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Vanessa is an American filmmaker, theater director, educator and performer. Currently, she is teaching filmmaking & theater at Shekou International School in Shenzhen, China.

 

Vanessa has traveled to over 40 countries, lived and worked in eight. She has a BFA in Acting and Directing and a Masters of Liberal Arts from Tulane University.  After graduating from college Vanessa founded a theater company and created plays (acting & directing) in Seattle, WA and Pittsburgh, PA.  Then, she began working in the film industry in San Francisco and New York City, and subsequently worked on many feature films, television series and commercials. During her years in New York City she held a position at The Public Theater/Shakespeare in Central Park as a grant writer, was a theater agent’s assistant at International Creative Management (ICM) and worked on many film productions.

 

Eventually, Vanessa began working in documentary film and journalism.  Moving from Brooklyn to New Orleans three weeks after Hurricane Katrina, she investigated the Gulf Coast's fishing industry recovery from the disaster.  While there she produced for local and international news organizations as well continuing to work in the film and television industry.  She produced a series of short documentaries for ARTE France and published written articles about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Her documentary work has been awarded a notable placement in a Pulitzer Center contest and she was awarded the PBS Website’s Best Election Day Video in 2008. In 2015/16 she spent a year and half traveling through Asia and making web videos, short documentaries and editing for an online photography magazine.  Notably, she worked as a freelance writer for the Chinese publication, Sina, covering the Miss China Universe Pageant’s journey from China to Sri Lanka. She co-produced a short documentary, Master Qin & His Puppets, outside of Wuhan, China.

 

Vanessa has lived in and taught in schools in the US, Japan, Ecuador, China, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia and Zambia. As an international school theater teacher each school year she directs musicals and plays.  She also teaches filmmaking and oversees student film productions.

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In Zambia she played a lead role (Nancy Nguzu) in Season 2 (and reoccurring role in Seasons 3 & 4) of the popular Showmax/Zambezi Magic series, Mpali.