Vera Zambonelli is the founder and executive director of Hawaiʻi Women in Filmmaking, an organization committed to achieving intersectional gender equity in filmmaking. In 2017, Vera launched Reel Wāhine of Hawaiʻi, a short doc film series that redresses gender inequity in the film industry by documenting the real-life stories of Hawai‘i women filmmakers that has recently received a NEA grant to produce Season 3. Vera teaches at the University of Hawaiʻi Academy for Creative Media West Oʻahu and Mānoa, and currently serves on the leadership committee of the Western Indie Media Arts Groups (WIMAG) co-steering the Artist Development and Media Justice working group. Vera holds a MA in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD in Urban Planning from University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa.