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 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, and is the former president of Women in Film Seattle. 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 Institure, and continues to produce for companies in Seattle, as well as being an active voice in the Seattle film community. 

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

Virginia 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 regional Emmys; award winners: Healing a Soldier’s Heart (KCTS), The Hands That Feed Us; and during her tenure as Director of Film and Media, countless programs for MoPop. Her comedic short, The Delivery, a SIFF Fly Film, won multiple Best Short recognitions, an Accolade Award, and screens on Alaska Airlines. 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, PTFF, and Three Dollar Cinema;  and was a supervising producer for SIFF's Fly Films. She created countless Microsoft case studies, videos for MTV web, was a field producer for Today Show and Food Channel, and created National Endowment for the Arts documentaries (American Masterworks) for WA State Arts Commission. Her PSAs for the United Nations on global food, and for The Songbird Foundation 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 president for ten years. She co-founded and is the director of Post Alley Film Festival, https://filmfreeway.com/PostAlleyFilmFestival, a woman-centric international shorts film fest.

Virginia also taught 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. 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/ More info here: IMDB CONTACT: virginia@laughingdogpictures.com

SUSAN LASALLE, Grant Administrator, Ex Officio

Susan is a producer and a DGA UPM (Directors Guild of America unit production manager). Highlights of her 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(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 screens globally and won Best Foreign Documentary at Galway Film Festival in Ireland; and Second Nature, a feature film by Michael Cross, shot in Ellensburg, and produced Anu, Sudeshna Sen’s feature which screened at SIFF 2023. Susan is a graduate of Evergreen College, a past board member of Women In Film Seattle, now WIF Grant Admin, a former volunteer for Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), and 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 with many global successes under its belt. IMDB page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2030179/

AMANDA EBERT (She/Her) Co-Chair, Communications Committee

Amanda is a Washington-based multidisciplinary artist and entrepreneur who works in film & music, and co-founded Darcy Blue Productions with her partner on their family farm. Amanda is the Cinema Content Manager at SIFF for year-round programming and the Seattle International Film Festival. In recent years she’s worked in the cinema tech departments of Tribeca Film Festival and Seattle Queer Film Festival. Mountain Violet, her directorial debut, premiered at the West Sound Film Festival in 2023, where it won Best Short Narrative Cinematography, and continued on the PNW film festival circuit to Local Sightings, Seattle Film Summit, Seattle Queer Film Festival, Oregon Short Film Festival, and more. Her production company Darcy Blue Productions serves and empowers nonprofits of the PNW, partnering with environmental, educational, and tribal organizations, while producing narrative work that highlights the inner worlds of women. Amanda produces & performs independently in Seattle. She is represented by TCM Talent as an actor and voiceover artist, and contributes vocals, keyboards, & percussion as a founding member of Indie-folk band Babes in Canyon. Originally from Milwaukee WI, Amanda lived in New York and Los Angeles before moving to Washington - working in theatre, film, & comedy in various capacities - as an actor, producer, devised theatre creator, and collaborator in developing new works. Amanda holds a BFA in Acting with a minor in Arts & Entertainment Management from Pace University School of Performing Arts in New York City.