Speakers

Her comedy writing earned her a position as a staff writer on the Disney animated series The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.

An American filmmaker and animator. Chris wrote the screen play for Wild Robot, wrote, directed and voice Lilo & Stitch, worked on Beauty and the Best, the Lion King and Mulan.

Leveraging her deep knowledge of the independent film space to bring 100s of films & documentaries to fruition.

Creative Director of digital design experience and project-based UI/UX, design, and video leadership.

At Hulu, Parker’s purview covers, all of adult animation including Futurama, Solar Opposites, and King of the Hill along with scripted hit Only Murders in the Building and more.

2024 Emmy Award Nominee for Outstanding Variety Special for Netflix's Chris Rock: Selective Outrage. Executive Producer. The Showrunner & Executive Producer for BET+'s highly-anticipated animated series, Lil Kev.

Writer and Co-Executive Producer on THE SIMPSONS since 2002. Now the Co-Creator and Co-Showrunner of the new BET + animated comedy series LIL KEV.

His talents go to Emmy Award winning Netflix series Blue Eye Samurai, Marvel’s Helstrom (Hulu), HBO’s True Detective.

Tiffany is a Sr. Creative Recruiter who brings almost 15 years of Animation and VFX experience, along with a background in talent acquisition to LAIKA. She partners with creative leads to identify talent and help build LAIKA’s growing VFX team with a focus on diversity.

A series regular on the Emmy & NAACP Award Winning Disney Plus cartoon “The Proud Family: Louder & Prouder." Alisa plays the bossy, but oh so lovable “La Cienega Boulevardez."

Eli has worked on an incredible catalog of voice-acting projects, like Need For Speed: Takedown, No More Room in Hell 2, Starship Troopers, Immortals of Aveum, Star Wars: The Order.

Dawn has consistently collaborated with Adult Swim as a Freelance Animation Talent Consultant since 2017. She’s been pivotal in finding new talent to create various custom animated packaging pieces for their On-Air Promotions Department.

John Kim is CEO of Deep C Digital, a distribution company he founded. Representing over 1,000 titles across all genres, Deep C Digital has become a leading distributor of family and black cinema content.

He is the Director of Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center. An award-winning VR director, design educator, and immersive storyteller.

Creator of the Skrumps franchise. Designed and created Graphic Novels, Comic Books, Short Story Books, Animation, Video Games and Toys.

She is in development as co-director on a feature with EPs Will.i.am, Jennifer Hudson and Snoop Dog, PIERRE THE PIGEON-HAWK.

James Jones Jr. is the Co-Founder and CEO of Bump, a wealth-building banking platform for creators, based in Los Angeles, tailored for creators, offering financial management tools and services to address the challenges creators face in managing their finances, tracking income, assessing market value, etc.

Vincent Edwards is an International award-winning creative entertainment professional with over 25 years of experience in crafting content for animation, film, and virtual reality.

Karama Horne (@theblerdgurl) is a host, journalist, and marketing strategist bringing her passion for storytelling and fandom to the stage.

Kerri was born in Jamaica and moved to New York with her parents and little brother when she was 11. Being an immigrant and feeling like an outsider led to her filling notebooks of poetry.

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Roye Okupe is an award-winning filmmaker, screenwriter, author, and founder of YouNeek Studios. In 2021, YouNeek landed a 10-book publishing deal through Dark Horse Comics (which was later extended by an additional 20 books in 2021) to create an original line of Superhero and Fantasy stories.

A producer on "Static Shock" (2000–2003) and is credited as an interim producer for the upcoming series "Iyanu" (2025). Her career reflects a strong commitment to the animation field.

Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Brandon attended Ithaca College and then earned his MFA in Screenwriting at Boston University

Michael is known for his memorable roles, such as Damon in the bestselling cozy game Wylde Flowers, Tyreese in the critically acclaimed horror game, The Walking Dead, and Darryl Waterhouse.

Voiceover artist, director, and coach. Directed voices for The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy on Amazon, starring Keke Palmer, Kieran Culkin & Tracee Ellis Ross. Directed VO and on-camera talent for Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Freeform, Sony, and more.

Shari B. Ellis is a veteran of the animation and visual FX industries, having worked for such greats as Disney Animation Studios, Sony, Bento Box Entertainment, Netflix, Apple TV+ and Tim Burton Productions.

Her journey in Entertainment & Media began at FOX. Then joined Disney's Diversity & inclusion team. Now owns her own consulting firm to revolutionize the workspace culture.

Dr. Brown, is a visionary force in creative ascension, a master of transformation who turns adversity into artistry, struggle into strategy, and setbacks into stepping stones. A Positive Psychology Coach,

15+ years as a Creative Executive & Producer with Amazon MGM, Showtime, and Netflix. Specializing in global content development & talent discovery, now bridges academia and industry to create opportunities for emerging filmmakers.

Educator with expertise in Video Game Design, VFX, Virtual Production, and Digital Media. Creator of The World of Madness Manor, an immersive storytelling game inspired by Tales from the Crypt.

A visionary artist and developer ingrained in the synthesis of technology, Afrofuturism, and global equity, his creative endeavors encompass an amalgamation of graphic novels, animation, gaming, and augmented reality.

Rheanna is a Technical Director on the upcoming show, Avatar: Seven Havens, at Nickelodeon Animation. She previously was an Animation Technician Intern at Pixar and a Technical Director Intern at Nickelodeon Animation.

Somto’s lives in Lagos, Nigeria. His expertise extends to directing animated music videos for Afrobeats icons like REMA and WIZKID, and stars such as Brent Faiyaz and Walshy Fire (Major Lazer).

