Power Book II: Ghost ©️ MMXXI Lions Gate Television Inc. All rights reserved. Blindspotting ©️ MMXXI Lions Gate Television, Inc. All rights reserved. Hightown ©️ MMXXI Lions Gate Television Inc. All rights reserved. Power Book III: Raising Kanan ©️ MMXXII Lions Gate Television Inc. All rights reserved. P-Valley ©️ MMXXII Lions Gate Television Inc. All rights reserved. Outlander ©️ 2022 Sony Pictures Television Inc. All rights reserved. Shining Vale ©️ 2021 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. & Lions Gate Television Inc. All rights reserved. STARZ and related channels and service marks are the property of Starz Entertainment, LLC
Jennifer Minezaki-Washington is Executive Vice President of Corporate & Brand Communications for STARZ.
Based in the company’s Santa Monica office, Minezaki-Washington is responsible for the company’s communications strategy including internal and external communications, prosocial, government affairs and driving the company’s #TakeTheLead initiative which she was integral in launching in February 2021. After joining the company in October 2020 as Senior Vice President, Publicity and Events, Minezaki-Washington took on expanded oversight also overseeing Awards and Talent Relations for the company starting in November 2020. She was promoted to her current role in March 2021.
Before joining STARZ, Minezaki-Washington served as Director, Original Series Publicity at Netflix. There, she led the global publicity efforts for the blockbuster hit “Stranger Things” and led the team responsible for some of Netflix’s most popular Young Adult and Family series. Prior to joining Netflix, she was a Publicity executive at Walt Disney Television, GSN and NBC Universal.
Minezaki-Washington holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Media Studies from the University of Southern California.
Michelle K. Sugihara is the Executive Director of CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment), the pioneering non-profit professional organization creating systemic change in Hollywood from the writers’ room to the boardroom to the living room. She is a fourth generation Japanese American born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She graduated with honors from Claremont McKenna College with a dual major in Economics and Psychology and a minor in Asian American Studies, followed by a law degree from UCLA. Prior to joining CAPE, she was an entertainment attorney, film producer, and adjunct professor for the Claremont Colleges’ Intercollegiate Department of Asian American Studies.
A prolific public speaker, Sugihara speaks across the country on Asian Representation in Media; Women in Entertainment; Diversity and Inclusion; Leadership; and other topics. She is also an associate member of Cold Tofu, the nation’s premier Asian American comedy improv and sketch group. She teaches “Improv for Lawyers” and has performed improv internationally.
Sugihara’s community involvement includes her roles as founding member of the Asian Pacific American Friends of the Theater, leadership team member of Time’s Up Women of Color, #GoldOpen co-lead, former Co-Chair of the Multicultural Bar Alliance of Southern California, member of PBS-SoCal Asian Pacific Islander Community Council, former VP of OCA-Greater Los Angeles, past president of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Los Angeles County, past member of Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles’s Executive Advisory Council, and past board member of the Japanese American Bar Association. Sugihara is a recipient of the KTLA 5 AAPI Visionaries Award, the prestigious National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s Best Lawyers Under 40 award, and the Los Angeles County Bar Association, Real Property Section’s Outstanding Young Lawyer award. She was named a “Rising Star” in Los Angeles Magazine’s Super Lawyer Rising Star section for seven years, an honor bestowed on only 2.5 percent of attorneys in the state each year.
Zoë Chao has a body of work that spans theatre, innovative television series and feature films. Chao was most recently seen in Aline Brosh McKenna’s romantic comedy for Netflix, YOUR PLACE OR MINE, opposite Reese Witherspoon, Ashton Kutcher and Jesse Williams.
Upcoming, Zoë can be seen in Marielle Heller’s NIGHTBITCH opposite Amy Adams. And in IF YOU WERE THE LAST opposite Anthony Mackie which premiered at SXSW in February. The movie follows two astronauts (Chao and Mackie) who think they’ve been lost in space forever who fall in love, becoming content with their isolated lives, only to suddenly have to return to Earth.
