Established in 2006, Cinereach began with the dream to support filmmakers that challenge dominant cultural scripts with nuance, artistry, and empathy. Today, Cinereach operates as both creative sanctuary and narrative strategist. Beyond creative partnership, we equip artists with tools, insights, and infrastructure that enable transformative storytelling of all mediums.
Our goal isn't just impact. It's cultural momentum.
To transform storytelling by blending narrative evolution with mainstream entertainment, sparking curiosity, empowering action, and fostering empathy and understanding.
We believe in the transformative power of stories to create a fairer, more resilient world. Through innovative collaboration and insightful research, we strive to craft narratives that inspire hope, drive change, and challenge the norm.
We believe the best ideas come from a place of curiosity. We seek new perspectives, challenge assumptions, and never stop learning.
We strive to create a storytelling culture that fosters empathy and deep understanding, leading to positive social change.
We recognize that storytelling evolves. We embrace innovation, adaptability, and the willingness to push creative boundaries.
With great storytelling power comes great responsibility. We are committed to ethical storytelling that upholds integrity and accountability.
Nurture your imagination and originality. Explore new ways of seeing and doing things and bring unique solutions and artistry to our work.
Manager, Learning & Design
Aditi is a researcher, communicator, and policy analyst who places equity and access at the heart of her work. Her past experience spans local government agencies, think tanks, and higher education institutions. She has a Master of Public Policy focusing in technology, behavior, and society, and certifications in digital humanities and data analytics. Outside of work, Aditi enjoys film photography, making ceramics, and baking. She grew up in Charleston, SC, but now proudly calls Washington, DC, her home.
Manager, Learning & Design
Director, Community
Aya has spent the last decade working towards equity and dignity for all across domains, ranging from middle school classrooms in Brooklyn and Washington Heights, to supporting children’s media creators in building worlds in which characters across lines of difference experience belonging and counter-stereotypic portrayal. In addition to her work in the narrative change landscape, Aya is completing an Oral History Masters. She is based in New York, NY (Uptown forever).
Director, Community
Director, Learning & Design
Brooke is a data scientist and systems administrator with a work history in higher education and student affairs, media and research incubation and programmatic operations. Being with family and friends is why she works to live. Reading, writing, traveling and learning about quantum physics and Antarctica are things that she enjoys. Brooke is based in Indiana.
Director, Learning & Design
Director, Strategic Partnerships
Charlene is an award-winning cultural and narrative strategist with 15 years of experience in media and impact. She has led creative projects and partnerships at Define American, Lionsgate, and Nerdist.com and has been a speaker at SXSW, The Television Academy Inclusion Summit, and ATX TV Festival. A proud first-generation child of immigrants, she is passionate about using the power of pop culture to foster social good. Charlene is based in San Francisco (Yay Area!) with roots in Los Angeles and Florida.
Director, Strategic Partnerships
Chief Creative Officer
Candice is an award-winning writer, producer and creative director who has worked extensively in the fields of advertising, film and television. She is known for developing, writing and producing groundbreaking projects for Nike, NBC Universal and the Tribeca Film Festival. She has a “say yes” philosophy to ice cream (and all things in this category) and often refers to how proud she is to be a Georgetown Hoya. Candice is based in New York.
Chief Creative Officer
Senior Manager, Marketing and Communications
Celeste specializes in marketing and communications for the arts and nonprofits, with 15 years of experience in the worlds of literary, visual, and performing arts. As a writer, she is passionate about storytelling and its power. She is happiest having movie theater popcorn for dinner, being in the ocean on Coney Island, dancing in a crowd, exploring a new place, or befriending a bookstore cat. Celeste is based in Brooklyn.
Senior Manager, Marketing and Communications
Operations Director
Margaret has extensive experience overseeing systems and operations, from the realm of hospitality to every phase of commercial and independent media production. When she’s not chronicling her own stories, she’s likely to be spotted in the wild running, looking at winged animals and generally indulging her (mostly) earthbound curiosities. Margaret is based in Brooklyn.
Operations Director
Chief Philanthropy Officer
Mary has 20 years of experience in fundraising and philanthropy for media and the arts. Her work has included annual and capital campaign fundraising, grant writing, major and planned giving and events. Mary is also a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE). She is a street taco connoisseur and enjoys cooking, gardening and spending time with her family and friends. Mary is based in Seattle.
Chief Philanthropy Officer
Director, Finance
Melissa is a nonprofit finance professional with over fifteen years of experience supporting arts organizations. Melissa likes to spend her free time wandering the city, seeing art (and sometimes making it), collecting tchotchkes and all the free furniture that can feasibly fit in her tiny apartment — not because she is a proponent of tiny living but because Melissa is based in Brooklyn.
Director, Finance
Manager, New Content and Business Affairs
Haley is an entertainment industry professional who has previously worked in film, television and music. She fluent in all things Internet and is always on the hunt for the next inspiring piece of media. When she’s not at work, you can find her screaming lyrics at a concert or screaming at a hockey game on her TV. Haley is based in Brooklyn.
