Providing personal perspectives spanning a diverse array of professions, we are honored to have these talented community contributors leading Black Barbie audience conversations after the screenings.

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Kashara Jones — Sun, Dec 17

With twenty years at Fifth Third Bank, Kashara Jones has experience in mortgage lending, contractor relations and property management.

A volunteer for fifteen years at the Winton Place Development Corporation, she has served as a board member and project manager, for the non profit that focuses on resident economic empowerment including the purchase and rehab of neighborhood properties. Kashara has also volunteered with Maslow’s Army and the Cincinnati Drum Camp.

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Crystal Kendrick — Fri, Dec 15

With an MBA from Northern Kentucky University and BBA in Marketing from Temple University, Crystal Kendrick has accumulated 25 years marketing experience focusing on under-served, international and hard-to-reach populations. Building on management experience with major corporations such as Fifth Third Bank and General Cable, she has realized the American Dream – owning and operating her own business.

Crystal’s marketing firm, The Voice of Your Customer, assists clients in using marketing techniques and tools to reach niche groups via media and outreach campaigns.

Her parallel endeavor, The Voice of Black Cincinnati, serves to educate, recognize and create opportunities for African Americans in the region. The website offers local news, events calendars, business listings, job postings, scholarships and more.

Crystal also finds time to give back as a volunteer — as a board member of CET Connect, Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum, Delta Sigma Theta, ArtsWave and the Northern Kentucky University Foundation and Alumni Council.

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Lisa Lennon — Fri, Dec 15

Lisa Lennon  received an MBA in Marketing from Xavier University, a BS in Chemical Engineering from Georgia Tech where she was president of the National Society of Engineers, and a BS in Chemistry from Spelman College, the oldest private historically Black liberal arts institution for women in the country.

Building on eight years as Director, Research & Development at Procter & Gamble, in 2017 she became a senior lead consultant with Innovative Leaders, LLC. 

Lisa’s career has focused on delivering innovation, intellectual property, consumer success, business growth and profitability in the consumer goods industry, where she gained experience leading and coaching women’s networks, African American Networks and technical women’s networks.  Her current volunteer experience includes board membership with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

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Tiffany Ware — Sun, Dec 17

Creative, energetic and outgoing, Cincinnati native Tiffany Ware holds a bachelor’s degree in business communication from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA from the University of Phoenix.

Founder and marketing director of The Brown Girls Project, for the past ten years she has passionately focused on BGP workshops and events that create community in safe spaces for young girls of color.

Throughout her career in consumer products and education, Tiffany’s passion for writing, marketing, fashion and beauty led to her current role – working to see that young girls find their voice and understand that they have the strength, smarts and style to be happy and survive in the world.

An important event presented by The Brown Girls Project is The Black Doll Giveaway – offering a variety of black dolls that allow children to see themselves reflected in their toys and encourage a sense of pride and self-acceptance.  Tiffany has graciously arranged for a doll giveaway at each of December’s Black Barbie screenings, intended for children ages 4 – 11.

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Black Dolls — A Brief Overview

Black dolls have been around for centuries. Earlier dolls offer stereotypical representation, while more recent depictions, often mass-produced, are more accurate and sometimes based on real people.

Reference works exist on the Internet and through book sellers. Debbie Behan Garrett’s websites and books are among the most comprehensive and best illustrated in the field. Follow the links below for an extensive array of information and pictures:

A fascinating excerpt from Black Dolls: A Comprehensive Guide to Celebrating, Collecting, and Experiencing the Passion. 

Virtual Black Doll Museum.

Black Doll Collecting Blog.

Lagueria Davis, Director/Producer

Lagueria Davis graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2007 with a BFA in Media Art. Since graduating, Davis has established herself as an award-winning filmmaker. Maid of Dishonor, a feature she co-wrote, was a 2016 Nicholls Fellowship Quarter-Finalist. In addition, she’s had four scripts place in the Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition. In 2019, her short film, Light in Dark Places hit the film festival circuit and is now streaming on Amazon.

Currently, her project Black Barbie: A Documentary is moving from the festival circuit to theatrical release. She is a 2021 fellow in the Mentorship Matters program. Davis resides in LA where she’s on the Emeritus Board of the Alliance of Women Directors.

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Aaliyah Williams, Producer

Peabody Award nominated producer Aaliyah Williams is the founder of Just a Rebel, a television and film production company that focuses on contemporary stories that center and celebrate Black women. Just A Rebel’s first look deal with CBS Television Studios has been renewed for a second year.

Previously, Williams ran The Digital Studio at MACRO, where she developed and produced Gentefied which was acquired and adapted by  Netflix. Williams is an Executive Producer on the series which just wrapped Season 2 and received a Peabody nomination for Season 1.

As CCO she co-created the MACRO Episodic Lab with the Black List’s Franklin Leonard. Additionally, she developed and produced the 2018 Sundance selection Leimert Park which is currently streaming on BET+ and has wrapped Really Love starring Kofi Siriboe, Uzo Aduba, Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing.

Originally from Arkansas and Oklahoma, Williams graduated from Harvard and is a Film Independent Project Involve, Sundance, and active Ron Brown Scholar alumna.