Chao can be seen in the new season of STARZ’s cult favorite PARTY DOWN. The latest installment follows a Los Angeles catering team – a sextet of Hollywood wannabes stuck working for tips while hoping for their “big break.”
Chao wrapped production last Fall on Apple’s Season 2 of Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s murder mystery comedy, THE AFTERPARTY. Chao was awarded the “Actress Award for Television” at the Inaugural Critics Choice Association Celebration of Asian Pacific Cinema & Television for her work on the show, which will return this Summer.
Other credits include: LOVE LIFE (HBO Max), MODERN LOVE (Amazon), SENIOR YEAR (Netflix), LONG WEEKEND (Sony), DOWNHILL (Fox Searchlight), THE HIGH NOTE (Focus Features), WHERE’D YOU GO BERNADETTE (United Artists Releasing).
Born and raised in Providence, R.I, Chao received her B.A in Art History from Brown University and her M.F.A in Acting from UC San Diego.
Kristian Fanene Schmidt [or Krit] was born and raised in Porirua, Aotearoa/New Zealand while both his parents hail from Samoa.
He earned a conjoint degree in Law and Arts majoring in Pacific Studies from the University of Auckland and a Master’s in Education at Lehigh University as a recipient of the prestigious Fulbright scholarship. In 2014, Kristian shifted gears and went from lecturing in Pacific Studies to hosting for MTV Australia as a VJ.
Since beginning his career in television and entertainment, he has relocated to Los Angeles where he is now a writer, host, and consultant, contributing to a number of media outlets and organizations such as HuffPost, BuzzFeed, Sundance, Paramount, Amazon, BET, Rotten Tomatoes, Netflix, The Root, Extreme Reach, NQAPIA, Washington Post and Think Tank for Inclusion and Equity. His work covers everything from cultural appropriation and the impacts of colonisation to Pacific Islander representation and LGBTQIA+ issues. He is also the Executive Director of the Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti [PEAK].
Krit continues to follow his passions for education, art, and advocacy in working towards equitable outcomes for people from communities that mirror his own identity and upbringing as a young, queer Samoan.
Charlene Joy Jimenez is the Director of Entertainment Partnerships & Advocacy at Define American, a narrative change organization that uses the power of storytelling to humanize conversations about immigrants. Charlene leads the organization’s flagship entertainment program, which has consulted on over 125 television & film projects and works directly with filmmakers, writers, & industry executives to develop more realistic immigrant characters. She is the co-author of Change The Narrative, Change The World 2022: The Power of Immigrant Representation on Television, Define American’s third television impact study in partnership with the USC Norman Lear Center. Her work with Define American has been featured in CNN, Forbes, The Hollywood Reporter, USA Today, Variety, and others. She is also the Co-Chair of the Impact Guild’s Nonprofit Executive Peer Group and holds advisory council positions at CAA’s Full Story Initiative, FilAm ARTS, and The Yes And Laughter Lab.
Charlene joined Define American from Lionsgate where she managed marketing and talent relations for a variety of film and television projects as Director of Publicity & Digital Engagement. She also served as Board Co-Chair of Lionsgate’s Multicultural Employee Resource Group (MERG), advocating for more diversity and inclusion in front of and behind the camera. Previously, she worked at charitable fundraising startup Omaze and Legendary Entertainment’s pop culture media outlet Nerdist. Charlene is passionate about the power of pop culture and equitable representation within it.
Sanjay Sharma is the founder and CEO of Marginal MediaWorks, Inc. MARGINAL is a premium content studio focused on popular storytelling genres from outsider voices, across all formats – film, television, animation, audio, interactive and Web3.
Still in its early stages, Marginal has produced 6 feature films (Amazon, HBOMax, Hulu), sold its first episodic series (Amazon), its first animated series (Hulu), and completed its first scripted fiction audio series (Luminary). The fast-growing company has now received acclaim from the indie community, with nominations or awards across the Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham, GLAAD, NAACP Image Awards, Imagen Awards and, as importantly, consistently killer Rotten Tomatoes scores. The company combines a mix of traditional creative instincts and relationships, authentic cultural insights, as well as its proprietary technology platform, leveraging core data sciences & machine learning behind the scenes to source, systematize, validate and enhance the creative vision of global artists.