With experience at Netflix, FX Networks, and Paramount Pictures. Dennis has built a strong foundation in media, marketing, & entertainment.

Dana expanded her voiceover to PBS, Nick Jr and Sprout. She plays multiple characters in video game sequences like Tom Clancy’s The Division and Saints Row.

Recently named Forbes 30 Under 30 in Art, Anatola is an artist, filmmaker, futurist, and founder of her studio, Reimagine Story Lab.

Carol works as a Junior Designer at Deutsch.  She studied art direction at book180 and is an alumni of the BLAC Internship program.

Adriel is a Canadian-American illustrator and animator. He has worked at Nickelodeon, Disney TV, Monkey Paw Productions, and Sony Animation on the hit shows Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.

A graphic designer at PlayStation Studios Creative with experience on major titles like God of War: Ragnarök, Spider-Man 2, League of Legends: Wild Rift, The Last of Us 2 Remastered, Astro Bot(Game of the Year winner).

Generalist programmer. Server work includes Hearthstone (Blizzard) and financial tech. Client work includes Oxenfree2 (Night School), Hearthstone (Blizzard), Dominations (Big Huge Games).

Alexa is a voice over artists. Her work includes Call of Duty, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Elder Scrolls, League of Legends, Final Fantasy, Titan Falls, Black Dessert, Death Loop, Star Wars, Death Loop, Wasteland , Guitar Hero and more.

Maryam is on Netflix's Technology Experience team where she enhances the way internal tools are implemented and maintained. As a leadership member of Black@ Netflix, Mari actively drives initiatives that foster community, connection, and inclusion.

Katie is a multi-disciplinary motion designer on the Brand studio team at CAA. Her experience in creating title animations for multiple production companies, she has helped them launch, grow and connect with their audience.

Kayla is an Executive Assistant at Nickelodeon Animation. Previously, she was a Production Assistant on the animated series Star Trek: Prodigy and is currently working on Dora. Kayla is also a freelance storyboard artist.

Alejandro is a marketing and community management expert in product marketing, brand growth, and industry partnerships. Founder of Community Rodo, dedicated to teaching marketing and community management skills to game developers and startups.

CURTIS HAS PENNED THE UPCOMING BLACK PANTHER VIDEO GAME FOR ELECTRONIC ARTS/MARVEL GAMES. HE'S ALSO WRITTEN ADDITIONAL MARVEL PROPERTIES SUCH AS MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN AND STORM

Jenkins is an experienced executive in the Technology, Film, Television, and Radio industries. He currently serves as VP of the Hollywood Professionals Association, Immediate Past President of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers

Michael is a Creative Director and former Global Marketing Design Lead at Riot Games. He now freelances as Hello Trilly for clients like Epic Games.

Shabrayia started in live action, working on various shows and indie features, before transitioning to animation, where she worked her way up to Producer. Her animation film credits include Kung Fu Panda 3, Trolls, The Boss Baby, Abominable, and most recently, Dog Man.

Michael is an Art Director and Visual Development Artist known for crafting iconic characters and immersive worlds across film, animation, and video games. His work has shaped beloved franchises, with key contributions to Moon Knight, Supergirl, Ahsoka Tano, Boba Fett, and more.

Safiya is a Senior Creative Executive at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Before joining Disney's Development team, she worked as a Creative Executive at Harpo Productions (The Me You Can’t See) and Pascal Pictures (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, The Post, and 2019’s Little Women).

Jonako serves as a Senior Creative Executive in Development at Walt Disney Animation Studios, supporting filmmakers as they develop their ideas into feature films, series, and other projects.

Eric is currently a Creative Media Consultant, specializing in designing training programs and production pipelines for animation, video games, and XR.

Damien is a creative technologist, digital archivist, and augmented reality (AR) artist and developer. He is the founder of Black Terminus AR.T, an augmented reality camera company that enables artists

Ayo is the founder of SPOOF! Animation, a Nigerian studio. Elegba has built a team of animators in Lagos, servicing clients in America, Canada, France, and beyond. His studio has become a hub for world-class animation production, showcasing African talent on the global stage.

Timothy is a Cultural Technical Game Designer. He currently works at Brass Lion Entertainment as the Lead Encounter Designer for their upcoming Action RPG. He is also a designer on Clock Out at 2 and the "Head Chef" of the Melanated Game Kitchen.

Ezra Edmond is a creative professional with a multifaceted career spanning animation production, writing, directing, and visual effects. Currently, he is the Line Producer for Disney Junior's Ariel at Wild Canary Animation

Musa is a director, animator, writer and producer, who most recently served as Supervising Director for the new BET+ animated series Lil Kev, based on the life of comedian Kevin Hart. He's animated for The Simpsons, Community, and Elf and directed animation for black-ish, Wa les + Mochi.

She’s contributed to some of the most iconic and groundbreaking project; Encanto, Strange World, Hotel Transylvania, The Last of Us, The Sims 4, and Killzone. Made her directorial debut with Nickelodeon’s Max and the Midnights.

Felicity is the Executive Vice President at Animal Logic Entertainment and leads a diverse development slate of Animated, Hybrid and Live Action family content that is committed to honoring Animal Logic’s deep roots as visual innovators alongside premier creative talent.

Jonathan is a game developer and has shipped over 3 dozen game and digital projects across multiple platforms , worked in the virtual production space to create animation tools built on games technology, and is currently working as a Gameplay Engineer II at VR studio.