Bio

Sonya Childress

Sonya Childress is passionate about the power of art to heal, sustain, inform and indict. She has positioned documentary film to shift narratives and support social justice movement building for over 20 years. Sonya currently serves as a Senior Fellow with the Perspective Fund, a philanthropic resource for documentary film and impact campaigns, where she will advance accountable, ethical and equitable practices within the documentary film landscape through research, writing and programming. The former Director of Partnerships and Engagement for Firelight Media, Sonya led impact campaigns for veteran director Stanley Nelson’s films, including Freedom Summer, Freedom Riders, Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities and The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution. She has managed social impact campaigns and advised hundreds of filmmakers on their impact and theatrical strategies, including Yance Ford (Strong Island), Peter Bratt (Dolores), Steve James (The Interrupters), Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera (The Infiltrators), and Byron Hurt (Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes). Sonya has held staff and consulting roles at Active Voice, California Newsreel, Kartemquin Films, the Independent Television Service and Working Films. In 2016, she founded Firelight’s Impact Producer Fellowship, a yearlong mentorship and pipeline program for impact producers of color. She is a frequent speaker, funding panelist, and was an inaugural 2015 Rockwood JustFilms fellow. Sonya is a trustee of The Whitman Institute, which advances equity through Trust Based Philanthropy. A Los Angeles native born to Puerto Rican and African American parents, Sonya is a proud mother of two.