I create multimedia resources that help people have constructive conversations about difficult topics.
I’m a filmmaker, film programmer and education consultant who loves to use media and the arts to spark discussion (and hope!) about issues relating to gender, culture and justice. My recent work with feature documentary A Better Man (executive produced by Sarah Polley) earned coverage in the New Yorker and BuzzFeed, as well as a Golden Sheaf Award from the Yorkton Film Festival and a nomination for a Canadian Screen Award. As co-founder of Drunk Feminist Films, I create fun, lighthearted spaces for feminists to have complicated feelings about the movies they hate to love. I was also a complainant in a court case you might have heard about, ideally not through one of the many unhinged right-wing blogs that covered it.
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Since 2016, I’ve been working on A Better Man, a documentary co-production of Intervention Productions and the National Film Board (NFB) that Hot Docs called the “most-buzzed film” of their 2017 festival. The film follows conversations between co-director Attiya Khan and the man who abused her when they were teenagers 25 years ago, exploring what it means to take responsibility for gender-based violence.
As the film’s Impact Producer, my job was to seed discussions about the film in schools, workplaces and communities. My work has included:
- Writing and editing discussion kits for various audiences (general, unions, and men’s groups)
- Project-managing the development, pilot and release of the A Better Man high school learning kit in partnership with the NFB and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation
- Distilling key messages and advising on media strategy, earning accolades for the film in the New Yorker, Maclean’s and BuzzFeed
- Public speaking about the film in locations ranging from Haida Gwaii, British Columbia to Bled, Slovenia (you can hear me discuss the project on TIFF’s Long Take podcast or CBC Metro Morning)
- Co-directing the film’s interactive companion piece It Was Me, which won the inaugural Golden Sheaf Award for Digital Media at the 2018 Yorkton Film Festival and was nominated for a 2019 Canadian Screen Award for Best Original Interactive Production
I’ve done this kind of work for other films, like the NFB’s Status Quo? The Unfinished Business of Feminism in Canada and groundbreaking 2018 documentary Slut or Nut: The Diary of a Rape Trial, about Mandi Gray’s ordeal pursuing justice for her rape through the courts. Want to hire me to get people talking about your film? Head on down to Contact.
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As co-founder of Drunk Feminist Films (DFF), I co-produce lighthearted events and media that use a tongue-in-cheek drinking game and cocktail-fuelled feminist commentary to tease apart the tropes of mainstream movies. DFF hosts campus-based educational screenings alongside our regularly sold-out public events across Toronto.
DFF has been covered by outlets like the Globe & Mail, CBC, NOW, BuzzFeed and VIBE. We’ve been described as “the exact opposite of what is expected in the traditional theatregoing experience,” and as “one of the happiest, safest, funnest spaces I’ve ever experienced.” I’m so proud: we started out hosting legally questionable screenings in the backs of sushi houses in 2013, and now we host our flagship event at the gorgeous 650-seat Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. You should join us sometime.
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Beyond the film universe, I consult on a wide array of gender justice-related projects. One project I’m particularly proud of is Change Together, a diversity guidebook for start-ups and scale-ups that I authored in collaboration with TechGirls Canada and TWG. Change Together captures what we learned by piloting 11 strategies to strengthen diversity and inclusion at TWG over the course of a year. In the spirit of open source, we shared it as a DIY toolkit to help other small-to-medium-sized businesses take positive steps forward. (The beautiful header illustration on this page, created by Andréa Crofts, is from this guidebook.)
Other previous consulting clients include White Ribbon, Mozilla, and Long & McQuade. My consulting work focuses on educational resource development, program design and evaluation, and project management on topics relating to gender-based violence and gender equity. For select clients, I also do content strategy and event planning. Interested in hiring me for a project? Contact me.
My past work as a feminist advocate ranges from co-founding grassroots group Women in Toronto Politics, to advocating for greater access to restorative and transformative justice at the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women, drawing upon my
experiences as a complainant in the criminal court system.
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I love to share my ideas through media and public speaking. My work been profiled by outlets including the Toronto Star, CP24, the Globe & Mail and CityNews, and my comments on politics, feminism, technology and pop culture have been featured on CBC’s The Current and The National, ET Canada, Global News and FLARE Magazine. As a public speaker, I am represented by the National Speakers Bureau. I’ve delivered keynotes, Q&As and panel presentations at events ranging from business conferences to campus learning sessions to TEDxToronto 2013.
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Want to work together? Get in touch.