Aaron Vaccaro
Grandson to one of the original child actors in the “Our Gang” comedies of the 1930s, Aaron got the bug to work in the entertainment business from an early age. After college, Aaron chose to disappoint his Jewish mother who wanted him to go to law school by instead pursuing a career as a screenwriter. He has since written for shows on Netflix, CBS, Disney, Nickelodeon, and sold several TV and feature projects. When he’s not busy disappointing his mother, Aaron enjoys hiking with his wife, playing street hockey with his sons, and obsessing over his fantasy football team.
Ted Nusbaum
Ted Nusbaum is a playwright, screenwriter, and theater educator who holds an MFA in Playwriting from the Actors Studio Drama School. His first play, Pischer, won the Samuel French Off-Broadway Play Festival and was subsequently published. Ted has optioned several screenplays and television pilots, and teaches theater full-time at a performing arts high school in Manhattan. Ted lives in Brooklyn with his wife, three children, and a forever hungry hound dog named Bubba.
Dikla Sachs
Born in Jerusalem in 1991, Dikla studied film at the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University. She has worked as an actress and screenwriter on various Israeli film and television projects, and directed several short films that were screened at film festivals around the world.
Mattan Harel-Fisch
Mattan Harel‑Fisch is an Israeli filmmaker and product designer, known for his work on commercials and film, as well as for creating the 47-minute IDF film on October 7th, “Bearing Witness,” which gained global attention and was presented to world leaders. He has co-founded two startups and a design studio, and serves as Director of UX at the software company Lightico. His work blends narrative, design, and innovation to drive meaningful impact.
Lily Henley
Lily is a singer, songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist working at the intersection of Sephardi Ladino and American folk music. Her album Oras Dezaoradas (2022, Lior Editions Paris) was named Album of the Year by Hey Alma and featured in The Guardian and Songlines Magazine. A Fulbright award winner and Carnegie Hall Musical Explorers artist, she has received support from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, the New Jewish Culture Fellowship, the New York Foundation of Arts, and held residencies at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, JArts Boston, and the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC. Lily tours regularly across the US and abroad, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Ethnomusicology at Harvard University.
Janice (Jan) Fernheimer
Janice W. Fernheimer is a Professor of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies; Zantker Professor of Jewish Studies; and James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits Faculty Fellow at the University of Kentucky where she co-directs the University of Kentucky-Jewish Heritage Fund Kentucky Holocaust Education Initiative and teaches courses in “Bourbon Writing” and “Bourbon Oral History” in the Certificate for Distillation, Wine, and Brewing. She is also a Stave and Thief Certified Executive Bourbon Steward. In 2024 the Bourbon Women Foundation recognized her as a Woman of Whiskey with the Mike Keyes Ally of the Year Award honoring the trailblazing work of the Women in Bourbon Oral History Project, which she founded in 2021. She currently resides in Lexington, KY with her family and when she’s not writing or teaching, you can usually find her shimmying across the dance floor or cycling across the Bluegrass.
Avraham “Abe” Fuzaylov
Avraham Fuzaylov is a digital creator and cultural storyteller based in Queens, NY. He is the founder of Bukharian Bites, a short-form series that preserves Bukharian Jewish heritage through food-centered storytelling and voiceover-driven reels. His work brings visibility to a community rarely seen in mainstream Jewish media, blending tradition, emotion, and narrative to connect past and present.
Yacov Freedman
Yacov Freedman is the Senior Podcast Producer for Turner Classic Movies. He’s worked in TV and podcasts for twenty years and is a proud member of the Directors Guild of America. During COVID he watched more than 100 baseball movies, which just goes to show: never give up on your dreams.
Joshua Kessler
Joshua E. Kessler is a Los Angeles-based showrunner, producer, director, and writer specializing in unscripted, documentary, and docudrama content. A two-time Emmy nominee, he is known for compelling work in true crime, history, lifestyle, and human-interest storytelling. His credits include acclaimed series for Netflix, A&E, and Showtime, such as Unsolved Mysteries, Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, and House Hunters International. A member of both the Directors Guild and Producers Guild of America, Kessler actively seeks new creative opportunities with a strong emphasis on collaboration.
Flo Low
Flo Low is the founder and Executive Director of BAMAH, a cultural dialogue and exchange organization that works with artists from Israel to design experiences that inspire and connect people and communities across cultures. Under her leadership, the organization has made partnership with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) a core priority. Previously, she served as Associate General Manager of the La Jolla Playhouse; Associate Manager of the Yale School of Drama, and producer of the animated documentary shorts “Four Minutes from the Frontlines,” and of a reading tour of COME MY BELOVED, a play about the shared history and future of Black and Jewish communities in the United States.