and TOM Pictures, Johannesburg
Kgmotoso, President of TOM Pictures, a South African Black Empowerment Equity company is GlobalGirl Media’s official South African production partner. Her award winning films such as The Moon in My Pocket,Sins of the Father and Heavy Traffic have been featured in many international film festivals such as the Banff Rockies Festival in Canada, the Festival International Film du d’Amiens in Paris, World Summit and in FESPACO in 2003. Previously, Kgomotso served as Commissioning Editor for SABC 1, overseeing the production of over 500 hours of local drama for the channel and was Editor for O Magazine South Africa. Kgomotso currently hosts a daily morning program, Good Morning Gauteng (kayafm95.9) and Late Night with Kgomotso on SABC 2 and produces the multi-award winning children’s educational series Soul Buddyz. Kgomotso is a graduate of Carleton College.