The Advisory Board

The Board offers critical leadership and governance to Justice for My Sister.

Current Board Members.

Chris Hastings

  • Chris Hasting’s passion for television started at age 10 when he produced Kids News, a daily news show at his elementary school outside Philadelphia. After college, he became a founding team member in the development and production of Black Entertainment Television’s award-winning BET Tonight. At WGBH, Chrishas worked with children television’s program ZOOM and the WGBH Lab, an innovative incubator for up-and-coming filmmakers. Chris joined WORLD Channel in 2011, where he co-created the award-winning documentary series America ReFramed, Local, USA, and Doc World, and provided editorial oversight to the other original series on WORLD. Series in Chris’s portfolio has won many awards, including a Peabody Award, a Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, and national news and documentary Emmy award.
    Chris is committed to developing a diverse pool of filmmakers and storytellers. He’s a regular collaborator with of Black Public, the Center for Asian American Media, Pacific Islanders in Communications, the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, and Vision Maker Media, and has served as content reader and reviewer on various open calls. In 2016, Chris became a Rockwood JustFilms Fellow and was awarded WGBH’s Margaret and Hans Rey Curious George in-house producer fellowship.

Eliza Hooper

  • Eliza Hooper is a Los Angeles-based writer and director whose work explores the intersection of comedy and emotion. She is particularly interested in the use of humor as a tool for healing, learning and sparking empathy.
    A true multi-media creator, Eliza has written, directed and produced content across the digital spectrum with companies like Comedy Central, IFC, ABC, Ellen Digital, Funny Or Die and the Lean In Foundation. Her feature directing credits include studioADI’s sci-fi thriller Wellwood.

Jonathan Carmona

  • Jonathan Carmona (he/him/el) is a DEI executive practitioner with 15 years of designing operations, capabilities, and strategies to solve complex problems and drive progress along every stage of the employee lifecycle. As one of few openly LGBTQ+ Latino leaders in the field, he has dedicated his life’s work to addressing systemic inequities, uplifting historically marginalized communities, and enabling organizational change across a wide spread of sectors including academic institutions, startups, healthcare, technology, and environmental. Jonathan is celebrating three years at Patagonia Inc's as Director, Global Justice & Belonging.  

Juana Chavez

Shannon Matta

  • Shannon Matta is the Director Of Social Services at Alpha Treatment Centers. Social services professional with proven success in program development. Leverages strong leadership and time management skills needed to manage programs and find new resources for clients. Trained to manage confidential and sensitive information. Dynamic public speaker with the capacity to deliver presentations to small and large groups. Well-rounded background in supporting progressive organizations, optimizing performance and developmental growth.

Jessica Smith

  • Jess is a lifelong student of social change with an appreciation for all the stakeholders needed to make progress. From organizing grassroots efforts in an under-resourced school district on the Dominican-Haitian border to implementing trust-based grantmaking practices for the corporate foundation of a multi-billion dollar company, their commitment to creating equitable change ripples out into every aspect of their work. Jess is relentless in their (un)learning journey, making them a perfect fit for organizations committed to aligning their social impact with their intentions. Their goal is to infuse equity into funding and grantmaking practices to uplift community programs prioritizing the voices of the very people an organization serves, with special consideration for historically excluded and underserved people. They draw from their lived experiences, coupled with their sociological expertise and nonprofit experience, to apply a uniquely inclusive lens in corporate spaces. They also enjoy traveling, biking, and music.

Clara Steele


Past Board Members.

Molly Murphy

Served 2019 - 2024

Ivonne Rodriguez

Served 2017 - 2024

Marie Alyse Rodriguez

Served 2019 - 2022 

Silvia Rodriguez Vega

Served 2017 - 2019

Lorena Fuentes

Served 2017 - 2019

Amorette Crespo

Served 2015 - 2019

Ana Paula Noguez Mercado

Served 2016 - 2018

Carlos Ortez 

Served 2016 - 2019

Lorie Chan

Served 2017 - 2018

Luisa Crespo 

Served 2014 - 2017

Jeanette Acosta

Served 2015 - 2016

Are you interested in becoming an Advisory Board member?

You can join a team of leaders dedicated to gender equity and racial justice in the TV & film industry.