Our Leadership Team

our advisory board

Jonathan Carmona

Jonathan Carmona (he/him/el) is a DEI executive practitioner with 15 years of designing operations, capabilities, and strategies to solve complex problems and drive progress along every stage of the employee lifecycle. As one of few openly LGBTQ+ Latino leaders in the field, he has dedicated his life’s work to addressing systemic inequities, uplifting historically marginalized communities, and enabling organizational change across a wide spread of sectors including academic institutions, startups, healthcare, technology, and environmental. Jonathan is celebrating three years at Patagonia Inc's as Director, Global Justice & Belonging.

Juana Chavez

Chris Hastings

Chris Hasting’s passion for television started at age 10 when he produced Kids News, a daily news show at his elementary school outside Philadelphia. After college, he became a founding team member in the development and production of Black Entertainment Television’s award-winning BET Tonight. At WGBH, Chrishas worked with children television’s program ZOOM and the WGBH Lab, an innovative incubator for up-and-coming filmmakers. Chris joined WORLD Channel in 2011, where he co-created the award-winning documentary series America ReFramed, Local, USA, and Doc World, and provided editorial oversight to the other original series on WORLD. Series in Chris’s portfolio has won many awards, including a Peabody Award, a Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, and national news and documentary Emmy award.
Chris is committed to developing a diverse pool of filmmakers and storytellers. He’s a regular collaborator with of Black Public, the Center for Asian American Media, Pacific Islanders in Communications, the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, and Vision Maker Media, and has served as content reader and reviewer on various open calls. In 2016, Chris became a Rockwood JustFilms Fellow and was awarded WGBH’s Margaret and Hans Rey Curious George in-house producer fellowship.

Shannon Matta

Shannon Matta is the Director Of Social Services at Alpha Treatment Centers. Social services professional with proven success in program development. Leverages strong leadership and time management skills needed to manage programs and find new resources for clients. Trained to manage confidential and sensitive information. Dynamic public speaker with the capacity to deliver presentations to small and large groups. Well-rounded background in supporting progressive organizations, optimizing performance and developmental growth.

Jessica Smith

Jess is a lifelong student of social change with an appreciation for all the stakeholders needed to make progress. From organizing grassroots efforts in an under-resourced school district on the Dominican-Haitian border to implementing trust-based grantmaking practices for the corporate foundation of a multi-billion dollar company, their commitment to creating equitable change ripples out into every aspect of their work. Jess is relentless in their (un)learning journey, making them a perfect fit for organizations committed to aligning their social impact with their intentions. Their goal is to infuse equity into funding and grantmaking practices to uplift community programs prioritizing the voices of the very people an organization serves, with special consideration for historically excluded and underserved people. They draw from their lived experiences, coupled with their sociological expertise and nonprofit experience, to apply a uniquely inclusive lens in corporate spaces. They also enjoy traveling, biking, and music.

Pamela A. Aguilar

amela A. Aguilar is an Emmy-winning media executive and creative leader known for shaping programming that’s bold, resonant, and built to connect. She has spent her career at the intersection of creative storytelling and strategic leadership—developing scripted and unscripted content, building hit series, and driving brand growth across broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms.
Most recently, Pamela served as Senior Vice President, Head of Smithsonian Channel at Paramount, where she oversaw original development and international format adaptation across documentary, competition, lifestyle, and food and travel genres. Under her leadership, Smithsonian achieved record audience growth and expanded key franchises including Ice Airport Alaska and Extreme Airport Africa. She also oversaw hit series such as the long-running Aerialfranchise, How Did They Build That?, and How Did They Fix That?—strengthening Smithsonian’s position as a global destination for premium factual entertainment.
Previously, Pamela was Vice President of Original Documentaries at MTV Entertainment Studios, where she led the development and strategy of documentary programming across MTV, VH1, and Smithsonian Channel. Earlier in her career, she was part of the senior editorial team at PBS, where she developed and oversaw acclaimed series including No Passport Required with Marcus Samuelsson, Somewhere South with Vivian Howard, and Big Pacific, narrated by Daniel Dae Kim.
She began her career writing, producing, and directing scripted and documentary projects exploring culture, identity, and social change—including America by the Numbers, The Graduates/Los Graduados, and Between Two Plates, a bilingual telenovela-inspired health series.
Today, Pamela continues to develop original content across both scripted and unscripted spaces, and advises on creative strategy, bringing her signature blend of creative instinct, business acumen, and leadership to stories that cut through the clutter and connect with audiences worldwide.
She serves on the boards of Women Make Movies and Justice for My Sister, and is a graduate of The New School in New York City. Originally from California, Pamela remains a passionate advocate for inclusive, globally resonant storytelling that inspires, empowers, and entertains.