VIRGINIA BERTA BOGERT, (She/Her) Interim President, Community Liaison, President Emerita

Virginia is an honored recipient of the Seattle Mayor’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film 2023. https://harrell.seattle.gov/2023/05/09/mayor-harrell-announces-virginia-bogert-as-recipient-of-the-17th-annual-mayors-film-award-for-outstanding-achievement-in-film/. She has directed, written, edited, and produced award-winning media for nearly three decades, from features, shorts, and commercials, to corporate, documentaries, and television. Her company Laughing Dog Pictures focuses on human rights issues, citizenry, and the Arts. Her many credits include award-winning documentaries for Public Television: Pike Place Market: Soul of a City, which garnered six Emmys, multiple Tellys; and, Healing a Soldier’s Heart (KCTS now Cascadia) and The Hands That Feed Us. During her tenure as Director of Film and Media at MoPop, she produced and edited countless museum screenings which were broadcast internationally. Her comedy short, The Delivery, a SIFF Fly Film, won multiple Best Short recognitions, an Accolade Award, and screens on Alaska flights. Her dramatic short Tootie Pie premiered at Seattle International Film Festival, screened at Langston Hughes Black Film Festival, Tacoma Art Museum, and on PBS. Virginia was a juror for Seattle International Film Festival, Port Townsend Film Festival, Three Dollar Cinema, Lake Stevens Film Festival, 48 Hr Film Challeng ((multiple times), the Seattle Turkish Film Festival, and continues as a judge and panel host at Cascadia International Women’s Film Festival. She was supervising producer for SIFF's Fly Films, has created countless Microsoft case studies and content for MTV web; was a field producer for Today Show and The Food Channel, directed/created National Endowment for the Arts documentaries (American Masterworks) for WA State Arts Commission, directed/produced/edited documentaries for Fifth Avenue Theatre, ACT Contemporary Theater, and an award-winning commercials for On the Boards. Her PSAs for the United Nations on global food shortages were distributed world-wide. Virginia holds a BA in English from NYU, a Masters in Media Ecology/Communications - Cinema Studies from NYU, and Certification in Educational TV from SUNY. She's been a member of Women in Film Seattle since its 1990 inception and has been president for 12 years (non concurrently :) She co-founded and is the director of Post Alley Film Festival, https://filmfreeway.com/PostAlleyFilmFestival, a woman-centric international shorts film fest celebrating its 15th Edition March 29, 2025. Virginia also teaches documentary filmmaking and is an advisor at University of Washington and Seattle Film Institute. She was a member of the Seattle Film Task Force 2020-2022 which spawned The Seattle Film Commission in 2023. A little more info here: IMDB CONTACT: virginia@laughingdogpictures.com

ASH NAVONE, (They/Them) Vice President, Communications Chair

Ash graduated with a degree in digital filmmaking from Shoreline Community College and got their foot in the industry door as a Production Assistant on the feature Fat Kid Rules the World. “I worked sixteen hour days, six days a week for three weeks and didn’t get paid as an intern on set. Not even a film credit was issued to interns on the set of that production.” Quick to learn, Ash never took another unpaid job and focused on positions in the art department - working on features, shorts, music videos, YouTube, and in the theater. Ash loves being behind the camera but their passion is building characters and writing screenplays. Ash took a break from the film industry to teach kids who were developmentally disabled. Says Ash, “I needed a break from the hustle. It’s a hard industry to be in when you're identified as a woman and that much harder when you don’t identify as one. I’m trans and I needed time to get my mental health in check so I could focus on what mattered: the art, the stories, and the female perspective.” Ash chose to be a part of Women in Film Seattle to be an ally in promoting equity, inclusion, and the careers of women in the industry. Ash’s IMDB page.

JOANNE ORT, (She/Her) Treasurer

Joanne is a forward-thinking Certified Public Accountant with expertise providing financial advice, accounting, payroll and tax planning services to creative clients in the film and entertainment industry. Joanne’s credits include feature films Ira Finkelstein’s Christmas, and Sold, and the documentary Console Wars as well as the 2015 Washington Filmworks Innovation lab project Strowlers. Born and raised in the Seattle area, Joanne received her Master’s degree in Accounting and her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Washington. She is a member of the Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants, has over 20 years experience providing business consulting, accounting, and tax services to closely held businesses and individuals, and she is pleased to be on board of Women in Film Seattle with a group of incredibly talented and inspiring women.

