Danette Wolpert Holman is the Founder, President and Board Chair of the ILLUMINATE Film Festival. As a visionary, entrepreneur and thought leader in the field of transformational media, her focus is on unlocking global human potential by inspiring positive change from within.
Danette served for a decade as ILLUMINATE’s founding Executive Director, establishing the festival as the country’s premier destination event for conscious film, launching its global streaming platform and expanding its audiences into 99 countries. She also founded ILLUMINATE’s Conscious Film Convergence, the world’s first annual gathering of transformational film creators, producers, distributors, funders and marketers, dedicated to collectively enhancing the quality, quantity, accessibility and impact of conscious media.

Prior to founding ILLUMINATE in 2014, Danette spent 5 years as Associate Director of the Miami International Film Festival and held positions as Director of the Washington DC-based Screening Room and Manager of the Washington Jewish Film Festival.

Before festival life, Danette was a Senior Management Consultant for Ernst & Young where she provided financial, management and technology solutions for Fortune 500 clients across the country. She studied business, engineering and organizational behavior, and holds degrees in Management and Information Systems from the University of Virginia.
Danette has focused her energy on elevating consciousness and catalyzing personal, community and planetary change, including as a Holomovement founding steward, Sedona Cultural Collaborative board member, and graduate of Mindful NYU’s InnerMBA program. She is the recipient of the National Association for Women Business Owners Visionary Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence.

 At an early age, Kia’s passion was ignited for crafting entertainment that captivates, delights, and inspires. With over two decades of experience in the industry, Kia has become known for her dedication and versatility as a producer.

Equipped with a BA in Moving Image Arts and a Minor in Business & Marketing, Kia’s journey to producing began with roles as a union Camera Assistant, Telecine Colorist/Color Grader, Commercial Production Coordinator, and VFX Coordinator / Liaison to Director. Even before fully diving into producing, Kia had already left her mark with over 90 credits across various media platforms, including TV, feature films, documentaries, commercials, and music videos.

Through her company, Zaza Productions, Kia has quietly established herself as a respected figure in the industry. With a focus on thoughtful storytelling and quality content, Kia has overseen a range of projects, from regional Super Bowl commercials to network promos, TV pilots to educational content, docu-series sizzles to music videos, documentaries to award shows. Under Kia’s guidance, Zaza Productions consistently strives for excellence, reflecting her commitment to delivering impactful entertainment experiences.

Kit Thomas is an award-winning producer/director known for his impactful approach to cinematic storytelling. His films have received numerous awards including an Oscar nomination for his documentary, Burning Down Tomorrow, which was commissioned by Sting to raise awareness about the global rainforest crisis.

He co-produced and directed the multiple Emmy-winning TV special, Spaceship Earth: Our Global Environment for the Disney Channel, and developed, co-produced, and co-directed the award-winning Earth Communications Office PSA campaign which has been seen by over 2 billion people worldwide. After producing a live stage show at Disneyland for the launch of Space Mountain, he moved to Disney Studios where he created 25 titles for their Educational Media Division.

He has produced music videos for artists including Diana Ross, John Denver, Fishbone, and The Judds. As a music producer, he has recorded over 60 albums and created music for numerous film and television projects including Awake: The Life of Yogananda. He served on the Grammy Awards board of directors for 12 years, and as chairman of the New Age Music category for the Grammys for 25 years.

Kit brings to ILLUMINATE his recent experience as Co-Director of the Shift Your World Film Festival. In addition to his work at ILLUMINATE, he serves as Executive Director of Circle of Wisdom, a non-profit initiative that provides grants to young media creators to interview wisdom-keepers from different cultures.

Hilary Carr is an award-winning producer, marketing strategist, singer-songwriter, and human rights activist. She has spent over twenty years producing television and live events with many of the most important thought-leaders of our time.

Hilary is passionate about spreading enlightened ideas and, as a dedicated human rights advocate, has spent over a decade supporting the fight against modern-day slavery as well as bringing schools, education, and food to people in areas around the planet suffering from extreme poverty.

She is respected as one of the best festival producers in the business and her commitment to elevating human consciousness and inspiring lasting transformation makes her the perfect quarterback for the ILLUMINATE Festival Team.

Jenny Hayden got her start in film working with the documentary team at a WCCO-TV, a CBS Network owned-and-operated television, these films garnered dozens of awards including Edward R. Murrow Awards, Peabody Awards, the Television Academy’s National Emmy Awards and others.

Later, Jenny became the Managing Director at Planet Pictures, a factual production and distribution company which won commissions to produce original series from national cable and international TV networks. From there, she was recruited to work as an acquisitions executive for ShortsTV, a 24/7 linear Pay TV channel and FAST channel with carriage in the US, Europe, Latin America, Asia and available on iTunes and Roku.

Jenny is also a sales agent on behalf of content creators. From ideation to completed films, she helps filmmakers determine the best way to monetize their film and find the best platforms to license their content.

She is proudest of her documentary work at TBS where she was a key member of the team producing an original weekly series broadcast Sundays in prime-time following National Geographic titled NETWORK EARTH. The series that profiled environmental heroes and featured uplifting and inspirational stories about people and communities creating solutions to environmental issues facing our planet. It was on-air for five years in this timeslot. She is equally proud of her one-hour documentary commissioned by PBS called ASSIGNMENT: EARTH which looks at scientists innovating cutting edge solutions to environmental issues.

Andrew Stoneham is a film programmer and arts administrator based in New York City. He is a lover of independent and foreign films. Andrew has programmed for the Philadelphia Film Festival.

In addition to his programming experience, he previously served as the Festival Director of the Bermuda International Film Festival.

2024 marks his third season as ILLUMINATE’s Senior Programmer.