Team — Little Indian Girl

Board of Trustees and Advisors

**Gingger Shankar**
**Co-founder + Executive Director**
Gingger Shankar (she/her) is a filmmaker, composer, and the only female double violinist in the world. A frequent speaker for TED, championing girls’ education and empowerment, she has worked with First Lady Michelle Obama, Ava Duvernay, Stacey Abrams, AOC, New Georgia Project and more. She was chosen as one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces to Watch” and her multimedia project Himalaya Song, which addressed climate change, was named one of the “10 Best Music Films at Sundance” by Rolling Stone. She is the founder of Little Indian Girl Productions, with upcoming projects including the feature documentary Promises of Our Grandmothers (director/producer), which chronicles an indigenous resistance camp’s fight against the Line 3 pipeline, and Nari: The Women Behind A Music Revolution (director/producer), which is the unsung story of the women of the Shankar family - her mother and grandmother. She produced official 2018 Sundance Film Festival selection Akicita: The Battle of Standing Rock as well as the 2020 album And She Could Be Next - a companion to the Ava DuVernay-executive produced docuseries - featuring Aloe Blacc, Tarriona ‘Tank’ Ball, Saul Williams, and more. She wrote, directed, and produced multiple spots for South Asians for Biden ahead of the 2020 election and wrote the song “Promises of Our Grandmothers,” which was featured in the 2021 Nobel Prize Summit and was the inspiration for the corresponding documentary. Gingger is also co-founder of Naughty Horses Records, which releases music by dynamic women artists from around the world alongside the preservation of culturally vital global classical recordings, including many of the Shankar family records dating back to the 1930s.

**Erin Cook**
**Co-founder + Executive Director**
Erin Cook (she/her) is a filmmaker and marketing, branding, and media strategist working at the intersection of social justice, environmental justice, storytelling, and music. She is a partner in Little Indian Girl Productions with credits including the forthcoming feature documentaries *Promises of Our Grandmothers*, *Nari: The Women Behind A Music Revolution*, and *Promises of Our Grandmothers: The Series*. She is associate producer on official 2018 Sundance Film Festival selection *Akicita: The Battle of Standing Rock* and executive producer on the voting rights record *And She Could Be Next* - a companion to the Ava DuVernay-executive produced docuseries. She directed and produced a music video for the 2021 Nobel Prize Summit exploring the roles of our grandmothers and their relationship to the land and environment. She has spent the past 18 years working in music management, media relations, and legacy building and protection, creating and overseeing hundreds of campaigns for artists and foundations, including Carlos Santana, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Jackson Browne, Kenny Loggins, Cindy Blackman Santana, Jake Shimabukuro, American Civics: Jim Marshall x Shepard Fairey, Rainforest Connection, Blue Planet Foundation, and the annual Autism Speaks benefit concert “Light Up the Blues,” which has raised over $5 million for autism research.

**Jodie Evans**
**Executive Producer + Advisor**
Jodie Evans (she/her) is the co-founder of CODEPINK and the after-school writing program 826LA. She has been a visionary advocate for peace for several decades. An inspired motivator, Jodie invigorates nascent activists and re-invigorates seasoned activists through her ever-evolving, always exciting methods to promote peace. Whether in board rooms or war zones, legislative offices or neighborhood streets, Jodie’s enthusiasm for a world at peace infuses conciliation, optimism and activism wherever she goes.
Jodie is a revolutionary whose commitment to social change is evidenced through several documentary films, including Stripped and Teased: Tales from Las Vegas Women, The People Speak, based on Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States," and the Oscar-nominated documentary The Square, which vividly captured the profound 2011-2012 democratic uprisings in Egypt., and the climate change documentary This Changes Everything.

**Sussan Deyhim**
**Board of Trustees**
Sussan Deyhim is an Iranian American composer, vocalist, performance artist, activist, and "one of Iran's most potent voices in exile" (LA Times). She is internationally known for creating a unique sonic and vocal language imbued with a sense of ritual and the unknown. Her music remains true to the spirit of her ancient heritage while pointing to the future with a personal and poetic dramatic sensibility. Her work has been presented at Carnegie Hall, BAM, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Royce Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royal Albert Hall, The Wallis, and The Broad Museum.