Manager, New Content and Business Affairs
Events Manager
Jenna is an events manager and creative producer with over a decade of experience in arts focused nonprofits. Her work centers around building spaces of inclusivity with unexpected collaborators to create unique experiences through play, storytelling and conversation. When she's not working, you can find her performing her own stories on stage around the city or at the Mister Softee truck in Prospect Park. Jenna is based in Brooklyn.
Events Manager
Philanthropy Coordinator
Zubaydah is a fundraiser, writer, and project leader who weaves her experience across the entertainment and art industries to bridge the gaps between equity, media, and impact. Her portfolio spans securing annual and capital campaign funding for transformative initiatives as a certified development professional, to managing events, projects, and programmatic operations for media institutes, festivals, arts organizations, and tech foundations. This "puppy whisperer" who hails from New Jersey also finds joy in farmlife, cooking, traveling, and video games both as a player and developer.
Philanthropy Coordinator
Art Director
Theresa is an art director and designer in the independent film world and has collaborated with directors, film festivals, producers and art house theaters for more than a decade. Outside of design, her illustration practice focuses on her favorite things: black cats, her (sometimes) thriving plant collection, lots of snacks and ultra bright color palettes. Theresa is based in Brooklyn.
Art Director
Erica Williams Simon is an award-winning narrative strategist, author, creative, and interviewer. As the founder and former Head of Snapchat’s Creator’s Lab, Erica creates content and soulful conversations that help a diverse, digital native generation tell new stories about “who we are and how we want to live”. She is currently co-founder and partner of Story Strategy Group, a strategic consulting firm that helps mission driven organizations use story to tackle big challenges and make real-world change. Erica received the O Magazine Women Rule Leadership Award and has been featured in Harvard Business Review, The Washington Post, Huffington Post, and Essence Magazine.
Passionate about making an impact, Mỹ Lệ's experience bridges the nonprofit, social impact, corporate, and startup space. She is currently the Launch Director at Yunity Ventures | Imagine Fund, a venture fund and studio that is generating over $1B in funding focused on investing and supporting decentralized AI and deep tech innovations in the climate, health, and human longevity startup space. She previously worked at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Smithsonian Institution and has served on several nonprofit boards. She lives in Seattle, WA where she remains adamantly car-free and enjoys the many parks and greenspaces in and outside the city.
Phil founded and formerly directed Cinereach, pursuing a keen interest in independent film's role in culture. During his tenure, the company financed and/or produced films such as Citizenfour, Cutie and the Boxer, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, and Beasts of the Southern Wild. Most recently, inspired in part by the emergent systemic investing space, he’s seeing the bigger picture of how the creative strategies explored by Cinereach fit within broader impact investing portfolios and how films that Cinereach has produced serve narrative shifts that might be necessary for systems transformation. Phil also serves as a Trustee of Sundance Institute.
Bruce Rabb is a lawyer who advises nonprofit organizations. Previously he was a partner at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP. He has been involved with Human Rights Watch since 1980, currently serving as Director Emeritus and Secretary and is on the board of several other nonprofits including the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, War Childhood, Make Music Matter, USA, and the New York Institute for the Humanities, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Law Institute, and the New York City Bar Association.
Tamir Muhammad is a film executive and producer who most recently signed a multi-year film and television deal with Warner Bros. for his newly launched production company, Populace. Under the pact, Muhummad will develop original scripted and unscripted programming for the Warner Bros. Television Group, as well as theatrical films for the studio. Prior to joining Warner Media, Muhammad was VP, Content Development, for Tribeca Enterprise’s Digital Studios. He also previously served as VP of Film, TV and Online Programming at the Tribeca Film Institute, overseeing funding and development. He lives in NY with his wife Jessica Ann Peavy and two daughters.
Cinereach launches its inaugural Just Play Game Jam and celebrated the winners at an official SXSW 2024 event.
Cinereach pioneers new ways of story-making across all mediums and incubates culture-shifting ideas to drive impact at scale. Including the Civic Leadership Stories Project
Cinereach expands focus beyond film to include all kinds of media.
Cinereach supports the diversify.film database. Cinereach supports the Black TV & Film Collective inaugural fellowship.
Cinereach partners with The Black List. Cinereach is recognized by the IDA with the Pioneer Award.
Cinereach partners on SFFILM Invest, resulting in the funding of films including Mogul Mowgli (pictured), Cryptozoo, and All Light, Everywhere.
Cinereach launches the Organizational Support Program. Cinereach absorbs Film Presence, creates the Sustained Audience Development Program. Cinereach supports Sundance to create The Art Of Non Fiction. Cinereach creates the inaugural Producer’s Award. (Image: These Birds Walk)
Cinereach begins making program-related investments, eventually resulting in co-financing films such as Sorry To Bother You (pictured), The Assistant and Never Rarely Sometimes Always.
Beasts of the Southern Wild is nominated for four Oscars. Cinereach launches the Cinereach Fellowship.
Cinereach engages its first full production, Beasts of the Southern Wild.
Cinereach starts providing grants to fiction work as well. Cinereach launches the Reach Film Fellowship for emerging filmmakers.
Cinereach makes its first grant, provides support to nonfiction film projects, and organizations.
