Ugenia Stokes - Founder & CEO
Ugenia is an actor and producer who specializes in narrative film, TV, commercials, and print. She is an advocate for women in film. After graduating from Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts in Dallas, Ugenia attended Marymount Manhattan College in New York, where she obtained a B.A. in Acting and Costume Design with a minor in History. At Marymount, she served as President of her university chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha and was a national representative of the Northeast Atlantic region of AKA.
Ugenia has styled and produced content and magazine covers for companies such as Alberta Ferretti, Interview Magazine, and Hearst (Seventeen Magazine. Since moving to Los Angeles, Ugenia has produced film, TV, and commercial content, and has launched brands such as KLS (by Kimora Lee Simmons) and Hollywood Massive.
Ugenia feels that it is her personal responsibility to relay the untold stories of African-American culture through narratives addressing black successes, triumphs, and struggles. Her goal is to bring a voice to a culture which is typically depicted in an unauthentic way in media.
She is also a strong advocate for women in film, both in front of and behind the camera.
Brandon Claybon -Producer/Executive Producer
Brandon Claybon is originally from Oakland, Tennessee, a small town 20 minutes outside of Memphis. Brandon became a working model in multiple cities like Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles, and he then quickly transitioned into the career of acting. After just a few years after relocating permanently to Los Angeles, Brandon has booked over 30 national commercials for leading brands; done numerous roles on networks like CBS, ABC, Showtime and OWN; as well as served as a host and interviewer for BET.com, talking on camera with celebrities such as Gerard Butler, Djimon Hounsou, Kelsey Grammer, Queen Latifah, Samuel L. Jackson, and Halle Berry. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Brandon created his own digital Youtube talk show, The Actors Break, which connects with Hollywood’s most promising actors. He has also flexed his producing muscle in several future projects ranging from scripted and docu-series. In addition to his career pursuits, Brandon also makes time to give back to the community, especially through the support of various charitable causes.
Jonathan Gist - Producer/Board of Directors
Jonathan Gist joined BET Networks (a Paramount Global Company) in July of 2021 where he is the Vice-President of Consumer Marketing and Brand Strategy, where he develops and executes marketing strategies to drive awareness and engagement for BET programming and brand initiatives.
Prior to joining BET, Gist was the Director of Multicultural Publicity and Promotions at Universal Pictures. In this role, Gist was responsible for overseeing strategic development and providing hands-on support in various disciplines that included: Hispanic, African-American and Asian-American film publicity, field publicity, word-of-mouth outreach, grassroots events, digital publicity and social influencer/content creator executions. During his tenure at Universal Pictures, Gist contributed to Multicultural campaigns for box-office hits like GIRLS TRIP, US, QUEEN & SLIM, F9 and the recent release, CANDYMAN.
Gist additionally spent time working as a Publicity Manager for Warner Bros.’ Targeted Marketing division working on titles like SUICIDE SQUAD, KONG: SKULL ISLAND and WONDER WOMAN and seven years working at Allied Integrated Marketing in both their Atlanta Los Angeles leading several national & regional publicity film and television campaigns for a variety of studios that included Warner Bros, Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures and Paramount Pictures.
Jon is the co-host of the BLK ON THE SCENE podcast which celebrates Black people and content in the entertainment industry that help drive change and authentic representation. A native of East Point, Georgia, Gist graduated with a Bachelors in Business Administration from the University of West Georgia.
Amanda Murphy -Development Writer Producer
Amanda Murphy is a playwright, screenwriter, and actor specializing in female-led comedy. Amanda is a typical mouthy New Yorker who does standup comedy because it's cheaper than therapy. Her dark sense of humor is hard earned. She's thrilled to work with FWIN in telling impactful, femme-focused stories with a humorous bent. In 2019, Amanda crowdsourced to self-produce her original comedy play "Family Business" Off-Off Broadway. She achieved her MFA in Screenwriting at USC in 2023. Her dark comedy feature "Petrified" was a semi-finalist in the Big Apple Film Festival Screenplay Competition.
Crystal Manich - Director/Producer/Story Editor
Crystal Manich is thrilled to be a part of the directing, producing, writing, and development team at FWIN to tell meaningful stories for the screen. As a theatre veteran, she has directed over sixty-five stage productions in opera, plays, and musical theatre across the United States, Argentina, and Australia. Recent work during Covid-19 includes Mozart’s Così fan tutte for Pittsburgh Opera with masks for streaming and filmed excerpts from well-known operas for streaming for Wolf Trap Opera. In 2021 Crystal will direct the world premiere opera The Copper Queen as a feature film for Arizona Opera. She was the Co-Founding Artistic Director of Opera Omnia; former Assistant Artistic Director with Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam in Brazil; former Artistic Director of Mill City Summer Opera. Her first short film, L’Ivresse, explores opera in film and won the audience award at the 2018 Great Lakes International Shorts Festival. Crystal holds a BFA in Drama and a Master's in Arts Management from Carnegie Mellon University and currently makes her home in Puerto Rico.
Agnieszka Marchel - Partner
Agnieszka is a multi-talented actress, writer, producer, and vocalist. After discovering the magical story of her family lineage, she founded Syrena Pictures named after her great aunt. She is a daughter of Polish immigrants and grew up in the Detroit, Michigan area. Agnieszka graduated from Michigan State University with a BA in Child Development and a Minor in Vocal Performance. She has been acting, singing, and writing since childhood and is always proud to partner with FWIN productions.
With a focus on supporting diverse, female-driven stories and promoting intersectional feminism through art, Agnieszka is on a mission to bring real human stories to life and reflect the true diversity of the world. She is also an advocate for mental health, having struggled with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and ADHD. She strives to empower people who suffer from similar challenges to love themselves as they are- quirks and all!