Justin Winters

Advisor

Driven by a passion for nature, Justin Winters is committed to democratizing climate philanthropy in order to create an inclusive and impactful movement to address the climate crisis from the ground up. She is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of One Earth, a philanthropic organization working to galvanize science, advocacy and philanthropy to drive collective action on climate change. Through One Earth, she is focused on creating a vision for the world that is possible by 2050 – one in which humanity and nature coexist and thrive together. This vision is based on three pillars of action: 100% renewable energy, protection and restoration of 50% of the world’s lands and oceans, and a transition to regenerative, carbon-negative agriculture. Prior to One Earth, Justin served as Executive Director of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation for 13 years, where she built the organization’s grant-making program, which awarded over $100 million in grants across 60 countries and created a series of innovative philanthropic funds, including Oceans 5, Shark Conservation Fund, The Solutions Funds, Lion Recovery Fund, Elephant Crisis Fund, and Quick Response Fund for Nature.

**Mathew Waters**
**Board of Trustees**
Mathew Waters is a re-recording mixer working in both broadcast and film. He has 30 years of experience and is a six time Emmy winner. Broadcast credits include Daisy Jones and the Six, Only murders in the Building, Lovecraft Country, Underground Railroad and Game of Thrones. Feature credits include the Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Jesus Revolution. Father of the Bride, The Curse of Bridge Hollow and White Bird .

**Mridu Chandra**
**Board of Trustees**
Mridu Chandra is a BAFTA and Emmy nominated filmmaker and producer of award-winning documentaries and fiction films that cover topics of civil rights, environmental and racial justice, and gender equality. Her films have premiered at Sundance, Telluride, and SXSW; aired on PBS, Disney+, and on Netflix; and screened for members of U.S. Congress and the United Nations. Recent credits include producing BECOMING COUSTEAU for two-time Oscar nominee Liz Garbus and co-producing CURED for Bennett Singer and Patrick Sammon. Her expertise as an archival media researcher and clearance specialist has additionally served numerous other documentaries (WHOSE STREETS?), fiction films (STEVE JOBS directed by Danny Boyle for NBCUniversal), and Broadway productions (BETRAYAL directed by Mike Nichols). She has funded and amplified the work of diverse filmmakers worldwide as the founding director of IF/Then Shorts at Tribeca Film Institute, a program now at Field of Vision. She is currently in development to direct a documentary about the first-ever Asian, Indian, and Sikh American Congressman in U.S. history SAUND vs COCHRAN.

**Rosario Dawson**
**Executive Producer, Promises of Our Grandmothers**
Rosario Dawson (she/her) is an actor and activist known for her roles in the films Kids, Rent, and Sin City, and the series Dope Sick, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, The Defenders, and Iron Fist. She will star in the upcoming Star Wars series Ahsoka.

**Sohini Sengupta**
**Board of Trustees**
Sohini Sengupta is an award winning creative marketing leader with studio/AV vendor experience in both series and features, streaming and theatrical. She is a creative led 360 marketer -from strategy to creative and execution. Working across teams to create a holistic campaign with creative at the heart. Campaigns include Game Of Thrones, Westworld, Night Of, Sharp Objects, Big Little Lies, The Defiant Ones, Sesame Street, Laundromat, Extraction, Birdman, 12 Years a Slave, Black Swan, Ex Machina, Dope, Room, Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, documentaries and many others.
She has been on numerous panels including for SXSW, Promax Asia, and Toronto Film Festival. Produced short films and feature length including Chee and T (premiered at LAFF) and the Game of Thrones Documentary -The Last Watch. Most recently she has co founded ReVision Movement, an initiative to increase inclusion, diversity and equity within the entertainment marketing industry.

Advisors

Giniw Collective, ExposureLabs, One Earth, Rainforest Action Network, and The Redford Center

Board of Trustees and Advisors

Advisors

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