Meet the Filmmakers
Sha-Risse R. Smith (@agent5smith) is a writer, mother, and proud Harlemite. Her passion is to bring diversity to film by creating unique stories which showcase strong female characters. Her award-winning film Strive starring JoiStarr and Danny Glover is a tribute to the legacy of Striver's Row in Harlem. In addition to filmmaking, Sha-Risse loves graffiti and is active in sticker art culture worldwide under the alias Agent 5 Smith.
Will Deloney (@cwi_fb) is an Emmy Award winning storyteller, with over 18 years of experience producing and directing television, motion pictures, and digital content. As the Executive Director for Pixelated Ideas, Will currently manages a group of creative professionals across the U.S. capturing culture-defining moments that attract diverse audiences. Current obsessions include independent film, documentaries, stickers, street art, and fingerboards.
Tori Luecking is a multimedia journalist in New York City. Her body of work includes video and print pieces on religion, New York subcultures, and government.
She was a 2022-2023 Reporting Fellow for Religion News Service and her work has appeared in The Washington Post and Interfaith America Magazine. She holds a Masters of Journalism from New York University. On the weekends you can find her listening to true crime podcasts and spending time with friends.
Stacey Governale-Bloom started her career in television as a Production Assistant for MTV’s Alternative Nation. She later moved on to entertainment news and spent several years as Story Coordinator and Segment Producer developing news, celebrity and human-interest day-of-air and feature stories for Extra. Switching gears into the digital age, she joined the start-up celebrity photo agency WireImage.com as a Senior Executive. At WireImage Entertainment, she developed their television, feature film, and fashion clientele making them a leading force in the digital image industry. Years later, she joined Splash News to manage all North American broadcast negotiations and collaborate with their news desks worldwide directing daily entertainment editorial decisions. Most recently, Stacey was asked by Getty Images to develop their GC Images Collection (Getty Candids) and serve as Entertainment Product Specialist. While establishing this collection, she hired and managed a team of photographers, directed contributors on content coverage and pitched and negotiated deadline-sensitive material to cross platform clientele.
Alicia Parrott (@she.posse) brings 20+ years of experience and creative excellence as a graphic designer and marketing specialist. Her successful journey through a high-powered advertising agency, boutique marketing firm and corporate in-house marketing teams has provided her with the knowledge and courage to push the boundaries of visual storytelling. Alicia’s admiration and dedication to artistic expression has extended into building community arts programs, multi-media productions and creating her own street art/stickers under the moniker ShePosse.
Jim Tozzi studied film and illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. He moved to New York and started working at Broadcast Arts, inking and painting animation cells.He created the award winning “Twip” campaign for Nick at Nite’s TV Land. He directed commercial spots for Miller Lite, Sprite and Florida’s anti-tobacco campaign as well as an award winning campaign for Kellogg’s Rice Krispie Treats for Leo Burnett. As part of the art collective PFFR, Jim designed animation characters and puppets for the cult hit show Wondershowzen. He co-created and produced Xavier Renegade Angel on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. Jim continues to draw, paint, make puppets and do low level graffiti crimes featuring Bert’s tit.
Ricky de Laveaga was born an artist, started making movies in high school, and never looked back. He majored in film at UT Austin, concentrating on documentary editing and ethnographic film. Between shooting and editing commercials, television, and feature films, he collaborated with ad agencies producing and documenting audiovisual experiences and installations. For the past decade, he has been working as a digital media consultant, specializing in video and web design/development, as he continues to pursue cinematic projects, lately focusing on animated shorts under the banner of his up-and-coming studio, Famebot.