Industry Profiles and Q&As

Hillary Nussbaum AB '09 is a writer, producer, marketer, and co-founder of the creative studio, Cereal Made. Hillary co-created the narrative sci-fi podcast, ANOMALY, which premiered as an Official Selection at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival and was selected for IFP Week's inaugural Audio Lab in 2020. She previously worked at the Emmy-winning production company, Lion Television, developing unscripted series for national cable networks like TLC, AMC, and A&E. She has also produced branded videos for clients including 1000heads, MME, Arm Technology, UN Environment, and Palmer’s, and served as Producer, Director, and Assistant Director on a variety of short films.

Heather Taylor is a writer/director from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and a Canadian/UK/US citizen who splits her time between the US and Canada. She creates TV, film, and audio projects about messy, complicated family relationships, often told through a genre lens, aiming to destigmatize mental illness, disabilities, and poverty. Heather recently staffed on Syfy/Peacock’s REVIVAL, wrote for season two of THE HARDY BOYS (Disney+/Hulu), and her feature LETHAL LOVE is streaming on Netflix. A 2022 RespectAbility Lab Fellow, Heather also co-hosts the podcast BRAAAINS, exploring mental health and disability representation in media.

Haden Guest is Director of the Harvard Film Archive where he curates the HFA cinematheque and its motion picture, manuscript and photographic collections. He has curated film programs for the Viennale, the Oberhausen Film Festival and the Gulbenkian Foundation and Museum in Lisbon where he organized the twelve part Cinema Dialogues: Harvard at the Gulbenkian (2013-15). Guest also oversees the Harvard Film Archive’s preservation program which focuses on independent and avant-garde cinema, but also recently preserved the previously lost Robert Flaherty film A NIGHT OF STORYTELLING, rediscovered in 2013 in Harvard’s Houghton Library. As Senior Lecturer in Harvard’s Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies, Guest teaches courses on film history and archival practice. He holds a PhD in Film History from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is currently writing a critical history of Portuguese cinema after the 1974 Carnation Revolution. In 2015 Guest was awarded a Medal of Cultural Merit by the Secretary of Culture of Portugal, in recognition for his work curating and researching Portuguese cinema. He was a producer of Soon-Mi Yoo’s SONGS FROM THE NORTH, winner of major prizes including a Golden Leopard at the 2014 Locarno Film Festival, the DocLisboa Prize for Best First Feature and the Jury Prize at the Buenos Aires International Film Festival.

Nicholas Weinstock AB '91 is the founder and president of Invention Studios, an independent production company developing a wide range of features and television shows. Weinstock began his career in New York City as an editor at Random House and Riverhead Books, and then as the author of a nonfiction book and two novels, before moving to Los Angeles to work at 20th Century Fox Television. Upon leaving Fox, he ran Apatow Productions with writer/director Judd Apatow, where they produced movies including FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, STEP BROTHERS, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, GET HIM TO THE GREEK and BRIDESMAIDS. He went on to help launch the production company Chernin Entertainment alongside Peter Chernin, and for the past six years to partner with actor/director Ben Stiller and serve as the creative head of their company Red Hour Films. In 2022 he shifted full-time to running his own company, Invention Studios. More here.

Kelley Purcell AB '02 serves as Vice President of Membership & Industry Relations for the Recording Academy®, overseeing all aspects of membership outreach, peer review, member account services, and the Academy's Chapter systems, including regional and local teams, Chapter events and programming, and all aspects of Chapter service.

Sammi Cannold EDM ’16 (director) is a theater, film, and television director who is one of Forbes Magazine's 30 Under 30 in Hollywood & Entertainment, one of Variety's 10 Broadway Stars to Watch, and one of Town & Country's Creative Aristocracy. She recently made her Broadway debut as director of HOW TO DANCE IN OHIO  at the Belasco Theater, for which she won a Drama Desk Award. SammiCannold.com

Sandi DuBowski AB ’92 is the Director/Producer of SABBATH QUEEN, Director/Producer of TREMBLING BEFORE G-D, Producer of A JIHAD FOR LOVE, and Co-Producer of BUDRUS.

