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About Us

We are the business association for people who create across media. We help people connect to their community to help build careers, and we shape public policy to that end.

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About Us

Meet OMPA

We support and shape a thriving, diverse, and ever-expanding industry for creators across media, and throughout Oregon. Creators welcome.

Mission-Driven

We are a business association dedicated to empowering media creators by fostering connections, shaping public policies, and growing careers in Oregon.

Policy Advocacy

As the collective voice of Oregon’s media sector, we actively work with city, county, and state entities to secure policies that drive job creation, equity, and economic growth in the creative industries.

Career Development

Providing essential resources, access, and opportunities that help media professionals at every stage of their careers.

Cultural Innovation

We are committed to reshaping the media production industry by fostering a culture of inclusion and challenging the status quo to create a more innovative and diverse future for media creators in Oregon.

Diverse Community Building

Our vibrant community is built on inclusion and collaboration. We connect Oregon’s largest network of local media creators, enabling them to expand their professional networks and discover new opportunities.

Our Mission

Our Priorities

SHAPE POLICY

We are the collective voice of the creative industry at the city, county and state levels. We work to secure policies that create jobs, equity and economic growth in Oregon’s creative industries.

GROW COMMUNITY

We bring together Oregon’s creators to help them expand their professional networks and discover new opportunities at every stage of their careers.

DEVELOP CAREERS

We are the source of business and career resources that provides access, opportunity and empowerment and assures that our community continues to grow in both expertise and diversity.

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SUPPORT THE WORKFORCE

We work to ensure access and empowerment, and create opportunity. We address underlying determinants of success to create a robust, diverse network of creators.

RECONSTRUCT CULTURE

We seek to challenge the status quo of the media production industry. In order to create a culture of inclusion and innovation, OMPA must foster change by confronting its past.

ENGAGE THE ECOSYSTEM

We work to ensure we deeply understands and serve the needs of the community, through continuous engagement with all elements within the industry ecosystem

GROW THE ORG

We seek to grow the organization, increasing our revenue and reach, so that we can successfully achieve our mission.

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Meet OMPA’s Leadership

OMPA is led by a dedicated team of board members and staff who are passionate about building a vibrant and inclusive media production community in Oregon. Our board members are nominated and elected by OMPA members, and our staff works tirelessly to support the needs of the industry.

Board Members
Executive Director
Staff

Board Members

Board members are nominated and elected by our members for two year terms. Elections are held annually at the end of the year. Nominate yourself or others anytime by sending an email to info@ompa.org

Amy Polansky
Michelle Damis
Justina Smith
Sean Khuon-Paige
RaShaunda Brooks
Dan Eason
Kevin Michaluk
Summer Luu
Nisha Burton
Daniel Smith
Maria Moreno
Tara Johnson-Medinger
Cindy Chan
Dustin Tolman
Geff Zamor
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Executive Director

Shilpa Sunthankar

Interim Executive Director

Staff Members

OMPA’s small but mighty staff works every day to support Oregon’s media creators:

Mia Bonilla

Membership Communications Coordinator

OMPA Committees

OMPA’s committees are crucial to the organization’s success. Each committee is community-led and plays a vital role in shaping the future of Oregon’s media production industry. If you’re passionate about making a difference, we encourage you to join one of our committees.

Executive Committee
Showcase & Awards Committee
Editorial/Content Committee
Membership Committee
Regional Committee
Nominating & Elections Committee
Advocacy Committee

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee (EC) oversees strategic vision as well as resource allocation for the organization. The EC is elected by the board of directors annually. If you have questions or want to join this committee, please reach out.

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Showcase & Awards Committee

Create a vision for the Showcase, oversee award program and lead execution. If you have questions or want to join this committee, please reach out.

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Editorial Content Committee

Works in partnership with Content Creator and all committees to develop an Editorial Calendar and inform resources, events, stories and spotlights. If you have questions or want to join this committee, please reach out.

We are currently seeking a committee chair! Is that you? We’d love to hear from you.

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Membership Committee

Works in partnership with Membership Coordinator on efforts to recruit and retain members. Oversees the Accessible Membership Program and the Directory/Vetting process. If you have questions or want to join this committee, please reach out.

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Regional Committee

A group that meets, discusses and advocates for shared interests of regional members of our community. If you have questions or want to join this committee, please reach out.

