Co-Founder/Co-Producer
Fanshen is an actor, filmmaker and educator. She holds a BA in Spanish, an MA in Teaching ESL and is currently working towards her MFA in TV, Film and Theater. She served 2 years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cape Verde, West Africa and was one of the first recipients of the Peace Corps’ Franklin H. Williams Award. She honed her film production skills as a Film Independent Project: Involve Fellow, and as an Education Intern at Moviola Digital Arts Institute. She is the co-producer and co-host of Mixed Chicks Chat. During her studies she has been awarded a Hollywood Foreign Press Association scholarship, an Emeriti Association scholarship, an Alumni Association scholarship, the Ochari Michael D’Aiello scholarship, a scholarship to the Actors Gang workshop for CSU Summer Arts, and was twice invited to the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival as a nominee for an Irene Ryan Award. The short film she and her schoolmates wrote, shot and edited in 24 hours: Men: An Owners Manual screened last year at the Broad Humor Film Festival. Fanshen’s parents are Jamaican, Scottish, Danish and Native American.
Co-Founder/Co-Producer
Heidi W. Durrow is the New York Times best-selling author of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky (Algonquin Books), which received writer Barbara Kingsolver’s 2008 Bellwether Prize for Literature of Social Change, and is the city-wide read for Portland’s Everybody Reads 2012. The Girl Who Fell From the Sky has been hailed as one of the Best Novels of 2010 by the Washington Post, a Top 10 Book of 2010 by The Oregonian, a Top 10 Buzz Book of 2010 by the Boston Herald and named a Top 10 Debut of 2010 by Booklist.
Ebony Magazine named Heidi as one of its Power 100 Leaders of 2010 along with writers Edwidge Danticat, and Malcolm Gladwell. Heidi was nominated for an 2011 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Debut.
Heidi W. Durrow is a graduate of Stanford, Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism and Yale Law School. Originally from Portland, Oregon, Heidi has worked as a corporate litigator at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, and as a Life Skills trainer to professional athletes of the National Football League and National Basketball Association. She is the co-host of the award-winning weekly podcast Mixed Chicks Chat; and the co-founder and co-producer of the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival, an annual free public event, that celebrates stories of the Mixed experience. She is an occasional essay contributor to National Public Radio.
Co-Producer & Festival Planner
Born and raised in Northern Virginia, Jennifer’s career in front of the camera began at the age of three when her grandparents urged her to smile for a photo by saying “Hollywood smile!” Recognized for her naturally curly hair and infectious smile, her exotic appearance is credited to her French, Filipino and African American ancestry. Jennifer can be seen in national commercials for companies such as: Anheuser-Busch, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Skechers and Sony PSP. She is also proud to be the face of the national iChooseAdoption campaign. Jennifer makes her film debut in the independent film, One/One Thousandth. She continues to study with Steve Eastin at the Steve Eastin Studio in North Hollywood.
Live Events Producer
Khanisha Foster is the Associate Artistic Director of 2nd Story and an ensemble member of Teatro Vista. She was chosen for the Theatre Communication Groups’s Young Leaders of Color 2009 and an artists exchange with the Citizen’s Theatre of Scotland in Glasgow. She is a Sarah Siddon’s Society Scholarship recipient and a finalist for the PEN Emerging Voices Fellowship. Her teaching artist work was honored by the White House this year. Her writing has been published with CellStories and Podcast through 2nd Story. She has performed with Teatro Vista, the Goodman Theatre, Steep Theater, and Collaboraction, among others. She can be seen in the film Chicago Boricua, official selection the Tribeca Film Festival. She is currently working on her memoir Heroin(e). Khanisha is mixed with Black/White/American/French/German/Irish/Blackfoot/Choctaw/Creole/Spanish, is that enough for you?
Cultural/Community Liaison
Mark is fascinated by the relationship between The Arts and Politics. Coming from a multi-ethnic family, he is very excited to be able to contribute his expertise in Politics and Community to MIXED ROOTS to assist them in their continued recognition and creation of Art. He is presently influenced by the writings of Murray Edelman who “argues that art provides us with models, scenarios, narratives, and images we draw upon in order to make sense of political events. He explores the different ways art can shape political perceptions and actions to both promote and inhibit diversity and democracy.” – Amazon.com description of Murray Edelman’s From Art to Politics: How Artistic Creations Shape Political Conceptions
Mark is a skilled advocate bringing to MIXED ROOTS experience earned traversing the complexities of government, working in both the public and private sector while also being fully engaged with community organizations. Mark was very successful in this when he was serving the needs of approximately 50,000 constituents in his role as a Senior Field Deputy for former Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski. Mark also worked at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority as a Planner being an integral member of a team that brought to completion the Bring Los Angeles Home Plan, a blueprint to significantly reduce the number of people who are homeless within ten years. The project was a successful public-private partnership that involved managing a broad and diverse coalition of stakeholders.
Mark is fully engaged with and committed to community. He was instrumental, as part of a team of community leaders, in the creation of the Hollywood United Neighborhood Council. He is presently a Board member of the Mid-City West Community Council serving as the chair of the Public Policy committee, chair of the Elections Committee and serves on the Arts & Recreation committee.
