Bios

Executive Producer: Maya Chupkov is a writer, podcaster, and lifelong stutterer who spent the last decade advocating for issues relating to media justice, environmental justice, disability justice, criminal justice reform, affordable housing, and who is now passionate about growing a speech diverse movement. Chupkov led the successful effort to declare the second week of May as National Stuttering Awareness Week in San Francisco, one of the first cities in history to do so. Chupkov launched Proud Stutter, a multi-awarding winning show about the stuttering experiences, in October 2021, and has appeared on NPR, San Francisco Examiner, KQED, Accessibility Magazine, and on Apple Podcast’s New & Noteworthy. She has spoken at several conferences, including Podcast Movement, the National Stuttering Association, British Stammering Association, and at the Independent News Sustainability Summit. Chupkov is the Media & Democracy Program Manager at California Common Cause and is a Board Member at the National Alliance for Community Economic Development Associations, which provides advocacy support for affordable housing associations across the country. Chupkov is also working on an audio project for California Common Cause. 

Director/Producer: Tessa Andrade is a person who stutters and a strategic and creative Addy Award-winning producer specializing in multi-platform marketing video content, spending 7+ years overseeing the production process from creation to deployment, delivering creative video content for global brands, emphasizing integrated communications and ensuring the client’s vision and story are brought to life. Tessa prides herself on being an excellent communicator and creative leader. Working both independently and collaboratively, she’s able to seamlessly direct talent, cameras, and crew in the field as well as post-production editors and motion graphic artists to ensure brand consistency in marketing, messaging, and creativity by working with internal and external partners.

Composer: Mark Governor is an acclaimed composer and lyricist with twenty feature films and over 200 television series, specials and documentaries to his credit, including “Pet Sematary 2”, “Notes From Underground”, a collaboration with Iggy Pop on “The Brave” (directed by Johnny Depp) and the DVD Special Editions of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogies. Mark is also a sought after record and concert producer, recording artist, and arranger who has worked with Grammy-winning artists in nearly all genres of music. His rock musical “shAme” is currently in development for Broadway.

Director of Photography: Matt Straus found his passion for filmmaking as a young basketball player — he won back-to-back state championships in high school, and fell in love with video production while cutting highlight tapes (yes — actual VHS tapes) for his teammates. He has worked as a Writer, Director, DP, and Editor for 13 years. Matt takes pride in being able to wear multiple hats on any given project, and is passionate about telling stories across multiple genres.

Jesse Vasquez: content advisor, rough cut reviewer 

Jesse Vasquez serves as Executive Director for the Friends of San Quentin News and Pollen Initiative, nonprofit organizations advancing transformational, incarcerated-run multimedia programs such as San Quentin News and ForwardThis Productions. He was incarcerated as a juvenile and spent almost 19 years in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation until former Governor Jerry Brown commuted his sentence. Since his release in 2019, he has volunteered in various high schools to help teens understand their options and opportunities in spite of their environmental surroundings.

At the height of the COVID pandemic, he worked at the Alameda County Community Food Bank distributing resources to thousands of families. Before that he worked with Arsola’s Distribution Center to coordinate housing for formerly incarcerated individuals. He also helped organize one of the first reentry resource centers with the Department of Adult Parole Office in East Oakland, CA.

Cameron Raynes: content advisor, rough cut reviewer

Cameron Raynes, Ph.D., is a filmmaker, writer, and Lecturer in Creative Writing and Aboriginal History at the University of South Australia. Dr. Raynes has expertise in oral history, life history, autoethnography, fiction writing, narrative theory, and history. During his PhD studies in Anthropology, Cameron established himself as a writer of history, short stories, film scripts and a novel, First Person Shooter, about a boy who stutters. Dr. Raynes leads a course for teens to embark on a creative process to write about their stutter.

Dr. Raynes is steeped in social, cultural and historical aspects of Indigenous communities and also brings a creative and first-person perspective to the topic of stuttering. He has facilitated discussion and run workshops at Atlanta, GA and Fort Lauderdale, FL, on the connections between writing and stuttering. He will provide specialist advice on the use of primary historical sources (e.g., from archival collections) and the narrative understanding of a life in the field of life history. His role as historian, humanities practitioner, writer, filmmaker, and a person who stutters, will add depth and perspective to the film.

Karina Sturm: content advisor, rough cut reviewer

Karina is a multimedia journalist and filmmaker from Germany who has lived in San Francisco for seven years. These days, she resides somewhere between Germany, the US and Denmark. She gained significant scientific knowledge through studying laboratory technology and working in research for several years. Due to a chronic illness and invisible disability, she found her passion for media production and has been working as a freelance journalist since 2013. In 2019, she finished her Master’s degree by producing a feature-length documentary called ”We Are Visible” to highlight how to improve reporting on people with disabilities in the media. ”We Are Visible” has won several movie awards, while Karina graduated with distinction from her journalism program. Karina’s main focus is to represent people with illnesses and disabilities accurately in the media to reduce biases and stereotypes. She thinks disabled journalists should be reporting on disability.

Sturm has deep knowledge of the disability experience and is a strong proponent of finding acceptance and pride in disability. She brings expertise in storytelling and will bring a powerful, in-depth disability lens to the project. 

Susanne Gahl: content advisor

Dr. Gahl is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics and the Cognitive Science Program at UC Berkeley. Her work spans a continuum from basic to applied research, connecting computational models of lexical access and retrieval with behavioral observations, such as subtle variation in pronunciation, symptoms of aphasia, and spelling errors. There are two recurring themes in her theoretical work. One is the belief that observable phenomena sometimes considered ‘peripheral’, such as pronunciation, hand movements, and spelling errors, reflect ‘central’ processes and representations, such as our knowledge of words and sentence structure. The second theme is the belief that our language production and comprehension systems are constantly changing: Every act of language use is part of a process of language learning and change. She has studied (alleged and real) connections between bilingualism and stuttering diagnoses.

Professor Gahl’s academic credentials and scholarship on linguistics will be invaluable to this project. She recently wrote on the origins of the claimed connection between bilingualism and stuttering, which examines how bilingualism does or does not affect stuttering, as well as the impacts of misdiagnosing bilingual children. Dr. Gahl is an ally to the stuttering community.

Grip / Drone Operator: Vinny Minton found his love for filmmaking with a camera in his hands and skates on his feet. Before becoming a Cinematographer, he was a world-renowned professional rollerblader who helped shape the current trend of modern street skating. He has 15 years of experience as a cinematographer (on and off rollerblades) for brands across multiple continents.

Audio Operator: Garrett McDonald is the CEO of Amplifilm Inc., a company well-regarded for its production sound mixing services in San Francisco. Garrett's journey into the world of audio production began with a solid educational foundation, including a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Music Production and Sound Design from the Academy of Art University. To further refine his craft and gain practical experience, Garrett embarked on internships at Studio Trilogy and Polarity Post Production, dedicating a year to each. These invaluable experiences allowed him to hone his skills, learn from industry experts, and make valuable connections. Before his career in sound took off, Garrett proudly served in the U.S. Navy from 2005 to 2010. His military service instilled in him discipline and an unwavering sense of commitment, values that continue to shape his professional path. Outside his work, Garrett finds deep fulfillment in spending time with family, exploring new places through travel, and connecting with nature through hiking. He also enjoys engaging in conversations about audio gear with fellow enthusiasts and professionals. At Amplifilm Inc., Garrett is dedicated to providing exceptional sound quality, transforming creative visions into reality.