Writer and Director

Government employee by day and filmmaker by night, Shayla Racquel is the quintessential creative, born and raised in the South but currently living in the city. She believes she gained her creative entrepreneurial spirit from her grandparents Joseph & Evelyn Thompson, both owning thriving Black businesses in Columbia, South Carolina. Diagnosed with Sickle Cell Disease at birth and having a stroke at the young age of 12, her childhood battle with the disease is what brought her closer to the art of storytelling and the love of filmmaking.

Producer

Mitra I. Arthur is a native of both Upper Marlboro, MD and Columbia, SC. She began her career in Performing Arts Management & Education, working with various theatre organizations, Capital Jazz Productions and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She has now turned her attention to the cinematic arts and works as a freelance Assistant Director, Producer & Editor. Mitra is proud to serve as a producer on Riverment.

Producer

Lindsey Sitz is a writer/producer on the creative video team at the Washington Post. She works on a wide range of projects from satire pieces to a docuseries on egg freezing (‘Should I Freeze My Eggs? with Nicole Ellis’). Prior to the post, she was a freelance writer, working on both long form interactive video scripts and animated scripts. Co-producing Riverment was a challenge and an honor, and she is very proud of what the team has created together.

Director of Photography

Ross Godwin grew up in the Washington, DC area, and has been finding excuses to play with cameras from a young age. He began really cutting his teeth making films and commercials in Los Angeles, and has since expanded his scope to Europe, Asia, and Africa working on documentary and narrative films alike. Most recently, he worked on the Fox Sports soccer series, “Phenoms”, and earned a Best Cinematography award for his work on the award winning civil rights short film, Riverment. Like a fish in water when on set, Ross loves nothing more than collaborating with talented and creative people to tell compelling and meaningful stories.