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LinLay Productions, Executive Producers

LinLay Productions is led by Grace Lay and actress Sumalee Montano. The two Asian-American women support intergenerational stories that center multicultural talent in front of and behind the camera. LinLay strives to amplify voices that deserve the chance to leave a visible and lasting mark in the history of storytelling. LinLay’s first project, a dystopian sci-fi adventure titled The Deal, was produced with Lisa Brenner and Dean Devlin of Electric Entertainment.

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Camilla Hall, Executive Producer

Camilla Hall’s first feature documentary, Copwatch, was nominated for Best Documentary at Tribeca in April 2017. She produced feature documentary Circus of Books, premiered at Tribeca and sold to Netflix.

She produced Freedom for the Wolf, which studied freedom struggles around the world. The film premiered at Sheffield Doc Fest, and screened at IDFA, won the Slamdance audience award and went on to show at over 40 festivals around the world.

 

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Jyoti Sarda, Executive Producer

Jyoti Sarda brings twenty years as a senior-level global marketing executive with major studios and blue chip brands to developing impact-creating, documentary and narrative content through her company Nimble Media LLC.

Her production And She Could Be Next, following a defiant women of color led movement to transform politics from the ground up aired on POV in June 2020.

She is also Co-Executive Producer of Equal Means Equal, an award-winning documentary feature that is an unflinching examination of the discrimination against women built into the US legal system. She is intently focused on improving the diversity of elected officials and the electorate.

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Milan Chakraborty, Executive Producer

Milan Chakraborty is Head of Film at Marginal MediaWorks, where he oversees the company’s efforts in independent, studio and streaming film. He is a 15 year veteran of the film industry and has produced and executive produced about 20 films, including My Friend Dahmer, Assassination Nation, and Plus One.  Milan began his career at Warner Bros Pictures and New Line Cinema in production finance and accounting and has been independently producing and co-financing and since 2008.

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Team member bios courtesy of BlackBarbieFilm.com.

Lagueria Davis, Director/Producer

Lagueria Davis graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2007 with a BFA in Media Art. Since graduating, Davis has established herself as an award-winning filmmaker. Maid of Dishonor, a feature she co-wrote, was a 2016 Nicholls Fellowship Quarter-Finalist. In addition, she’s had four scripts place in the Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition. In 2019, her short film, Light in Dark Places hit the film festival circuit and is now streaming on Amazon.

Currently, her project Black Barbie: A Documentary is moving from the festival circuit to theatrical release. She is a 2021 fellow in the Mentorship Matters program. Davis resides in LA where she’s on the Emeritus Board of the Alliance of Women Directors.

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Aaliyah Williams, Producer

Peabody Award nominated producer Aaliyah Williams is the founder of Just a Rebel, a television and film production company that focuses on contemporary stories that center and celebrate Black women. Just A Rebel’s first look deal with CBS Television Studios has been renewed for a second year.

Previously, Williams ran The Digital Studio at MACRO, where she developed and produced Gentefied which was acquired and adapted by  Netflix. Williams is an Executive Producer on the series which just wrapped Season 2 and received a Peabody nomination for Season 1.

As CCO she co-created the MACRO Episodic Lab with the Black List’s Franklin Leonard. Additionally, she developed and produced the 2018 Sundance selection Leimert Park which is currently streaming on BET+ and has wrapped Really Love starring Kofi Siriboe, Uzo Aduba, Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing.

Originally from Arkansas and Oklahoma, Williams graduated from Harvard and is a Film Independent Project Involve, Sundance, and active Ron Brown Scholar alumna.

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LinLay Productions, Executive Producers

LinLay Productions is led by Grace Lay and actress Sumalee Montano. The two Asian-American women support intergenerational stories that center multicultural talent in front of and behind the camera. LinLay strives to amplify voices that deserve the chance to leave a visible and lasting mark in the history of storytelling. LinLay’s first project, a dystopian sci-fi adventure titled The Deal, was produced with Lisa Brenner and Dean Devlin of Electric Entertainment.

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Camilla Hall, Executive Producer

Camilla Hall’s first feature documentary, Copwatch, was nominated for Best Documentary at Tribeca in April 2017. She produced feature documentary Circus of Books, premiered at Tribeca and sold to Netflix.

She produced Freedom for the Wolf, which studied freedom struggles around the world. The film premiered at Sheffield Doc Fest, and screened at IDFA, won the Slamdance audience award and went on to show at over 40 festivals around the world.

 

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Jyoti Sarda, Executive Producer

Jyoti Sarda brings twenty years as a senior-level global marketing executive with major studios and blue chip brands to developing impact-creating, documentary and narrative content through her company Nimble Media LLC.

Her production And She Could Be Next, following a defiant women of color led movement to transform politics from the ground up aired on POV in June 2020.

She is also Co-Executive Producer of Equal Means Equal, an award-winning documentary feature that is an unflinching examination of the discrimination against women built into the US legal system. She is intently focused on improving the diversity of elected officials and the electorate.

~~~~~~~~

Milan Chakraborty, Executive Producer

Milan Chakraborty is Head of Film at Marginal MediaWorks, where he oversees the company’s efforts in independent, studio and streaming film. He is a 15 year veteran of the film industry and has produced and executive produced about 20 films, including My Friend Dahmer, Assassination Nation, and Plus One.  Milan began his career at Warner Bros Pictures and New Line Cinema in production finance and accounting and has been independently producing and co-financing and since 2008.

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Team member bios courtesy of BlackBarbieFilm.com.

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