Real Talk on Funding Day

Raised on Guam, Lailanie Gadia is a Filipina American community builder, producer, and financial professional based in Los Angeles. Serving as the Asian American Documentary Network (A-Doc)’s Operations Director, Lailanie finds purpose in supporting and empowering underrepresented voices. She is an Associate Producer on Tadashi Nakamura’s Third Act, a 2022 LEAP Impact alum and graduated from Loyola Marymount University.

Jamie is the COO of Represent Justice, a nonprofit that builds narrative power for formerly incarcerated filmmakers, film participants, and activists. As a founding steering committee member of GIPA she is co-leading an effort to preserve impact-related exhibition rights in distribution deals. As a director/producer her work has screened at MoMA, Full Frame, and AFI DOCS, among other festivals. 

Sarah Rachael Wainio is one of the industry’s most sought after storytellers. Her credits include The Food Network, Magnolia Network, Netflix, TLC, and HBO. She produced the first three seasons of MTV’s seminal show “Teen Mom: Young + Pregnant,” bringing the real-life consequences of unplanned teen pregnancy to a national audience. She earned an MFA in Social Documentary Film from the School of Visual Arts and has a degree in Psychology and Philosophy from Fordham University. Sarah is Secretary of the Documentary Producers Alliance and co-chairs the ethics task force. She lives in NYC with her cats Theodora and Tovah.

Kelsey has worked in independent documentary for over a decade and is currently the VP of Production at Impact Partners, a fund that supports powerful documentary films addressing pressing social issues. Since joining IP, she has been involved with the development of 100+ projects and has spoken on panels about funding, distribution, and impact at industry events around the world.

Jamie is the COO of Represent Justice, a nonprofit that builds narrative power for formerly incarcerated filmmakers, film participants, and activists. As a founding steering committee member of GIPA she is co-leading an effort to preserve impact-related exhibition rights in distribution deals. As a director/producer her work has screened at MoMA, Full Frame, and AFI DOCS, among other festivals. 

Kelsey has worked in independent documentary for over a decade and is currently the VP of Production at Impact Partners, a fund that supports powerful documentary films addressing pressing social issues. Since joining IP, she has been involved with the development of 100+ projects and has spoken on panels about funding, distribution, and impact at industry events around the world.

Sarah Rachael Wainio is one of the industry’s most sought after storytellers. Her credits include The Food Network, Magnolia Network, Netflix, TLC, and HBO. She produced the first three seasons of MTV’s seminal show “Teen Mom: Young + Pregnant,” bringing the real-life consequences of unplanned teen pregnancy to a national audience. She earned an MFA in Social Documentary Film from the School of Visual Arts and has a degree in Psychology and Philosophy from Fordham University. Sarah is Secretary of the Documentary Producers Alliance and co-chairs the ethics task force. She lives in NYC with her cats Theodora and Tovah.

Raised on Guam, Lailanie Gadia is a Filipina American community builder, producer, and financial professional based in Los Angeles. Serving as the Asian American Documentary Network (A-Doc)’s Operations Director, Lailanie finds purpose in supporting and empowering underrepresented voices. She is an Associate Producer on Tadashi Nakamura’s Third Act, a 2022 LEAP Impact alum and graduated from Loyola Marymount University.