Mark grew up in the progressive and proactive community of Cleveland Heights, Ohio and has resided in the megaopolis of Los Angeles for the last 17 years, with his wife, actress Deidra Edwards and their two rescue dogs Ruthie and Squiggy. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Studies from California State University, Northridge with a concentration in Public Administration and Community Service.
Family Event Coordinator
Chandra has a Bachelors and Masters degree in Social Work. She has worked as a School Social Worker for the last six years, creating programs that promote healthy social and emotional growth in youth. She specializes in using the arts in her programing. She has created several programs that incorrporate dancing, acting and singing to help build self esteem and positive character traits in youth who are struggling in school and in life, become successful.
Additionally, Chandra has worked as an actress in several Arizona community theatres and stage managed for the Black Theatre Troupe for the past 13 years. The past three years she has directed and choreographed youth musical theatre productions. Currently, Chandra is a Lecturer at Arizona State University in the School of Social Work and an Adjunct Faculty at Mesa Community College (School of Social Work). She began the PhD program in Fall 2011 with a focus on multiracial identity.
Chandra spoke for the first time, in front of an audience, about being Mixed race in the fourth grade with her Black father and White mother to an audience of college students. She is thrilled to join the MIXED ROOTS team, and give youth and their families an opportunity to share their Mixed experience.
Website Coordinator
Anne graduated with honors from the University of Southern California and holds a bachelors degree in Communications. Shortly after graduating she founded My Kind Of College , an online resource that utilizes cartoons and illustrations to help students of all backgrounds prepare for college. Through My Kind Of College she has partnered with organizations, mentored students, and given presentations to community leaders about the importance of encouraging all students to pursue their dreams – regardless of their ethnicity or socioeconomic standing. Currently, she is pursuing her lifelong dream of becoming a surgeon and will begin medical school this fall.
Anne is African-American, Filipino, Irish, French, Italian, and Native American.
Readings Coordinator
Jamie Moore is currently studying for her MFA in fiction at Antioch University, Los Angeles. She shared her fiction at the Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival in 2011, and is excited to be working to coordinate this year’s readings. Jamie received her BA in Liberal Studies from Sonoma State University. She has attended several writing workshops including the Tomales Bay Workshop, VONA, and the Mendocino Writers Conference. She has been publishing in Moonshot Magazine and Tiny Lights: A Journal of Personal Narrative. In her spare time, she writes about mixed topics and literature for the blog Mixed Reader.
Live Event Coordinator
Nikki Hyde is an LA-based stage manager who could not be more happy to be a part of this inclusive, loving festival. A member of the community-based ensemble, Cornerstone Theater Company, she is currently stage managing their collaboration with Homegirl Café, called Café Vida. Most recently , she worked with director Kate Burton on The Cherry Orchard as part of the MFA Acting Program at the University of Southern California and on Our Town at the Broad Stage, starring Helen Hunt. A native of Michigan and a USC graduate, Nikki is most proud to call herself the daughter of accomplished West Michigan jazz musicians Michael and Edye Evans Hyde (who are celebrating their 32nd year of marriage) and the sister of emerging jazz drummer Evan Hyde. Nikki is Black and White.
Lead Volunteer Coordinator
Tiana Rideout has been a Volunteer Coordinator in the Los Angeles nonprofit sector for five years and loves her work because everyone she meets is motivated, inspired and committed to serving the community. In 2005, she graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a BA in Psychology, intercultural facilitation skills and volunteer experiences from Boyle Heights to Guatemala. A native of San Francisco, where the mixed experience is a way of life, Tiana has a genuine appreciation for diverse communities, families and cultures. The Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival continues to be a creative inspiration to Tiana and she is thrilled to be part of the Mixed Roots Team!
Marketing/Publicity Coordinator
Kimberly Arredondo recently graduated from Brown University with a degree in English literature and now teaches English as a Second Language in Miami. Growing up half Mexican, half white in South Texas, she didn’t fully appreciate the complexity or relevance of multiraciality until her first year of college. She joined Brown’s multiracial group (BOMBS), Brown Multiracial Heritage Week, and a multitude of others who had shared experiences similar to hers. She has since become very interested in further exploring and expressing the importance of multiraciality as an identity in itself. Kim is truly excited to be part of the Mixed Roots 2012 Team.
Co-Coordinator of Film
A homeschool graduate, Jennifer Vaughn teaches college-level Economics and researches on socio-economic class among African Americans. Her own mixed roots are black and white (specifically Anglo-Celtic). She enjoys studying her family history and genealogy, playing classical piano, and volunteering for children’s competitions and film festivals. She resides in Orange County.
Co-Coordinator of Live Event
Victoria Platt Tilford is very proud to have hosted the festivals’ live event for 4 of it’s’ 5 years. As an actor, Victoria is most known for her roles on The Gates as the witch Dr. Peg, The Guiding Light and the films Cover and Winchell, where she portrayed Josephine Baker; among many other projects.
