Charmaine Chan, Visual Effects Supervisor, Industrial Light & Magic

Charmaine Chan is a Visual Effects Supervisor at ILM bringing over 17 years of experience in the industry. She offers a unique blend of leadership, technical, and creative skill sets that she’s honed in post and on-set supervision. Chan recently served as VFX Supervisor on Gareth Edwards’ "The Creator" which won the VES Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature alongside a BAFTA nomination. She is currently supervising on the Star Wars series, "The Acolyte."

Based in ILM's London office, she played a crucial role in developing both the virtual production and episodic teams. Chan has contributed as the Compositing and Virtual Production Supervisor on the Emmy and BAFTA-nominated Star Wars series, "Andor". She was also part of the original ILM StageCraft "Brain Bar" team for the Emmy Award-winning series, "The Mandalorian," where her contributions innovated real-time rendering on the StageCraft platform. She has continued to help develop and progress StageCraft on other projects such as Oscar-nominated Matt Reeves’ "The Batman" and Nia DaCosta’s "The Marvels." 

Nosipho Maketo-van den Bragt, CEO & Co-Founder, Chocolate Tribe

An attorney, creative business entrepreneur and aspiring writer, Nosipho is a multi-potentialite that thrives in idea synthesis, rapid learning and adaptability. With a passion for storytelling and breathing life into concepts in visually realisttic ways, but also a passion for advocating strongly for creatives, Nosipho co-founded Chocolate tribe in 2014. Nosipho graduated with a master's in law and Political Justice at the University of London, Birkbeck College.

Nosipho has helped cultivate Chocolate Tribe into a professional Animation and VFX studio that not only produces work of the highest international standard, but with its over 25 years of industry experience; Chocolate Tribe is a studio that aspires to harness and develop the potential of young talent in the Animation and VFX industry.

As the owner and CEO of Chocolate Tribe, Nosipho continues to be an advocate for growth, training and development. Nosipho has been pivotal in brokering both local and international deals that has seen Chocolate Tribe increase its client base.

Nosipho is also the founder of AVIJOZI an animation, VFX and interactive event, that is meant to empower the youth to access opportunities in this industry.

Michaela Olsen, Creative Director & Partner, Mighty Oak

Michaela Olsen is a Partner and the Executive Creative Director of Mighty Oak, a woman and queer-owned creative studio based in New York City. Established in 2015, Mighty Oak specializes in stop motion, 2D, and mixed media animation for a wide range of clients including Hulu, Shopify, and Planned Parenthood. Michaela's recent recognition includes an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction for their work on the docuseries ‘The Principles of Pleasure’ on Netflix, as well as the premiere of their short film, 'Under Covers,' at Sundance. They have been featured in Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film and Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business.

Bret Parker, Director, Writer, Producer, Artfarm Production

Bret Parker, co-founder of Artfarm Productions, is a veteran in the film industry with 27 years under herbelt at Pixar Animation Studios. Parker started her career at Pixar in 1996 and has gone on to animateon many films since, including the Oscar-winning “Finding Nemo” and “The Incredibles.” She is currently working on an unannounced project, to be released 2025. Outside the studio, she created and directed work for the ground breaking dance troupe Iluminate, as well as wrote and directed a short animated film about climate change in partnership with the Marine Mammal Center and California College of the Arts. In 2019, along with her wife Pete Barma, Parker directed and produced her first feature length documentary, “Through The Windows,” which premiered at the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco to a sold out audience. She is continuing to bring her unique perspective as a queer female director to the screen with her latest award winning film, “Pete” which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival 2022 and was Oscar Shortlisted in 2024.

Julie Ann Crommett, Founder & CEO, Collective Moxie

Julie Ann “JAC” Crommett (she/her/ella) has been working in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) space for over fourteen years leading disruptive, systemic change across media and tech. As Founder and CEO of Collective Moxie, Julie Ann works with organizations large and small on revolutionizing their DEI strategies through inclusive storytelling practices, accountability, and internal/external community partnership. In partnership with The Black List and several organizations, Julie Ann spearheaded the creation of the first-ever GA List to amplify writers from and with strong affiliation to the state of Georgia.

Previously, she was Vice President of Multicultural Audience Engagement at The Walt Disney Studios spearheading efforts to diversify talent in front of and behind the camera, connect creative projects more closely to the communities they touch, and build a more inclusive culture within the Studios. Her team contributed to many projects including ENCANTO, SOUL, COCO, BLACK PANTHER, RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON, and WEST SIDE STORY as well as launching the critically acclaimed Disney Launchpad: Shorts Incubator, an industry-leading program guaranteeing up to six directors from underrepresented backgrounds the opportunity to produce a short film for Disney+. Julie Ann was also instrumental in Disney's library review process leading to a revised content advisory and proactive resources for families to discuss negative stereotypes in media. In partnership with Disney CEO Bob Iger, she launched and co-chaired the company's first-ever Creative Inclusion Council dedicated to increasing inclusion and accountability in Disney's creative endeavors.

Before Disney she was Google’s Entertainment Industry Educator in Chief leading their efforts to shift and diversify on-screen perceptions of computer science through storytelling (a position she created) as well as having led Google’s DEI efforts in Latin America. She started her DEI career at NBCUniversal managing behind-the-camera diversity programs including Writers on the Verge and the Directing Fellowship.

Julie Ann has been recognized by The Hollywood Reporter’s 35 under 35, Women in Film and Television Atlanta (WIFTA), the IMAGEN Foundation’s Influential Latinos in Entertainment list, and as an ADCOLOR Innovator. She was on the advisory council for the re-launch of Barbie, is a member of BAFTA and the Producers Guild of America, and serves on the boards for the Hispanic Federation, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, the Woodruff Arts Center (ATL), and Women in Animation. Julie Ann also served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor for Columbia University’s MFA film program and co-created a new mandatory course with her producing partner on inclusive storytelling.

A proud Puerto Rican and Cuban American, Julie Ann was raised in Atlanta, GA, and earned her BA in English at Harvard University. A true trivia nerd, she also competed on Jeopardy!