Charise M. Studesville is an award-winning writer and director who hustled her way into the entertainment business via an internship after a chance meeting with producer Debra Martin Chase, which resulted in a weekly commute between Chicago and LA, while also raising four children. She then landed in a Warner Brothers/USC directing and producing summer program, directed her first film which went on to 60+ festivals around the world, and collected several awards along the way. Since then, Charise founded Hollywood Chick Mafia, became a USA Today bestselling author, was chosen as a 2022 WIF Multi-Hyphenate Mentee, and in 2023 she was honored as a featured artist in Kente Royal Gallery’s Black History Month 2023 art show in Harlem. In all of her creative work, Charise uses truth to illuminate darkness within the human experience, and loves stories and characters that speak to the human capacity to rise above the murkiest of waters without losing sight of the beauty that can bloom—like the lotus flower logo of her production company, Lotus Girl Films. As a fierce advocate for women, Charise is a proud member of WIF, Film Fatales, Women In Media, and Alliance of Women Directors.