Biography

Hi, I’m Joanna — lead dragonfly wrangler at Unexpected Dragonfly Productions, LLC.

When I’m not busy working on documentaries, I am usually buried in a book or exploring the mountains of Southwestern Colorado.

I believe in the power of storytelling to remind us of our connection and responsibility to each other and the Earth.

That one time when I got to hang out with an Ent!

Since 2015 I have worked for Sunlight Media Collective, an Indigenous-led group in Maine, covering topics at the intersection of Wabanaki Tribal sovereignty and environmental stewardship. I was Co-Director and Editor on Sunlight Media Collective’s 2023 documentary, This River is Our Relative, which shows the Penobscot Nation’s intrinsic kinship connection to and environmental advocacy for the Penobscot River. My other editing work for Sunlight Media Collective includes a short documentary in 2024 for Penobscot Nation’s Department of Natural Resources about their collaboration to restore Atlantic Salmon to the Penobscot River and a 2021 documentary short called Kihtahkomikumon (Our Land), about the Modahkomikuk (Indian Township) Passamaquoddy Tribe’s reunion with 140 acres of their unceded Ancestral territory. 

I served as a Producer and Assistant Editor on We Are the Warriors, an award-winning 2023 documentary about the learning process a small town high school went through before eventually choosing to remove their Native American mascot.

In 2017, I independently produced The Maker, a short film focused on a man driven to turn his passion for “making things” into an everyday reality and legacy. 

I am currently independently producing The Power of Storytelling, about how profoundly the hearing and telling of stories shape our lives and can bring us closer together.

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April 11, 2020