Cassidy Friedman, founder of Stories Matter Media, makes films that prioritize relationships, employ collaboration between filmmaker and film subject, and veer away from antiseptic plot lines in order to complicate narratives. His award-winning first documentary feature, Circles (2018), was called "powerful" by Mother Jones, "must-see" by The Mercury News, and is being distributed by Lionsgate. He produced the documentary feature, Voices Beyond the Wall (2017), with Executive Producer James Franco. He has directed a score of documentary shorts, including Detroit Rising (2020), about the Motor City’s Black-led efforts to become America’s first restorative city, and Finding Hope (2021).

Amber “Clarity” Allen-Peirson is a storyteller, a visionary, and a community activist. Her life experience gives her an incredible sense of intuition, empathy, and creative healing skill. Amber is a poet who traverses between polarized worlds as a biracial woman, between Oakland and Marin County. As a filmmaker, she began her career co-directing Ambassadors of Hope (2023), a documentary short that won the 2024 Dan Eldon Activist Award. Amber was an Associate Producer on the short film, A Brighter Tomorrow (2021) for CNN Films. She has produced commercial videos for nonprofits such as Community Action Marin and Harambee Arts.