LISA B. HAMMOND, (She/Her) Production Chair

Lisa is an experienced art director and set decorator for print, film, broadcast, and social media productions. She mastered the art of decorating sets upside-down and backwards on 8x10 Hasselblad cameras for editorial advertising before moving to corporate, commercial and feature film work. Her first jobs as a stock options runner and orthodontic assistant helped prepare her for doing very detailed work in really tight spaces with very anxious people. Lisa co-directed and produced two short documentaries and is currently producing creative content for KAI FILMS about Linda Troeller, an award-winning photographer. A former President of Women in Film Seattle and Chair of The Diversity Committee for IATSE Local, Lisa is a member of IATSE Local 488 Executive Board 2010-2021, Chair of Diversity Equity & Inclusion Committee, OSHA 10, CPR-AED, Covid-19 Protocol Certified. Lisa won her first producer Clio Award for a Seahawks ad in 2024! https://www.lisabhammond.com

TRACEY SHRIER, (She/Her) Membership Chair

After graduating from the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, Arizona, producer Tracey Shrier began working on local productions as well as Hollywood films that came to her town. Shortly after, she made the big move to Los Angeles to further her career and to gain more production experience. Since then, Tracey has worked on numerous feature films, shorts, corporate videos, music videos, and PSA’s for worthy causes. In addition to working on films, Tracey’s love for filmmaking extended to work with film festivals where she has served on selection committees and worked as Executive Assistant to the director of Dances With Films. Tracey serves on the Board of Directors for Women In Film, co-administrates Post Alley Film Festival, teaches at Seattle Film Institute, and continues to produce for companies in Seattle, as well as being an active voice in the Seattle film community. 

SUSAN LASALLE, Grant Administrator, Ex Officio

Susan is a producer and a DGA UPM (Directors Guild of America unit production manager). She has produced countless short form and feature length Independent films. Highlights of Susan’s career include the Academy Award winning documentary Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Your Environment. She produced the wildly successful The Paper Tigers, shot in Seattle with Director Quoc Bao Tran with a 98%/93% score on Rotten Tomatoes. She also produced the New York Film Festival award winner It's Your Choice: The Facts about Smoking (Discovery Channel); Seattle International Film Festival's Golden Space Needle Award winner Full Disclosure (on iTunes), director Virginia Bogert's heralded short film Tootie Pie, and director Sue Corcoran's feature film Ira Finkelstein's Christmas starring Elliott Gould, Cynthia Geary, and David DeLuise. Susan produced Mark Titus' feature documentary The Breach, about the plight of wild salmon, which screened globally and won Best Foreign Documentary at Galway Film Festival in Ireland; and Second Nature, a feature film by Michael Cross, shot in Ellensburg, Washington; and she produced Anu, Sudeshna Sen’s feature which screened at Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) in 2023. Susan is a graduate of Evergreen College, a board member of Women In Film Seattle, is WIF’s Grant Administrator for eight years, and served on the Mayor’s Film Task Force. Susan’s day job is producer of political spots for candidates running WA State and national campaigns; and she is a longtime board member of Corporate Accountability International, an organization that works to protect human rights, public health, and the environment from corporate greed and abuse. CAI has countless global successes under its belt. IMDB page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2030179/

ABIE EKENEZAR (They/She) Ad hoc

Abie Ekenezar is an actress, singer, voiceover actress, screen writer and award winning producer and director living in Seattle, WA with an extensive background resume and has been in the entertainment industry professionally with IMDB credits for seven years.  Abie came on board with the LA agency Dramatic Artists and worked with Film professionals on the show Strowlers, a fantasy film project that was released by Zombie Orpheus Entertainment in 2018. Prior to this, Abie graduated in Computers Science at Montclair State University but that wasn’t enough.  They also decided to get a Minor in Musical Theatre because of their love for the arts.  Abie, while working on their Bachelor’s at Montclair, they also auditioned and was accepted into the Seton Hall University Choir where they toured along the East Coast and internationally in Quebec, Canada. 

They later found their passion for the film industry, acting in such projects as Grimm, Man In The High Castle, Librarians, Portlandia and even Z-Nation, filmed in Spokane, WA. They had their directorial debut in 2020 on a film dealing with our current pandemic along with the BLM protests called Prefer-Racial Treatment.  Abie has recently completed multiple projects with Zombie Orpheus Entertainment, along with another of productions and in 2017 started their own production company called BabsEk Productions that deals with diversity and inclusivity in the local community that has projects to be released in 2021.  Their producing debut was December 2020 for the film short, Outlawz, which later lead to their award winning film Bad Ass Women Doing Kick Ass Shit, their first book anthology, Cooties: Shot Required was published in March 2021.  They just produced a Virtual Production short called Sticky Buns, Ravioli and White Cake and is currently producing the 15 year fan favorite film, The Gamers: Dorkness Falls.  IMDB Page: http://imdb.me/abieekenezar