Straight Ahead Animation Podcast Ray Mendoza Landa & Yuki Okamura-Wong

Time for a throwback! This is a recording from 2021 of a panel Straight Ahead hosted during Geek Girl Conline. We hosted a round table discussion with Samia Khalaf, Steph Rizo, and Li Cree. We take this rare opportunity to share some of the many different paths one can take breaking into the animation industry. We talk about personal pitfalls in our early years, and how relatable those experiences can be. Samia tells us about her film she painted in VR, Kteer Tayyeb, and why she chose to tell this story. Steph talks about working on the bluesky phase of feature film. Li tells us the "secret" to how she creates so many personal projects. This and so much more as we take a dive back in time!



Many thanks to Alyssa Askew, Alyssa Jones-Comtois, Marina Martinez, and the entire GGC staff for inviting us to host this event.



GGC - https://geekgirlcon.com/

Samia Khalaf - @samsoomfull (instagram)

Steph Rizo - @steph_rizo (instagram)

Li Cree - @li_cree (instagram)


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Kelly Lynne D'Angelo (she/they) is a Native—Haudenosaunee Tuscarora and Muscowpetung Cree—writer for animation, live action, and musicals, who also plays D&D professionally. Kelly kicks-off by telling the most insane story about how she met the producers of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia... who then gave her an internship! We get to chat about the process of Starry, a musical about brothers Theo and Vincent Van Gogh, and what magic happens in the writer's room before a production even begins. Outside of her career, we get to talk about Kelly's time as a professional Dungeon Master. From an online presence, to personal games run on Cruise ships, Kelly talks about how the storytelling informs her writing and vice versa. We touch on the subject of Native visibility, not only in the industry, but in America at large. Kelly has such a sense of adventure and will to connect with others, we are sure her story will connect with you.



Instagram: @KellyLynneDang

Twitter: @KellyLynneDang

Bluesky: kellylynnedang.bsky.social

Girls, Guts, Glory: girlsgutsgloryrpg.com

NDND (all native DnD campaign) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-XY8JUTCQ0

Starry (instagram): @starrymusical


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Nicolette Ray is Native American, Acoma Pueblo, a storyboard artist and currently a game dev artist. She tells us about her strong start in animation, working for Wild Canary on Puppy Dog Pals for 5 years! We talk about work culture at Wild Canary, and the difference between working under Disney vs. Lucasfilm. We chat about her personal Native American Renaissance, as she dove into the history of her own people, and how connecting to those roots helped feed into her experience on Spirit Rangers. Also, Nicolette guides us through her journey struggling with mental health, and how the conversation opening up in society at large helped give her the courage to seek help. We are very fortunate to have had such a vulnerable and honest guest, and we hope her journey can help open up that conversation for you or someone you love.



Twitter: @unbadger

Instagram: @unbadgr



If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and rate us on Apple Podcast & Spotify. We want to expand our platform and amplify these BIPOC voices! If you'd like to support us directly, we have a tip jar open at ⁠⁠⁠ko-fi.com/straightaheadap


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Entering the ring this week is Joey Clift, a Native American enrolled Cowlitz tribal member, currently working as a freelance writer. Not only has Joey worked as a Staff Writer and Consulting Producer for Netflix's Spirit Rangers, he has also wrote and directed his own animated digital series Gone Native for Comedy Central. Joey has a love for comedy and has a unique sense of humor that has helped him pitch and sell shows. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did!



IG: @joeycliiiiiift

Twitter: @joeytainment

Portfolio: http://joeyclift.com/

Gone Native: https://gonenative.tv/



If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and rate us on Apple Podcast & Spotify. We want to expand our platform and amplify these BIPOC voices! If you'd like to support us directly, we have a tip jar open at ⁠⁠ko-fi.com/straightaheadap


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Ashley Chung works as an Associate Animator in the video games industry! In her first job working at Steamroller Studio she was thrown into the deep end working on Mortal Kombat 1! Ashley also talks about taking additional animation classes post graduation really helped her improve as an animator. Tune in and find out more about the world of animating for video games!



Portfolio: ashleychung.com

IG: @ashthemush

Twitter: @ashthemush



If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and rate us on Apple Podcast & Spotify. We want to expand our platform and amplify these BIPOC voices! If you'd like to support us directly, we have a tip jar open at ⁠ko-fi.com/straightaheadap


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Steve Sandoval talks about how he slipped into the cracks of animation. Out of high school Steve started working as a carpenter with his cousins, unfortunately was laid off in 2007 due to a recession. However, Steve took this as an opportunity to go to school to study animation! One of the things Steve loves to do is plein air paint and posting it to social media. Eventually Robh Ruppel came across his works and asked if he wanted to work on Entergalactic. Steve has had an amazing journey into animation, find out more by checking out this episode!



IG: @Sketchinsteve

Portfolio: Sketchinsteve.com



If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and rate us on Apple Podcast & Spotify. We want to expand our platform and amplify these BIPOC voices! If you'd like to support us directly, we have a tip jar open at ko-fi.com/straightaheadap


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