Mission
OUTWORDS captures, preserves, and shares the stories of LGBTQ+ elders, to build community and catalyze social change.
Further ResourcesVision
OUTWORDS envisions a world where
- difference and diversity are respected and celebrated
- everyone’s story is valued, and traditionally underrepresented stories are given prominence
- the transformative power of sexual and gender authenticity is embraced
- anti-LGBTQ+ fears, phobias, and traumas are acknowledged and healed
Board of Directors
Richard Tate
Board Chair
Richard Tate is executive vice president at the California Wellness Foundation where he leads strategy development, public affairs, learning, and innovation. In addition to serving as OUTWORDS' board chair, Richard is on the boards of Northern California Grantmakers and the Bay Area Surgical Mission.
Emma Colquitt
Board Secretary
For more than three decades, Emma Colquitt-Sayers has been a successful businesswoman specializing in medical technology in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She has also served on many non-profit boards including the Coalition for Aging LGBT, Leadership Texas Alumnae, and the Women’s Athletics Advisory Board for Florida State University.
Scott Galea
Board Member
Scott Galea is an experienced technology leader with a passion for helping others connect with and support their best ideas. Scott is a frequent mentor and speaker at start-up events, focusing on aiding go-to-market plans. He is delighted to bring this experience to support Outwords budget and Advancement initiatives.
Andrea Pino-Silva
Board Member
Washington DC-based Andrea Pino-Silva is a consultant, digital activist, and author of the book "We Believe You: Survivors of Campus Sexual Assault Speak Out," basis of the award-winning documentary "The Hunting Ground." Andrea consults on Title IX issues, and develops educational programs around social justice movements.
Lynne Tsuda
Board Treasurer
Lynne Tsuda has worked in non-profit management for over thirty years, and currently serves as Associate Director of Strategic Investment for the Girls Inc. Prior to Girls Inc., Lynne held several executive posts with the YWCA of the USA. She has also served on numerous non-profit boards.
Staff
Mason Funk
Founder / Executive Director
Mason Funk (he/him) grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from Stanford University. Prior to creating OUTWORDS, Mason produced and directed award-winning non-fiction films for the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Fox Sports, and other major networks.
Tom Bliss
Director of Operations
Bliss (he/she) is a queer, gender nonconforming graduate of Pitzer College with a B.A. in Multimedia Performance: Life as a Art Form. Bliss believes in the power of unrepressed storytelling. Bliss previously ran intake for the Trauma Counseling Center and coordinated lectures at the Center for Healthy Sex, where he co-authored the award-winning Mirror of Intimacy: Daily Reflections on Emotional and Erotic Intelligence.
Betsy Kalin
Senior Producer
Betsy Kalin (she/her) is an Emmy-nominated director/producer/writer at Itchy Bee Productions. Her films ‘Vision 2030: Future of SoCal,’ ‘East LA Interchange,’ ‘Roof,’ ‘Chained!,’ and ‘Hearts Cracked Open’ have been honored with multiple awards. She is currently in development with the feature documentaries ‘Dreaming in Somali’ and ‘Phoenix: The Life and Death of Alice Herz.’
Jack MacCarthy
Communications Manager
Jack MacCarthy (he/they) is a non-binary human, writer, creatrix, Sundance alum, and life coach. Their debut Young Adult novel, Squad, was named a Barnes & Noble Most Anticipated LGBTQAP YA Book of 2019. Their plays have been performed all over the world and called "a lot of fun" by The New York Times.
Rhea K. Mac
Grantwriter
Rhea K. Mac (she/her) is a service-driven Angeleno and social equity consultant committed to supporting systemic change to end homelessness and dismantle structural melanism (racism). Each chapter of Rhea's journey includes championing change towards creating a more equitable space for all Angelenos – especially for the youth and future generations from whom current generations are borrowing land, space, and time.
Lucy Mukerjee
Producer
Lucy Jane Mukerjee (she/her) is a film curator and inclusion activist. Being in conversation with queer community keeps Lucy both inspired and grounded. She and her partner Charlie are van-lifers in pursuit of a better quality of life.
Oladele “Sogo” Oluwasogo
Transcription Reviewer
Nigeria-born Oladele “Sogo” Oluwasogo (he/him) is a writer and documentary photographer who believes passionately in the power of the pen and the importance of enabling people to tell their own life stories. He is currently working on a photography project called ‘Identity’.
Astra Price
Editor / Technical Director
Astra Price (she/her) is a moving image specialist and an educator in digital media, having taught for over a decade at California Institute of the Arts. She has worked in the digital collections of such artists such as Bill Viola, Jane Geiser, Lewis Klahr, and Sylvère Lotringer. Her publications on preservation of time-based media can be found in Leonardo and the IIC Journal. In addition to working with other artists, Astra is also an artist and filmmaker with a focus in experimental documentaries.