His award-winning work has screened at Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca and Toronto, theatrically released in 150 cities, and broadcast on ZDF/Arte, BBC, Channel 4, PBS. In 2020, he was invited to become a member of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. More here.

Madeline Benson AB '14 is a music director, songwriter, and pianist based in New York City. As a theater artist, she has long lived in the overlap of theater and songwriting, performing and facilitating the work of composers such as Sara Bareilles, Gavin Creel, Andrew Butler, and the Lazours.  In 2016, Madeline made history as the youngest woman to ever conduct on Broadway when she served as conductor for WAITRESS. She is currently adapting the upcoming stage version of Disney’s TANGLED alongside composer Alan Menken. Madeline holds a B.A. in Classical Civilizations from Harvard University.

Dr. Cara Natterson AB ’92 is a pediatrician and New York Times bestselling author of ten books including THE CARE and KEEPING OF YOU series. Vanessa Kroll Bennett is a bestselling author and puberty educator. Together, they are two of the most trusted voices on puberty, co-authoring the national bestseller THIS IS SO AWKWARD: MODERN PUBERTY EXPLAINED and co-hosting THIS IS SO AWKWARD, the podcast. Cara and Vanessa run Less Awkward, the first company aimed at making puberty more comfortable with a membership for parents, an innovative health & sex ed curriculum for schools, and game changing products. Cara and Vanessa speak to audiences across the country, using science and humor to encourage open (albeit awkward) conversations – a relatable, reliable approach to help keep kids safe and healthy. They don’t just hand out this advice; they live it: between them they are raising six teenagers.

Danielle Feinberg AB ‘96 is a cinematographer who has helped create acclaimed animated movies while mentoring young women to pursue careers in STEM. Having worked at Pixar Animation Studios since 1997, Feinberg now serves as visual effects supervisor, collaborating with a crew of more than 250 artists and technologists. She has applied her talents to many of Pixar’s best-loved films, including Oscar winners FINDING NEMO, WALL-E, THE INCREDIBLES, RATATOUILLE, BRAVE, and COCO as well as TOY STORY 2, MONSTERS INC., and TURNING RED.  

Leyla Brittan AB '19 is the author of the young adult novel ROS DEMIR IS NOT THE ONE (Holiday House 2024). Originally from Chappaqua, New York, she graduated from Harvard College in 2019 with an A.B. in English and a secondary in Computer Science, and she received an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Wyoming in 2023. Her short fiction has appeared in PIGEON PAGES, 5X5, and THE HARVARD ADVOCATE, and has been nominated for BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES. In addition to writing fiction, she has worked as a technical writer, actor, and outdoor sports journalist, as well as in film and television production. You can find her online at leylabrittan.com or @leylabrittan. 

Bill Rauch AB '84 is the inaugural artistic director of Perelman Performing Arts Center. His work as a theater director has been seen across the nation, from low-income community centers to Broadway in the Tony Award®-winning production of Robert Schenkkan’s ALL THE WAY and its sequel THE GREAT SOCIETY, as well as at many of the largest regional theaters in the country. His other New York credits include the world premiere of Naomi Wallace’s NIGHT IS A ROOM at Signature Theatre, the New York premiere of Sarah Ruhl’s THE CLEAN HOUSE at Lincoln Center Theater, and a site-specific OCCASIONAL GRACE in multiple Manhattan churches for En Garde Arts.

Sarah Lewis AB ‘01 is an art and cultural historian and founder of Vision & Justice. Her research focuses on the intersection of visual representation, racial justice, and democracy in the United States from the nineteenth century through the present. She is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University where she serves on the Standing Committee on American Studies and Standing Committee on Women, Gender, and Sexuality.