Our Team

Aleta Hammerich is a third year student studying digital cinema and political science at UH Mānoa. She has experience with cinematography and editing working on The Lili'u Project documentary (in production),  Reel Wāhine of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa Film & Media projects, Better Tomorrow Speaker Series interviews, among many more. Aleta is passionate about using filmmaking as a platform for advocacy and is inspired by the participants' work each year.

Alexa St. Martin, MSW is a social worker, therapist, educator, researcher, musician, dancer, and writer. She is a fierce advocate for social justice education, with a particular passion for adolescent sexual health, school-based sexual health education, reproductive rights, and consent. 

Inez Anderson has been making films with Hawaii Women in Filmmaking since 2017, participating in multiple filmmaking programs as well as working on the HWF team as a filmmaking mentor. Committed to HWF's message of gender justice in filmmaking, their work has covered a variety of social justice issues, including body positivity, gun control, and the experiences of LGBTQ+ youth.

Jessi is currently studying at the University of Hawaii - West Oahu, majoring in creative media. They’ve participated and worked in HWF’s programs for about a year and are committed to HWF’s mission. They are passionate about LGBTQ+ and disability issues and seek to advocate for those communities.

Ava is a junior in highschool who participates in a handful of clubs.  She enjoys reading, listening to music, and watching anime to unwind after a long day in school.  She always welcomes a good laugh and has a fondness for small things.  After recently figuring out she wanted to major in film in college and make films as a career, she has been searching for opportunities to make mini films and help out in any way!  Books are a main driving force behind this as well as creating more representation in media.  She hopes one day she will accomplish her goal of at least making the book into a film adaptation that got her on this path.

Lee-Won (she/her), raised in Kahaluʻu, is a recent graduate of Smith College with a background in digital art and film studies. She is currently working in social justice-focused communications and is interested in visual storytelling's possibilities to explore intersections of family, gender, and ways to preserve ephemeral connections: cultural, intergenerational, and identity-based.

Nataly is originally from Ukraine where she has been working on many educational volunteering projects as a social media manager as well as the production of social videos. Her team won the All-Ukrainian social video contest "I am not for sale" about digital dangers that can lead to human trafficking and cyberbullying. Nataly came to the US two years ago with the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) Program) whose goal is to explore American culture as well as educate others about your country of origin. Currently, Nataly is studying  Communication studies and Multimedia at Hawaii Pacific University. She believes the media has an indescribable impact and power on society nowadays.  

Martha Nicholas is a filmmaker who was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. Alongside interning for Reel Wahine she is also a previous Wahine Lab fellow and a filmmaking mentor. Nicholas is double majoring in Creative Media and American Studies at the University of Hawaii Manoa, where she continues to explore the multiple avenues of the film industry.

Malia Adams, born in Kailua and raised in
Chile, is an indigenous filmmaker. Malia earned a Bachelor’s degree at UH Manoa in Creative
Media. She spent this last year living in Spain, where she pursued a Master’s degree in Media and Literary translation at the Pompeu Fabra University. Her short film, I Will Be Your Breath, was nominated Best Hawaii Made (2021) at the Hawaiʻi International Film Fest and won Best Experimental at Cannes Short Film festival
(2021).

Mirren Hollison was born and raised in Hawaii and graduated with a BA in animation from UH Manoa's Creative Media program. She's animated and storyboarded for several HIFF films as well as directed an animated short for the Symphony of the Hawaii Forest. She strives to improve her art by exploring all kinds of creative avenues, be they films, cartoons, or video games. When she's not animating, she's writing or playing with her very chubby tabby cat.

For over 10 years, Vera has been advocating for gender justice in filmmaking through an intersectional lens. Vera founded Hawaiʻi Women in Filmmaking in 2011 to provide a space for wāhine filmmakers to connect, collaborate, and support each other. In 2017, Vera launched the production of Reel Wāhine of Hawai‘i, a short doc film series that redresses gender inequity in the film industry by documenting the real-life stories of Hawai‘i women filmmakers.