Mary Kim is a Korean American multimedia artist and writer-director who is currently attending the University of California Irvine. ⁠Hajun Blooms is a beautiful visual short film about repressed nonbinary queer identity and one young Korean’s relationship to the church.

Heather Muriel Nguyen (she/they) is a queer Vietnamese-American filmmaker focused on creating stories that reflect queer and trans communities of Color grappling with intergenerational trauma and self-love. As an actor, writer, and director, Heather is a multifaceted creator who focuses on authenticity and nuanced storytelling. Thơ goes through a journey of questioning and through that, the audience sees the deep emotional depth that Nguyen infuses into their art.

Bente Engelstoft is an Emmy-winning writer, actor, and comedian based in Los Angeles. Starting her career off on the stages of Second City she was then a writer for the 2016 CBS Diversity Showcase and a writer / performer for the 2017 Showcase. Currently a writer for The Ellen Degeneres Show, Engelstoft also founded her own company, Business Woman, where she creates award winning short films.

Sarah Gallegos is a writer and filmmaker based in New York. She is passionate about exploring the "grey areas" and challenging traditional storytelling narratives and structures. Through her work, she is continuously delving deeper into investigations of self-discovery. Her short film Pre Face is a dramedy short about the transitional phases young adults feel in their lives.

Carol Dysinger is an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker, an award-winning professor at NYU Tisch, and an advisor at the Doc Lab at Sundance FIlm Institute. Her second directorial work, “Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)” won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short in 2019. She spoke to the Light Leaks about witnessing the progression of Hollywood firsthand, the lessons she’s learned throughout her career, and how it’s never too late to hit your stride.

Ilana Peña, is a TV show creator, executive producer, showrunner, and writer building her tv legacy with hard work and authentic storytelling at the helm of it all. Peña is the creator behind the Disney+’s coming of age comedy, “Diary of a Future President” and started in Hollywood as an assistant and worked her way into the acclaimed writer’s room of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”. She dives deep into conversation with TLL about the reality of gaining and maintaining success in Hollywood.