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Nominating & Elections Committee

Cultivates new board members. Oversees nominations and elections process to ensure inclusivity and integrity. If you have questions or want to join this committee, please reach out.

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Advocacy Committee

OMPA’s Advocacy Committee works with the community to establish and advance the public policy priorities for the organization. If you have questions or want to join this committee, please reach out.

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Our Sponsors

Our sponsors play a critical role in expanding our ability to shape policy, grow community and develop the local industry. We are so grateful for that they recognize and support this important work.

Contribute

Instrumental

Champion

Advocate

Managing Director of Blue Chalk Media

Amy Polansky

Amy Polansky is the Managing Director of Blue Chalk Media, which is an award-winning non-fiction production company based in Portland, OR and NYC.

She has spent her years in the creative industry sharpening her teeth as a field producer and production manager, and has been involved in every stage of the process from pitching to final delivery. Out of office you can find Amy at the dog park or hopefully on a river somewhere. A proud Wisconsin native, Amy has a soft spot for supper clubs and ice cream drinks.

You can take a look at some of the work she’s played a hand in on her website, and can connect with her on LinkedIn, or on IG.

President of SAG-AFTRA Portland Local

Michelle Damis

Michelle is the current SAG-AFTRA Local President, Actor, Stunt Performer, and Writer.

Former VP of fitness for a large multi-location, multi-state corporation managing several thousand employees, as well as managing multi-million dollar budgets.

Drone Pilot, Cinematographer

Sean Khuon-Paige

Sean Khuon-Paige is a drone pilot and cinematographer based in Portland, Oregon. He has built his own small business through the support of the Portland film community and has 5 years of experience as a freelance filmmaker. Sean has worked on projects in various roles for clients such as Nike, Google, Spectrum, and Magnolia Network.

Outside of commercial work, Sean enjoys offering free and discounted creative services to local businesses and makers in the Portland area. He is passionate about exploring and uplifting underrepresented Queer and BIPOC stories and hopes to share more of these perspectives from people who look like him.

Project Coordinator, Open Signal Labs

RaShaunda Brooks

Filmmaker/creative, RaShaunda Brooks uses visual art to create modern day narratives of Black and Brown people. She fosters connection by sharing different perspectives with a broad audience.

Brooks believes that well rounded stories of Black and Brown people help to empower those communities by giving them the space to write their own history.

Being in Portland Brooks has been able to connect with different familiar communities. If it be work with Y.G.B. Portland, music management with Brown Calculus or working with Open Signal Labs: Black Film Fellowship, it all provides Brooks with room to hold stories of people who don't always get represented.

Producer; Location Manager

Dan Eason

Dan started his career as an assistant editor on documentaries at 4th Row Films in NYC. He produced four short films in Philadelphia before moving to LA to work as a production management trainee at Warner Bros.

For two years he was the creative director and producer of the FAM Fest at the LA Artwalk - a Film, Art, and Music festival. He joined Teamsters Local 399 as a location manager shortly after. NBC Universal hired him for 3 seasons of Grimm, moving me up to Portland where he continued location managing with Teamsters Local 305 marking over a decade of location experience. He's co-produced a web series in 2015, produced a handful of commercials in 2018, and shot three documentary films - two of which are in post-production, and one hitting film festivals in January 2023. In 2019 he started developing the business plan for Vision Stages - a film, TV, and commercial soundstage that officially opened in 2020. Last year he founded the Entertainment Workforce Coalition - a workforce development program in partnership with MHCC, IATSE, Oregon Film, and the OMPA.

Today he's developing Music Video Month in partnership with MusicOregon.

Co-owner, Framework

Kevin Michaluk

Kevin is a Portland-based cinematographer with fifteen years of experience in the film industry.

He is the co-owner of Framework, a production studio and equipment rental house. Although originally from the DC area, he began his career in Los Angeles, and has now been in Portland for over a decade. Kevin has shot commercial projects of virtually every scale for clients ranging from global brands to local NPOs. In addition to commercial work, he is an ardent collaborator in the narrative space.

He has been making movies since he was a kid, is still chasing that dream, and believes staying in touch with one’s inner-child is imperative to leading a happy, successful life in the industry.

