Straight Ahead Animation Podcast

This week we are proud to host Black Card Members' founder Celeste C. Black Card Members is a space meant for empowering creatives of color from all backgrounds. They are an online, international-friendly community that provides a safe space for creatives to grow and bond while providing prompts and events to nurture that creativity. Cel chats with us about her background as an event organizer and creative person themselves, and how BCM began as a humble Zine project. We chat about BCM's events and greatest achievements, including the Black Card Gala we partook in a couple years ago! Check out BCM, and consider joining them for the joy of creativity!

Website: https://blackcardmems.org/

Instagram: @blackcardmems

If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and rate us on Apple Podcast & Spotify. We want to expand our platform and amplify these BIPOC voices! If you'd like to support us directly, we have a tip jar open at ko-fi.com/straightaheadap

This week we are spotlighting Asian Queens in Animation: an organization dedicated to fostering a community of Asians of underrepresented genders in the animation space. We have the pleasure of talking with co-founders Maansi Sunkara and Shrav Yalsangikar, along with one of their admins, Sanisha Agarwal. We talk about the inception of AQIA, how their built their brand as an organization, and their panel at Lightbox Expo. These achievements are topped by their most successful program, Coffee with a Queen, which pairs-up professionals and those aspiring so they can make real connections.

Instagram: @asianqueensanimation

https://linktr.ee/asianqueensanim

If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and rate us on Apple Podcast & Spotify. We want to expand our platform and amplify these BIPOC voices! If you'd like to support us directly, we have a tip jar open at ko-fi.com/straightaheadap

This week we are joined by the amazing Jim Mortensen (founder of SFA) and Tristan Cabral (Admin of SFA) as we learn all about their amazing program: Story For All! Volunteer-run and completely free to join, SFA is a mentorship program focused on 1:1 mentorship between industry professionals and budding storyboard artists. The organization helps mentors onboard, guide them on how to touch base with mentees, and even how to finish that mentor relationship in case they have a big gig coming up. For the mentees, SFA gets them into a big meeting with all the mentors in order to pair them up with the appropriate board artist that understands what their goals are and who vibes well together. Jim and Tristan also share their stories, and how they both switched out of full careers outside of animation before entering this creative space.

Website: http://storyforall.net

Instagram: @storymentorship

Twitter: @storymentorship

If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and rate us on Apple Podcast & Spotify. We want to expand our platform and amplify these BIPOC voices! If you'd like to support us directly, we have a tip jar open at ko-fi.com/straightaheadap

Kicking off our August Special Speaker series with one of the co-founders of Diverse Toons: Jade Seaberry! Diverse Toons is a East-Coast (USA) based organization and resource dedicated to uplifting diversity in the animation industry. Jade shares the story of how she and Monique Henry-Hudson created Diverse Toons, and how they wanted to foster a community outside of the West coast. We learn more about Jade's own history: forming her own production company, president of Women Against Rape and Sexual Assault, and volunteer for the National Association against Domestic Violence. It all plays so much into the empathy and awareness that guides Diverse Toons' actions. We talk about so many important and amazing things about this wonderful organization, so please check them out!

Website: DiverseToons.com

Instagram: @diversetoons

Twitter: @DiverseToons

Simply Robotix (Monique's podcast!)

If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and rate us on Apple Podcast & Spotify. We want to expand our platform and amplify these BIPOC voices!

Joel Zamudio is a Location Designer for Disney TVA! We chat about his "first three starts" in animation: working on the Sony Animation's Mitú project, then as a freelance character designer for Shadow Machine, and then again for Disney TVA. Why so many "starts"? Well, we talk about the clarity of losing your ego after graduation, and continuing your education after school to become industry-ready. Joel also tells us about his time working on The Loud House comics, and how that differed from his experience in animation. Joel also talks about Toon Therapy: a shorts channel on Youtube he collaborates on with his friends. If you're not tired of us talking on education yet, Joel shares his unique experience testing for and attending an art-highschool: the Orange County School of the Arts.

Instagram: @joelz_art

Portfolio: www.joelzamudio.com

If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and rate us on Apple Podcast & Spotify. We want to expand our platform and amplify these BIPOC voices!

Zharia B Rahn is an African-American artist working as a Model Designer for Disney TVA! This means she works on both props and characters, and she shares her workflow with us and how she makes and meets her own work quotas. She also tells about the multi-platform work she and her team does, and how this emerging department has evolved into this fast-paced age of social media. We also chat about her time as an intern for ImagineX: an indie animation collective headed by an upperclassmen of hers from school. Speaking of school, we have a grounded conversation about how art school isn't for everyone, but if you need that structure it can be a good option. In this episode, you are guaranteed to learn about something you've never heard of before!

Instagram: @Ziggora

Twitter: @ziggora

TikTok: @ziggora

WE ARE CELEBRATING 100 EPISODES! Thank you to everyone who has been following our podcast and giving us a platform to spotlight BIPOC voices. We are so honored to have hit this huge milestone! To celebrate our 100th episode we brought back previous guest that we have had on the podcast. Join us as we catch up with Trilina Mai, Li Cree, Joon Chung, and Rebecca Chan!

Ash Tahilan is a fil-am artist who grew-up in the melting pot of Hawaii. She shares with us her journey of bumping to a few different studios, each time as a revisionist to ease on to the production before promoting into boards. We chat about her incomparable time on Craig of the Creek, the culture of the production, and her foray into writing a fan-comic for a property she worked on. Ash also has a message for you: Don't Hold Back! Write and draw what you love, show your passion in your work! Hear it in her own words on this week's episode... so what are you waiting for?!

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/onihat

Website: ⁠www.onihat.com⁠

Twitch: Ashe_Thistleclaw

If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and rate us on Apple Podcast & Spotify. We want to expand our platform and amplify these BIPOC voices!

We are joined by young Sean Yeung, a member of the Riot Games champion skins team. He shares his experience going from intern to full-time employee, and the expectations within those positions. He shares his process in developing game animations for work by creating pose sheets, a standard practice in the industry. He also talks about going to Worlds 2022 in San Francisco, and how that really put into perspective the audience that enjoys League of Legends, and sees his work. Sean also shares his humble beginnings, and how the Valve Source Maker and his love of TF2 nurtured a love for animation. Last, but not least, we also talk about his love of producing music, and how that feeds him creatively outside of work.

Website: seanyeung.com

Instagram: @young_sean_yeung

Twitter: @notsoyeung

If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and rate us on Apple Podcast & Spotify. We want to expand our platform and amplify these BIPOC voices!