Thank you to Board Member Alisha Diego Klatt, who just ended 3 years of Board service on August 31st! We want to honor all of Alisha’s achievements since she first completed a 2004 Youth Filmmaker Training Program workshop, where she created her first film Global Mixing. Afterward, Alisha dove into screenwriting for films like Straight Jacket by QWOCMAP Filmmaker Christine Liang.
Alisha continued to support QWOCMAP over the years. While she was completing her Masters in Education and Instructional Technology, Alisha approached us with an interactive lecture that made film lighting concepts fun. She then led the team that created QWOCMAP Online University, a mobile optimized, open-source course management system, a decade before online learning was common!
This made it possible to transform our Filmmaker Training Program model from 16-week workshops in the Bay Area, into a 4-day workshop that could travel from Richmond, California to Gallup & Window Rock/Navajo Nation, New Mexico and Tijuana, Mexico! Full of learning resources, QWOCMAP Online University was designed to be both accessible and fun. We use it to this day – a testament to Alisha’s leadership and skills. As she transfers the system to a new platform, her work will make it possible for QWOCMAP to offer hybrid online/in-person programs in the future.
In addition to amplifying the power of filmmaker training, Alisha also staffed our Front Desk, provided technical support for our annual international Queer Women of Color Film Festival, and cheered on donors for Give OUT Day. Alisha transformed her passion and leadership into her work with QWOCMAP, and for her, it started young:
“I attended my mom’s classes with her while she worked towards her dream of a college degree. I’d color in books or play quietly. She was a single mother and first-generation college student who taught me resilience. My mother would tell me stories, of the strength of her siblings and parents, of their hard work picking crops in Central and Southern California. Of their participation in the Delano Grape Strike to resist injustice.
My family’s stories inspire me to create art. To tell stories for social justice. To make the world better for the future. We’ll know that we’ve succeeded when those generations are grounded in the knowledge of where they came from, able to tell both their stories and ours.”
Thank you, Alisha! We’re excited to see what you do as you continue to write stories and design learning that is accessible for everyone!