Juan Raymundo Ramos
Assistant Editor / Tech Coordinator
Juan Raymundo Ramos was born on March 5, 1996 in Manila, Philippines. He was raised in Quezon City and eventually migrated to Los Angeles, California at thirteen to seek film opportunities. He graduated from California State University, Northridge with a Bachelor's Degree in Cinema and Television Arts, and is now working as an independent filmmaker, editor, and livestreamer.
Production Team
Amy Bench
Director of Photography
Austin-based cinematographer and filmmaker Amy Bench has been twice nominated for the Kodak Excellence in Cinematography Award, and was recently named a “DP on the Rise” by Paste magazine. Her camera work has screened at many festivals including Berlin, SXSW, and Sundance.
Isabel Bethencourt
Director of Photography
Award-winning Los Angeles-born cinematographer Isabel Bethencourt shot the documentary short Grounded which premiered at the Margaret Meade Film Festival. Her work as a director and cinematographer has been published by The Wall Street Journal, GQ, and Teen Vogue.
Roberto Campos
Editor
Roberto Campos was born in Mexico City, grew up in the Chicago area, and is currently an LA-based editor of commercials, promos, non-fiction programs, music videos, and short films.
Scott Drucker
Director of Photography
Scott Drucker is a Chicago-based award-winning director and cinematographer. His documentary Who is Arthur Chu? premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in January 2017. Scott has also created content for Vice, Hulu, ESPN, and Vocativ.
Connie M. Florez
Director of Photography
Indigenous Hawaiian director of photography Connie Florez has produced and filmed multiple award-winning documentaries and narrative films for PBS national broadcast, Netflix, Amazon and international distributions since 1998 with her company Hula Girl Productions.
Kate Kunath
Producer / Director of Photography
LA and NY-based cinematographer Kate Kunath made the documentary We Came To Sweat about the Starlite Lounge, an iconic, racially diverse pre-Stonewall queer club in Brooklyn. Kate also produces and directs short-form docs for the digital magazine Roads and Kingdoms.
Michelle McCabe
Director of Photography
After beginning her career in the world of fashion, celebrity, and lifestyle still photography, Michelle McCabe has been a cinematographer for more than 15 years. Her documentary work has taken her to China, Afghanistan, Tanzania, Malaysia, Ukraine, Cuba, Brasil, and countless other locations.
Howard Shack
Director of Photography
Emmy Award-winning director of photography Howard Shack has filmed all over the world for PBS, Discovery, and National Geographic. Over the course of his career, he has worked for many acclaimed documentary filmmakers including pioneer Albert Maysles, Academy Award-nominee Robert Stone, and Sundance Audience Award Winner Tom Shepard.
Janine Sides
Director of Photography
Cinematographer Janine Sides’ body of work consists of live-action film and TV, music videos, commercials, and documentaries. Her clients have included MTV, Instagram, Fox, Hyundai, Sesame Street, HBO, and Google, and she recently worked on two seasons of the USA Network drama series Queen of the South.
Goro Toshima
Director of Photography
Goro Toshima is an award-winning filmmaker based in Los Angeles. He won a best feature award at the SXSW Film Festival, and a best film nomination from the International Documentary Association. His work has been seen on PBS, HBO, and at the Sundance Film Festival.
Natalie Tsui
Director of Photography
Hong Kong native Natalie Tsui lives in New York. Her award-winning work, which revolves around identity, memory, and subjectivity, has screened at Frameline, the National Queer Arts Festival, and the Festival de Cannes.
Keith Wilson
Director of Photography
Keith Wilson is a San Francisco-based filmmaker whose films have screened at Sundance, the Berlinale, South by Southwest and the Museum of Modern Art. His documentary Deep Inside the Shaman's Den about the performance artist Frank Moore will premiere in 2020.
Language & Terminology
OUTWORDS uses the designation "queer" interchangeably with the acronyms LGBT, LGBTQ, LGBTQ+, and all their variations. We like “queer” as a catch-all term that bows to the fluidity and complexity of sexual and gender identity. We also recognize the term’s history of derogatory usage, and witness the lasting pain it has caused for some LGBTQ folks.
For resources on LGBTQ terminology, see these helpful glossaries: PFLAG, GLAAD, Trans Student Educational Resources. We also are big fans of the Conscious Style Guide.
Non-Discrimination & Diversity Policy
OUTWORDS actively seeks candidates from diverse backgrounds and traditions, who vary by their race and ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, culture, religion, and physical and mental abilities. In our workplace as well as in our interactions with outside individuals and groups, we seek to foster an environment where new, unpopular and/or controversial ideas are safely expressed; and we encourage the exchange of such views in a spirit of mutual respect.