Joseph Kwong. Creative Director
+ Co-Founder.
Mr. Kwong is an award-winning writer, producer and
game inventor who began his career at KQED in San
Francisco, producing for the “MacNeil-Lehrer Report”
and “Frontline.” He went on to become the
Executive Producer of Arts and Culture at KCET where
he oversaw local and national programs. During
his tenure at these two PBS stations, Kwong won
9 Emmys, an Ohio State Journalism award and a duPont-Columbia
award. In the 1990s, Kwong became the long-form
creative director for Colossal Pictures, renowned
for its cutting edge filmmaking that gave MTV and
Nickelodeon its distinctive look. In 2000,
Kwong joined Mondo Media to executive produce dozens
of online cartoons that defined the genre. Most
recently, Kwong was at University Games, not only
as a game inventor, but to develop an animated Dr.
Seuss series for PBS Kids. As a writer, Kwong
wrote the pilot for PBS’s “Cyberchase” and the film
adaptation of the novel, “Nim’s Island” for 20th
Century Fox/Walden Media starring Jodie Foster and
Abigail Breslin. His screenplay adaptation
of National Book Award finalist, Sold by
Patricia McCormick, is going into production this
year. He was a game design consultant for
Sony Playstation games and iWin online games.
Jeff Fino. Executive Producer + Co-Founder.
Jeff brings over twenty years of experience in the media
world as a creator, producer and senior executive. In addition
to working at notable entertainment companies in Los Angeles
and San Francisco, Jeff was a founder of award-winning
entertainment company, Wild Brain, where he demonstrated
that a prosperous, creative community will flourish within
a truly collaborative work environment. At Wild Brain,
Jeff oversaw development on nearly every film, television,
commercial, and new media project the studio produced.
He has created original animated series for network television
outlets from Burbank to Berlin, supervised feature film
elements for major US studios, and produced hundreds of
hours of award-winning shorts, commercials, and internet
content.
In 2007 Jeff co-created Nuvana, an innovative multi platform, mission-based learning experience. Jeff is a member of the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a Board member of Zeum: San Francisco’s Children’s Museum, and has recently served as the founding Chairman for the City of San Francisco’s Digital Media Advisory Council, as well as an advisor to San Francisco State University’s School of Cinema.
Drew Takahashi. Design/UI/Branding.
Mr. Takahashi is the former Chairman, co-founder and Chief Creative Director of Colossal Pictures. He spearheaded branding campaigns for MTV, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and the Disney Channel. His fascination with the forms of media driven experiences has led him to the development of branding, interface design and navigation architecture for clients such as Excite, Americast, WebTV, Microsoft, VH1, Real Networks, Replay Networks and web/TV content for Disney Channel, Mondo Media, and MTV.
Lily Kwong. East Coast Managing Director.
Ms. Kwong is a Sudhir Venkatesh Film & Multimedia Fellow at Columbia University's Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy. Beyond studying social media and technology, Ms. Kwong has written for Style.com and GQ's web department. She has also been featured on Vogue.com and the New York Times' T Magazine. She is passionate about the arts, and has studied under Pier 24 Photography's executive director, Christopher McCall, following a stint at the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco.
Robert Fung Chief of Technology.
Luciano Altube Web Developer.
Max Slavkin. Project Director.
Max is an activist, change-maker, and community organizer with a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Southern California. Max has worked with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, the American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees: District Council 37, El Centro Del Inmigrante, Community Health Academy of the Heights, Global Strategy Group, California's Yes on Proposition 87 Campaign, and worked for US Senator Dianne Feinstein. At USC he served as Student Body Vice President, founded USC's student alumni association, and co-founded Delta Omicron Zeta, a community of student leaders built around mutual development and growth. Max is a proud alum of the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs, and now lives in San Francisco doing his best to be the change. In addition to his normal project manager duties at Nuvana, Max is also developing the company's first civic engagement project.
Evan Kleiman. Diggville director.
Evan Kleiman is a culinary multi-tasker. Not a “foodie” -- she characterizes herself as a food geek. As the host of "Good Food" on 89.9 KCRW-FM and kcrw.com, Evan has conducted 6,000+ interviews over the past 14 years. She also makes food and has worked as a chef for over 30 years, most recently as the chef-owner of Angeli in Los Angeles for 27 years. She’s written 6 cookbooks and is active in working toward a sustainable food system in California through her work with the Los Angeles Food Policy Council and the statewide organization Roots of Change which recently facilitated the timely document Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture. She was the founding leader of the LA Slow Food Convivium for 8 years. Evan also teaches cooking classes and leads food tours of Italy and Los Angeles. She loves Pie.