CMO & Co-Founder, Reflective Brands; Design Reality

Nisha Burton

As the CMO and Co-Founder of Reflective Brands, Nisha Burton has a robust collection of skills pertaining to the media industry and community building. Reflective Brands specializes in helping companies elevate their brand identity and accomplish their goals through custom immersive experiences using VR/AR, strategic branding, web development, digital marketing, video production, and more. Reflective Brands also hosts and produces Design Reality, their monthly event series where they provide networking opportunities and curate speakers within the XR community. The company has built the events up to 200 or more attendees each month and focused on fostering the Portland XR community in the hopes of putting Portland on the map as an XR hotspot.

Nisha is also a passionate filmmaker who has both worked at and had her films showcased in top film festivals such as Sundance and Cannes, and currently, she is a programmer at the Ashland Independent Film Festival. From all of these experiences, she knows the film and media industry from many different angles. Out of the skills listed above, her strongest is branding—since that is what she has specialized in for seven years and the central role she takes in both of her companies as a creative director and chief marketer.

Production Audio Mixer

Daniel Smith

My name is Daniel Smith. I am a Native American Production Audio Mixer and I have received an Associates of Science Degree in Digital Multimedia Communication.

For fifteen years I have been running audio on productions. During that time I have purchased and maintained top level audio gear, helped train other audio professionals, worked with some of the top rated audio people in the world, and won local as well as international awards for audio.

I am based in Portland Oregon, but have traveled to places such as Dublin, Ireland and Xi'an, China while filming. Every town, city, state, and country has its own sound; I have been lucky enough to record in a variety of them.

Being elected as an OMPA board member is an honor. I plan on using my experiences to represent the media community and help grow the industry in Oregon.

Director & Owner of Good Morning Soldier (GMS) Media & Advertising

Geff Zamor

Part of my job description is well...being a jack of all trades. I am extremely organized, I have to be. The only job I've ever had has been in the Media Industry. I started off as the kid on the Carl Juniors set holding the bucket of hamburgers.

And 20+ years later, I run a ship that works with all different types of clients -- from corporate America, to small businesses, to local non profits. I take the upmost pride and privilege in the work I do.

One thing that makes me a bit different than the rest is that I was trained in old-school Hollywood. Traditional, intense, and most of the time a bit too tough. Because of the importance of molding and changing with the times, I've redone my way of training and teaching the new generation, and have had success with young professionals working on my set and at my company.

Interim Executive Director

Shilpa Sunthankar

Shilpa is a recognized producer, writer, director and member of Oregon’s media and production community since 2000. Her twenty-five years of industry experience encompasses a broad range of production in Oregon, including commercial, feature, independent, animation and digital, at both creative agencies and production companies, and in producer as well as director roles.

Shilpa is the owner of PushStart Productions, which holds a breadth of successful commercial and animation work, as well as award-winning independent short films and screenplays. Her numerous works have screened at the Portland International Airport, won awards across festivals in the U.S. and Canada, have been awarded the Regional Arts & Culture Council’s Project Grant, and have been licensed by distributors such as ShortsHD, IndieFlix, and the Canadian Broadcast Corporation. Her feature screenplays have been awarded accolades such as a SAGIndie Fellowship at the Stowe Story Lab, and being showcased as part of the C3 Conference at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific American Film Festival.

Additional professional experience includes Shilpa’s collaborations and projects with prominent Portland companies such as Refuge VFX, HouseSpecial, Ziba, Downstream, and Wieden + Kennedy, where she helped create content for clients such as Peet’s Coffee, Fisher-Price, Intel, Adidas, CNN, FX, and Hulu.

A graduate of Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, Shilpa lives with her husband, Ben Adams, on Portland’s beautiful west side. When not creating lovely work or championing Oregon’s tremendous talents and contributions in film and media, Shilpa can usually be found on a bicycle taking in the phenomenal sights of Oregon.

Membership Communications Coordinator

Mia Bonilla

Mia (they/them) joined us in 2024 to help us in strengthening our community connections through our newsletter, online, and social media. Mia comes to us with an impressive background as an Assistant Director and Producer, bringing a wealth of experience and a fresh perspective to our organization. Their ability to coordinate complex projects and engage diverse audiences is an invaluable asset as we continue to grow and develop.