Spotlight: The Women of Believe

Here at Believe, we had to take a moment to celebrate all the women in our circle and their significant work in progress

Liz Silver is President and Executive Producer of Believe Media, a production company she co-founded in 2000. With offices in New York, Los Angeles and London, Believe produces award-winning, leading-edge content for the world’s most esteemed brands, agencies, record labels and musical artists. Liz’s entrepreneurial instinct, leadership and solution-based experience has defined decades of directorial talent.

Liz is also highly accomplished in documentary filmmaking. Her latest documentary release about Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett, called Have You Got it Yet?, has been enjoying a successful theatrical run and rave critical reviews. She is currently in production of a documentary about the music festival All Day I Dream.

In 2023, Paola’s recent work includes a worldwide campaign centered on the empowerment of female athletes for NIKE, featuring the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team. She also photographed a number of notable portraits including Bob Iger, Doja Cat, Michael B Jordan and Jennifer Coolidge for the cover of TIME 100 - to date, Paola is the only photographer to have shot the cover for this issue twice. In her ongoing partnership with HUMANITY Magazine set to release in Fall 2023, Paola also shot a number of influential change-makers and social advocates within the arts and culture world who have made important contributions to social change, sustainability and more.

Belfast-born Kathryn Ferguson is an Emmy-Nominated director and writer. Her innovative and boundary-pushing documentary work has screened globally and in 2022 she was awarded the inaugural BFI & Chanel Award for Creative Audacity. After a decade of short-form work centered on identity, gender politics, and community, Kathryn recently completed her debut feature documentary Nothing Compares - which takes as its subject Sinéad O'Connor's artistry, activism and legacy and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2022.  The film has screened globally, been theatrically released, and has won multiple awards including Best Feature Documentary and Best Debut Director - Feature Documentary at this year's BIFA Awards and the IFTA award for Best Documentary Feature.

Born to Italian opera singer parents, Floria Sigismondi has led an existence forged equally in the theatre, where stories are retold, and in the avant-garde, where futures are envisioned. Her immense influence is felt the world over, in the arenas of music video, photography, film and advertising–in each field she has brought her signature spin and never left a project without leaving a lasting impression in her wake. Floria has re-imagined such brands as Meta, Mac, Estée Lauder, and Target, much as her iconic music videos helped invent and reinvent the personas of artists from David Bowie to Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry to Marilyn Manson.

This year, Floria won a Silver Clio for directing the Meta brand film A (Slightly) Life Changing Story, for Droga5/NY, and most recently, she has lensed Anne Hathaway for Bvlgari.

Smriti Mundhra is a DGA-winning, Emmy-nominated, and Academy Award-nominated filmmaker. Most recently, Smriti created and directed Netflix’s THE ROMANTICS, a four-part documentary series about the history of Bollywood, featuring interviews and footage from 35 of its biggest stars. Smriti is also adapting the best-selling novel BORN CONFUSED by Tanuja Desai Hidier for television for Wayfarer Studios and is executive producing two series – THE ESTATES for Netflix alongside Chernin Entertainment and the UNTITLED SCHOTTENSTEIN PROJECT for HBO Max.

Bola Ogun is a first generation Nigerian-American Director, who recently finished filming Netflix spectacle shows: The Witcher (season 3 finale) and Shadow & Bone (season 2 premiere). She has previously directed the season finale of Raising Dion, episodes of Lucifer, Charmed, Siren, Walker, Legacies, Big Shot, Two Sentence Horror Stories and God Friended Me.  Her launch into television began when she was tapped by Ava Duvernay to direct Queen Sugar after she watched Bola’s short film Are We Good Parents? Ogun directed, co-produced, and co-wrote this short.

Ariela is an award winning Brazilian director. Her film “Under Pressure” for Dove, has swept up awards at the Clios, Cannes Lions, Ciclope Latino and El Ojo. The film delicately portrays a period that almost no one talks about, shedding light on the postpartum experience by depicting the various challenges mothers face during this phase; inspiring conversations to make mothers feel less lonely.

Chloe was raised on set in Los Angeles and has worn many hats throughout the years in the industry. As a Creative Manager with a keen eye for talent, she brings a unique blend of artistic insight and people-focused leadership to our dynamic family company. With a deep commitment to nurturing creative potential and fostering a sense of belonging, she’s dedicated to both the art of innovation and the art of building lasting connections.

Maanasa was born in India and raised in the Bay Area, California. She graduated from UC Davis with a B.A. in Cinema and Digital Media and also studied at UCLA’s Film and Television Summer Institute with the Creative Producing track. She started at Believe back in 2019 as a PA and has been their Production Coordinator since Fall 2020, holding down operations at the LA office. She would like to develop feature films down the line.

Our female powerhouse East Coast Sales Team, Simpatico: 

(Clockwise from top Left: Jolie, Dunja, Stephanie, Jacobi)

"Believe Media's emphasis on collaboration and talent fosters a supportive and creative environment, enabling us to continuously grow and push the boundaries of our craft in the fast-paced ad world.

We are so grateful to be a part of such a talented group of directors, artists and women. BELIEVE to us, means family and there's nothing more important than that."