Pauline Zalkin

Founder, Director, EP

Pauline is a filmmaker and visual artist with a background in social impact communications. She is known for combining a rigorous strategic framework with highly original creative content to help nonprofits and other changemakers leverage the power of story to reach their most important audiences. 

She is the Founder and Creative Director of Fineas Media, a social impact storytelling agency that raises empathy and drives stakeholder engagement through authentic, emotional and visually arresting short films. 

Over the course of a career deeply rooted in the social sector, she has led initiatives for a range of organizations and causes including McKinsey & Company's nonprofit and CSR division, the White House, Devex, the RAND Corporation, Business Fights Poverty, and Taproot Foundation. 

She has produced short films for nonprofits and social enterprises around the world; developed innovative social media campaigns; led multi-stakeholder coalitions; produced press operations for high-profile Presidential events; and designed capacity-building trainings to help organizations tell their story effectively and compellingly.

Simon Duncan-Watt

Creative Director 

As Creative Director at Fineas, Simon’s helps guide the company’s storytelling efforts and vision for content.

A veteran in the social impact space, for almost ten years Simon has developed winning creative digital strategies for a multitude of both corporate, NGO’s and foundations. As Creative Director at GetUp!, Simon ran both national elections campaigns including releasing the hit ‘It’s Time’ campaign video now at 20 millions views on youtube. As Content Director at Purpose.com in NYC, a social good b-corp, Simon ran creative campaigns with clients as diverse as Bloomberg, the ACLU and Organix.

As a film buff, with a slowly waning Australian accent, nothing makes Simon happier than creating impactful content that moves hearts and minds.

Greta Knutzen

Executive Producer at Spinifex Group, a Project: WorldWide agency

For ten years, Greta Knutzen has been a documentary producer, generating blue-chip programming, including the Emmy-award winning Sex Slaves (PBS/Frontline, Channel 4, CBC). She has produced content for major international broadcasters including National Geographic, The History Channel, A&E, Discovery, PBS, HBO and Channel 4 (UK).

Her work afforded her the opportunity to tell stories that matter. Inspired by the people on the frontlines of social change, she co-founded Avenue Media & Creative, with a view to provide transmedia engagement campaigns for non-profits and global social innovators. Marquee clients include The Rockefeller Foundation and New Jersey Chamber of Commerce. 

She designed and taught an undergraduate course in "Big Data" at The New School for Public Engagement, the first of its kind. 

Aviva Mohilner

Branding & Strategy Expert

Avia is Founder and Chief Enthusiast of Amplify Good. Her professional background includes integrated marketing communications, brand strategy, innovation capability building, social media management, public relations, and providing professional training in all of the above. The common thread is her desire to help individuals and organizations that she believes in become magnets for the people they most want to reach. (Thus, they are able to become wildly successful and change the world, and she gets all warm and fuzzy inside.)

Denielle Sachs

Director of Social Impact, McKinsey & Company

Denielle joined McKinsey & Company in 2008 to lead the strategic design and implementation of the firm’s corporate social responsibility agenda.

Denielle has started an organization to support social impact filmmakers called Tembo Group, and is an active member of the Sundance Institute. She has led numerous documentary projects throughout her career.

Previously, Denielle spent several years with APCO Worldwide working on a range of international development and CSR programs, and complex stakeholder engagement. She’s also worked with the TB Alliance, led major campaigns for the Asia Foundation in Thailand, and spent several years in crisis and transaction communications at The Abernathy MacGregor Group. Denielle continues to serve as a media consultant to The White House, and sits on the boards of several non-profits.

She holds an M.A. in International Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies and a BA from New York University.

Sala Patterson

Communications Expert

Sala brings over 15 years of experience developing high-impact editorial content, and communication and brand strategies for international organizations, NGOs, and the private sector. She counts the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, African Develo pment Bank, German Development Cooperation, United Nations Development Programme, UNAIDS, and PARIS21 among her clients.

Sala has been telling stories since she began her career as an editor at a top-tier international magazine. Since then, she has written for the New York Times T Magazine, Ford Foundation Report, New Internationalist, and Condé Nast Traveler, among others. Sala has lived and worked in eight countries in North, East, and West Africa, and in Asia. She speaks French, Italian and Portuguese and holds an MSc from the School of Oriental and African Studies and a BA from Columbia University.

Julian Velez

Editor

Julian has always pursued the arts, in his young age he quickly caught up interest in drawing. Throughout the years he picked up various instruments, but his real passion was photography. “There's just something about freezing a moment in time that otherwise would have gone unnoticed.” Julian also has extensive knowledge in media motion graphics and VFX.

Brea

Writer and Magic Bullet

Above all, Brea serves as Fineas Media's magic bullet. From writing projects to social media content management, when we need something done well we count on Brea's smarts and accuracy to execute.

Brea has also served as a communications assistant at the New School, and has served as a US Foreign Policy Grading Assistant at NYU. She holds an M.A. in Comparitive Politics from NYU.

Lindsey Jacobson 

Video Editor

Lindsey Jacobson is an experienced video editor, passionate about social change. Her experience spans the gamut of News, Documentary, Commercial, DocuSeries TV shows and short form web content videos.

She is a staff Editor at DuArt Film and Video, onlining Pokemon, creating animation,. She continue to freelance on various various Feature and Documentary films.

Jacob Taylor

Filmmaker

Jacob has experience filming in over a dozen countries in five continents. He strives to film nature, people and stories in a way that captures their beauty and brings an emotional connection to the viewer.

He is founder and CEO of JMT Rentals, a production rental service, in Los Angeles, California.

He has had a passion for nature, social change and film since he was young. Throughout his life, he has put an emphasis on travel and discovering new cultures. 

Stella Scott

FIlmmaker 

Based in London, Stella graduated Central Saint Martins with a 1st and specialised in design for film and theatre. Her directorial debut ’Finding Sol’ was commissioned by Film London, nominated by the Best of Boroughs award and went on to be screened across the festival circuit. Her most recent short ’Street Angel’ was commissioned by Dazed Digital and became a Vimeo staff pick. She works as a freelance filmmaker directing, shooting and editing editorial, promotional and short film format content for clients including the National Theatre, UMI (adidas, Ralph Lauren, HOSB, Tate) and LFW.

*Fineas note: Stella's project "Street Angel" is one our favorite 5-min shorts of all time. Check it out here.

Kasia Broussalian

Writer & Digital Strategist

Kasia Broussalian is a wtiter, photographer, and multimedia strategist in New York City specializing in politics, nonprofit work, and environmental issues. Prior to coming to the city, Kasia worked as a documentary photographer and multimedia journalist in Colorado and throughout the Southwest for the Boulder Daily Camera, the Denver Post, the Rocky Mountain News, and the Associated Press. She graduated with an MA in international relations and politics from New York University in 2012, and holds a BS in broadcast journalism from the University of Colorado.

Dominique Hernandez

Strategy Manager, Fineas Media

With more than 10 years experience in the social sector space, Dominique has worked with renowned nonprofits, including Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Action Against Hunger, cultivating creative social media campaigns, online marketing initiatives, and successful fundraising campaigns.

Dominique has a deep understanding of the value that connection and community can hold for an organization, and how to use the power of the internet to bring those concepts to life. She holds a B.A. from Drew University in Political Science and Philosophy.