Stephanie's 15 years as an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and her 5 years as a newspaper journalist make her a speaker that captivates and fascinates.  

        A maker of documentaries featuring multicultural stories, her speeches are dynamic, combining history lessons, movie tales, and clips from her documentary films.  Her speaking events have proven memorable for their insights and relevance.  

        Stephanie's ability to recognize a good story when she hears one, no matter what cultural heritage it is from, has gained her a reputation as a powerful speaker and storyteller.   Her most recent speaking engagement was as a plenary speaker at at the International Conference and Trades Expo in Honolulu where she spoke on FILIPINO NARRATIVES THROUGH DOCUMENTARY FILMS.

        The many places Stephanie has spoken and exhibited her award-winning films include: 

• the Smithsonian Institution; 

• the American Association of University Women's Convention; 

• Ewha University Museum in Seoul, Korea;  

• the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam; 

• the Father Damien Museum in Belgium;

• the East West Center, the Center for Korean Studies, and the Center for Korean Studies at the University of Hawaii; 

• the Honolulu Academy of Arts;

• and various film U.S. film festivals, including the Hawaii International Film Festival where she has showcased 6 films.   

 

 

 

MORE ABOUT THE SPEAKER 

 

View my film reel, click here. 

A former Hawaii newspaper journalist and an EMMY Award-winning independent filmmaker, Stephanie has been developing television documentaries full-time since 1989.  She holds an MBA (2000) from the University of Hawaii and was a 1999 Selected Professions Fellow with the American Association of University Women. 

Her Honolulu-based production company, ‘Olena Productions, completed its first documentary -- the EMMY Award-winning SIMPLE COURAGE --  in 1992 as a co-production with Hawaii Public Television. 

In Oct. 2006, SANDAAN, a 90-minute documentary on 100 years of Filipino immigrants in America, premiered at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC.  Directed by her long-time filmmaking partner Noel "Sonny" Izon, the film is one of several joint efforts by Noel and Stephanie, who is the documentary's co-producer and co-writer.  

Also in Oct. 2006, at the Hawaii International Film Festival, Stephanie premiered her 9th documentary, STRANGE LAND: MY MOTHER'S WAR BRIDE STORY.  She created this film for the Centennial Celebration of Filipino Immigration to the U.S. and considers it her most personal and her best work so far. 

             In May 2005, AN UNTOLD TRIUMPH: THE STORY OF THE 1ST & 2ND FILIPINO INFANTRY REGIMENTS, U.S. ARMY, aired in national prime-time on PBS. Directed by Sonny, Stephanie was the lead writer and associate producer.  Narrated by actor Lou Diamond Phillips, it had its world premiere at the Hawaii International Film Festival on Nov.4, 2002 and won the BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO Audience Award for Best Documentary.

Completed in 2004 was AN UNCOMMON KINDNESS: THE STORY OF FATHER DAMIEN.  Stephanie was co-director, co-writer and co-producer with Daniel Marra and Walter Josten.  Actor Robin Williams narrates the piece. Distributed by Blue Rider Pictures in Los Angeles, the biography won a CINE Golden Eagle.

COCKFIGHTERS: THE INTERVIEWS, an 8-hour DVD/VHS series was completed in 2003. The controversial project explores the subculture of cockfighting from the point of view of American cockfighters.  A two-hour version had its world premiere at the Cinema Paradise Film Festival in Honolulu in 2003.   

In 2004, she co-produced a cable television series, HAWAII’S REEL STORIES, that featured the works of local filmmakers.

Stephanie continues to research and seek funding for TREASURED ABOVE GOLD, a project now ten years in the making.  It will tell the remarkable story of the historic connections between Korea and Japan through the story of abducted Korean potters and Korean teabowls used in Japanese tea ceremony. 

She also produces marketing and sales videos.