R3:NEWAL DESIGNERS

ASAVARI KUMAR

Asavari is a filmmaker & visual artist from India, currently based in Los Angeles. Her award-winning films & new media work have been showcased at numerous festivals including the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Ottawa International Animation Festival & Siggraph. Drawn to cross-cultural narratives, Asavari uses character-driven storytelling to parse her evolving cultural and political identity. She is a co-founder of Supernova Design and has recently launched a pottery collective titled Centered Chaos, blending ideas of balance and disorder to reflect the artisanal process of creating ceramics. Asavari holds an MFA in experimental animation from the California Institute of the Arts, is a former artist in residence for Adobe Aero, and is currently in development on her first feature titled ‘Anisha & the Inbetween’.

PULKIT DATTA

Pulkit Datta is a producer, director, writer, and film programmer, with over a decade of experience, based in New York. He started his career assisting award-winning director Mira Nair and has since worked on a wide range of international projects. He has worked on the creative development and production of scripted films, documentaries, commercials, short films, music videos and multimedia campaigns. His films have screened at festivals such as Toronto, Tribeca, Cinequest, Atlanta, Fantasia, LAAPFF, and more. Pulkit has recently produced INVISIBLE, a feature documentary about fibromyalgia, and is currently producing VS. GOLIATH, a documentary series about frontline climate activists fighting the fossil fuel industry. He also produced the gun-violence themed short documentary DO WE BELONG?, which was released by The Atlantic and won several festival awards and was shortlisted for an IDA Award. Pulkit is an Impact Partners Producing Fellow, Center for Asian American Media Fellow, and is an alum of IFP (USA), NFDC Film Bazaar (India), and Cine Qua Non Lab (Mexico).

ROBYN PARK

Robyn Park (she/her) is an intercountry, transracial adoptee of Korean descent and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT). Since first volunteering with VC’s LAAPFF in 2009 she has supported the organization in various roles. Both locally and globally, Robyn’s experience includes working within organizations focused on mental health advocacy, healing, and social justice issues.

RYAN FUKUDA

For over 20 years, Ryan has utilized meditation and healing techniques to navigate creativity (and life) through the lens of energy awareness. Like many creators, his sensitivity to emotions and experiences affected his mental health, self-expression, and well being. He learned very early in life that maintaining self-care practices on a daily basis is absolutely crucial for anyone who wants to be a conscious and grounded creator in the world.

Ryan began his career producing and directing videos for small businesses and producing corporate events. He currently works at a communications agency in Portland, Oregon and teaches consciousness training online at Art of the Seer Academy. When he’s not working or teaching, you might find him working on personal projects or hiding in his office on a Saturday morning writing a screenplay.

SALEENA KHAMAMKAR

Born in California and raised in Las Vegas, Saleena Khamamkar is an accomplished Indian-American dancer, choreographer, and instructor. She has trained in jazz, contemporary, and Bollywood since the age of 3 and has been classically trained in Bharatanatyam for 12 years by Smt. Kalashri Asha Gopal from the Arathi School of Dance. Saleena studied at the University of California, San Diego and was on the competitive Hindi Film Dance team, UCSD Zor, for 4 years (one of which she was a captain, choreographer, and female lead). Early achievements include multiple pageant titles (including Miss Glitterati 2011, Miss Teen India America 2012, and Miss India Globe 2013), a Bharatanatyam tour of South India in 2013, and features in films Miss India America and Four Samosas.

Now based in Los Angeles, Saleena brings a new, holistic take on fusion: connecting universal basics of dance and focusing on natural shapes the body can make. With well-thought-out and precise movements, she allows her various training styles to influence her choreography and highlight the intricacies of human voice. Her career highlights include choreographing for M. Night Shyamalan and his daughter R&B singer Saleka for six dance-centric music videos, performing at the International Indian Filmfare Awards at MetLife Stadium, dancing in Jason Derulo and Tesher’s “Jalebi Baby”, touring nationally for Mystic India with Aatma Performing Arts, and dancing in an upcoming Busta Rhymes + Pharrell music video. She now teaches weekly Indian-fusion dance classes around LA to all ages via SaleenaKhoreography. Staying true to dance as an art form and balancing the ever-changing dance community is important to her as she continues her choreographic journey.

ALEXA WOO

Lex is a kpop cover dancer with 15+ years of previous dancing experience in ballet, comtemporary, jazz, and hip hop. She has taught at OC Kpop Academy, MAD Dance Studio, Black Diamond Dance Studio, and Kpop Center in Buena Park before. She posts her dancing on Tik Tok, Insta, and Youtube, and amasses over 212k followers among the platforms. She is also a member of cover dance groups Lalary and Playground. Her fav kpop groups include Twice, Gidle, and XG!