Womanhood: The Series

FILMMAKER AND PROFESSOR

Jessica McGaugh is an award-winning filmmaker and a tenure-track faculty member in the School of Theatre, Television, and Film at San Diego State University. She teaches production courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Jessica received an MFA in Film from Syracuse University with a Certificate of Advanced Study in Women’s Studies.

Jessica’s work celebrates diversity and inclusion through her use of underrepresented characters, storylines, and project collaborators. Her films have screened across the globe including the Vancouver Film Festival, Mumbai International Film Festival, Denver Film Festival, NDTV and Rocky Mountain PBS.

Currently in post production, her most recent film, Tina Tina Bo Bina follows a fictional performance artist struggling to balance the expectations of motherhood with the expectations of being an artist. Jessica created Womanhood: The Series, a collection of comedic short films, aiming to break the taboos associated with women’s bodies and gender expectations. The series is currently released to streaming platforms, and won awards for “Best Series” and “Best Director.” Red Pearl, Jessica’s debut narrative feature-film, was released worldwide to film festivals and streaming services. Her award-winning documentary release, Three Worlds, One Stage, is available through iTunes, Amazon, Roku and Walmart.

FILMMAKER AND PROFESSOR

Dr. Sheila E. Schroeder has been making films for 30+ years. Her work spans genre (documentaries and narratives) and form (short to feature) and has been accepted by over 100 film festivals across the globe. In 2015 she founded Project DU F.I.L.M. (film initiative linking mentors) as part of her work at the University of Denver where she has taught filmmaking since 1997. The goal of Project DU F.I.L.M. is to change the face of filmmaking both in front of and behind the camera by creating intentionally diverse stories and recruiting a variety of alumni and students to participate in this experiential mentorship program designed to give students opportunities to work on professional film sets. The Project’s films, Hunting Season, Happy F-ing Valentine’s Day, Scary Lucy, and the web series, Breaking the Turfgrass Ceiling, have garnered success around the world, but, more importantly, have provided experiential learning opportunities and career stepping stones for diverse students and alumni alike.

In season 1 of Womanhood: The Series, she wrote the short Judy, Judy, Judy based on her own experiences with menopause and she edited Maid of Honor. In season 2 her responsibilities range from grant writer to workshop producer to screenwriter to producer/director.

FILMMAKER AND PROFESSOR

Roma Sur is a filmmaker, based in Denver, Colorado. She has taught screenwriting for thirteen years in the Film and Television (FITV) department of CU Denver. Currently she teaches Capstone Production classes and screenwriting at University of Denver’s Media, Film and Journalism department. She is also developing collaborative projects with DU’s Office of Internationalization. Most recently, she has been inducted into Marquis Who’s Who, 125th edition, a humbling recognition of her contribution to the world of arts, academics and internationalization.

Sur writes young adult and female driven dramas with levity that are a cross-pollination of her immigrant experience of living in the US for twenty years, and her childhood in India. She also enjoys writing historical fiction. Her feature screenplay, The Rock Within, has been acknowledged by the Sundance Asian American lab, Stowe Story Labs, India’s leading pitch market, Film Bazaar, and Screencraft’s Funding contest. Her adapted feature screenplay titled ‘Shillong Times’, was a finalist at the Final Draft Contest. Her recent documentary, MAA has screened at multiple global film festivals, including the 42nd Breckenridge festival. She co-directed and co-produced Three Worlds One Stage, a documentary that is currently streaming on Amazon and iTunes. She is currently in development for her new film, QUEEN OF HEART, a short narrative that comments on gender based domestic abuse in Asian cultures, through a comedic lens. In Season 1 of Womanhood: The Series, she wrote Core.

FILMMAKER AND PROFESSOR

An eternal optimist, writer/director Cat Dale creates characters obsessed by hope in dark worlds. Her writing has won the ScreenCraft Pilot Launch, Shore Scripts, Sidewalk Sidewrite Film Festival, been a Nicholl Fellowship Quarterfinalist, featured on The Black List, and part of the CANNESFILMS UNLIMITED writing residency. Her three-short films, RUBBER & GLUE, WILDCAT, & TOUCH have won numerous awards, and screened both nationally and internationally. She is currently producing co-written features film Beasts Undiscovered in partnership with the Jim Henson Creature Shop & Myriad Pictures, as well as feminist western, Clara Boone.

She has been a second-round script reader for the Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Competition, reader for Stowe Story Labs, and was on the Sidewrite Screenwriting Jury for the Sidewalk Film Festival.

A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin MFA in screenwriting, she is currently a professor at the Montana State University where she adores working with her students in film production.

FILMMAKER AND PROFESSOR

Elisa Herrmann is a filmmaker from Brazil, with a degree in Art Education from Federal University of Parana, a specialization in Audiovisual Communication from Pontifical Catholic University of Parana, a Master of Fine Arts in Mass Communication and Media Arts from Southern Illinois University, and an EdD in Higher Education Leadership from Sam Houston State University.

In the past years, Elisa produced and directed several short films that screened in festivals worldwide. Elisa’s awarded short documentary “Rodrigo Herrmann – Life and Works” premiered in Curitiba, Brazil, during the prestigious 34th Music Festival of Curitiba, and screened at several international film festivals, including the 2016 Cannes Film Festival – Short Film Corner. Elisa is also an awarded screenwriter with her short screenplay “Death Expectancy” and feature screenplay “The Great Adventure of the Bentley Girls”. Elisa’s first feature documentary about the Brazilian religion Umbanda premiered at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston as part of the Afro-Atlantic Histories exhibition. Elisa’s latest short documentary “Undocumented: A Dream of Education” has been screened in festivals and conferences worldwide and has won multiple awards.

Elisa is an Associate Professor of Mass Communication and the Coordinator of the BA in Film at Sam Houston State University, where she teaches film production, advises students, promotes the program, and continues to produce her own films.

Virginia Rhodes (she/her) is the Project Director for the Women in Engineering ProActive Network’s (WEPAN) ADVANCE Resource and Coordination Network (ARC Network), a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant-funded project focused on advancing the culture of inclusion and diversity within science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines.

Virginia received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Notre Dame in 2017 and completed her Master of Science in Industrial Organizational Psychology from Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in 2019. Prior to joining WEPAN, Virginia was the Project Coordinator for IUPUI’s NSF ADVANCE Adaptation grant as well as a Research Associate at the STEM Education Innovation and Research Institute.

Her background focuses on workplace diversity, leadership development, and creating inclusive environments, where she applies psychological concepts and interventions to address gender and racial disparities throughout multiple STEM fields. She is passionate about creating organizational change related to diversity, equity, and inclusion and strives to build more intersectional and informed communities of practice.

She is fascinated by the world of film and specifically interested in utilizing visual mediums to promote equity in STEM spaces. She believes messages conveyed through a video format can be more accessible and have a significant impact on fostering diversity and inclusion and is excited to share her experience and expertise as a contributor to Womanhood: The Series, Season 2.

Lynda Wiest, Ph.D. is a professor in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she has been a faculty member since 1996 and currently serves as Chair of the Department of Educational Studies. Her work centers on mathematics education, educational equity, and teacher education. Dr. Wiest served as lead editor on a recent two-volume series titled Out-of-School-Time STEM Programs for Females: Implications for Research and Practice, which aligns with her experience as Director of the Nevada Math & Technology Program she founded in 1998. During her career, she has received numerous local through national awards for her work. Outside of academia, Dr. Wiest's interests include various types of sports and recreation, animal welfare, and narrative nonfiction writing.