Marginal’s first feature, “The Obituary of Tunde Johnson,” is a Black & Queer timeloop thriller, which premiered at TIFF and was acquired by Hulu. Another film, “The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain,” is a taut, thriller based on a true story, with Executive Producer Morgan Freeman, now on HBO Max. “Madres,” is a Latin-X horror with Blumhouse and Amazon, marks Tenoche Huerta’s first American feature film (he is now in “Wakanda Forever”). Marginal’s most recent film, a South Asian, lo-fi heist comedy called “Four Samosas,” premiered at Tribeca and was released theatrically by IFC. Internationally, Marginal has several projects in development in India and its first multi-regional horror franchise, for India and Korea, in development at Netflix, which Sharma created. Its next scripted audio series, “Scammers” stars Anupam Tripathi, best known as “Ali” from the global hit “Squid Game.”
Marginal also specializes in projects that leverage the unique talents of recording artists and athletes. The company has films and series with a range of talent in this regard including: Tierra Whack, the Migos, Jaden Smith, Vince Staples, Russell Westbrook and more.
Sharma has spent his career at the intersection of media and technology, and currently is an advisor or board member to a wide range of entertainment and technology companies including Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment, D36, Mars Reel, EmoJam, Knowable (acquired by Medium), Culture Genesis and HEIR. He is the Chairman of the Board of CAPE, the Coalition of Asian American & Pacific Islanders in Entertainment; a founding Board Member of Gold House; has been an Adjunct Professor at USC’s Annenberg School of Journalism; and speaks widely, from Cannes to the United States Congress, on new and traditional media, with a particular emphasis on the importance of diversity and representation in the content industries. Sharma previously helped found and lead two digital media companies, All Def Media, and Machinima, the first YouTube Multichannel Network (acquired by Warner Bros).
Sharma is a Phi Beta Kappa, Sum Cum Laude graduate of Columbia University, where he studied history and film, and a graduate with distinction of the Stanford Law School. Sharma clerked for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and, prior to Law School, spent two years at the U.S. Justice Department.
Sharma’s first job was hosting weekly rock and jazz radio shows at WBRH 90.3 FM, Baton Rouge.
Marginal is a public benefit “B” corporation, based in Los Angeles, California.
Jeremy is the Executive Director and COO of Gold House, the premier collective of multicultural leaders dedicated to systemically unlocking socioeconomic equity for multicultural communities through unity, investments, and promotion. Gold House transforms the public narrative and mobilizes action through innovative programs that advance API representation and success. Prior to joining Gold House, Jeremy was a counsel at O’Melveny & Myers working on high-stakes entertainment litigation, including the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial and AT&T and Time Warner merger trial. He was born and raised in Southern California and went to college and law school at Harvard.
Seema Mody is a global markets reporter for CNBC, focusing on the intersection of foreign policy and Wall Street. Mody covers industrials and the travel industry, including hotels, cruises and online travel operators, for the network.
She joined the network in July 2011 as a reporter covering the tech and IPO market from the NASDAQ. Most recently, she was co-anchor of “Worldwide Exchange” based in London where she contributed to live reports across Europe as well as Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and TNW in Amsterdam.
Previously, Mody was an anchor and reporter at CNBC-TV18 in Mumbai, India where she covered the country’s economic boom. During her time at the station, she co-anchored “Power Breakfast” and “After the Bell” as well as co-produced and anchored special features on “Mumbai Fashion Week” and “Tech Toyz.” Mody also reported on private equity deals and M&A activity across India, exclusively interviewing global private equity heads including Warburg Pincus CEO Chip Kaye, and provided daily market updates for CNBC World’s “Capital Connection” and “Cash Flow.”
Mody graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Biological Sciences and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
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