Tiffany Shlain

Executive & Creative Director, Co-Founder

Tiffany Shlain is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, founder of the Webby Awards, and author of the national bestselling book 24/6: Giving up Screens One Day a Week to Get More Time, Creativity, and Connection, which won the Marshall McLuhan Outstanding Book Award. She lectures and performs worldwide on the relationship between technology and humanity. The Museum of Modern Art in New York premiered her one woman “Spoken Cinema” performance Dear Human at the start of 2020. Shlain has received over 80 awards and distinctions for her films and work, including selection for the Albert Einstein Foundation’s initiative Genius:100 Visions for the Future, and inclusion on NPR’s list of Best Commencement Speeches. Read More.

Sawyer Steele

Head of Productions, Co-Founder

Sawyer Steele is an Emmy-nominated Producer and co-founder of Let it Ripple. He has produced, co-written, and co-edited several award-winning films including Connected, which premiered at Sundance. He was Voice Over Director for the award-winning Sundance film The Royal Road. He produced and co-wrote the Emmy-nominated Original series The Future Starts Here, which includes an episode TransBoom, where he shares his experience being transgender and his thoughts around the past, present, and future of being trans. He and Tiffany, with whom he's been working for 15 years, also co-founded Character Day and 50/50 Day, global initiatives that engaged millions through film. After 20 years living in the Bay Area, Sawyer recently moved to Portland, Maine. 

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Jennifer Traig, PhD

Writer and Researcher

Jenny Traig is a researcher, writer, and editor whose books include Act Natural, Well Enough Alone, and Devil in the Details. She has a PhD in Literature from Brandeis. She has been working with Let it Ripple on all things research, writing, and production for 15 years.

Crew from Character Day 2019

Let it Ripple Studio, San Francisco

In addition to our core team who has worked together for over 15 years, we work with extraordinary creatives from all over the world. 

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Tanya Selvaratnam

Author, Film Producer, Artist

Tanya Selvaratnam is a writer, artist, and Emmy-nominated and multiple Webby-winning producer with more than 25 years of experience in the arts & social justice. Born in Sri Lanka and raised in Long Beach, CA, Selvaratnam is based in New York City and Portland, Oregon. With the artist Laurie Anderson and the producer Laura Michalchyshyn, she is a cofounder of The Federation: a coalition of artists, organizations, and allies committed to keeping cultural borders open and showing how art unites us. She has also been an advisor and producer for Freedoms, which catalyzes public discourse and civic engagement through the arts; specifically, she worked on the organization’s 50 State Initiative as well as the For Freedoms Congress. Most recently, she produced for The Vision & Justice Project; Glamour Women of the Year; The Meteor; For Freedoms Congress; The Shed multi-arts center; and UNSTOPPABLE/Planned Parenthood. Her book Assume Nothing: A Story of Intimate Violence was published by Harper Collins in 2020.

Shaady Salehi

Nonprofit and Social Impact Strategist

Shaady Salehi is a nonprofit leader and strategy consultant with 15 years’ experience working at the intersection of communications, policy, and social impact. Prior to launching her consulting practice, she was Managing Director of Distribution and Impact at ITVS, where she designed and led a department dedicated to advancing the reach and social impact of documentaries on public television. Prior to ITVS, she was Executive Director of Active Voice, a pioneering organization that uses storytelling to advance social change. During her tenure there, Shaady designed and led social impact campaigns for films including Food, Inc., The Visitor, and Welcome to Shelbyville. Shaady has spoken extensively about the role of storytelling and social change at convenings like SXSW, the Sundance Institute, and the Aspen Ideas Festival. Shaady holds an M.S. in Strategic Communications from Columbia University, an M.A. in Anthropology from UC Davis, and a B.A. in Anthropology from Oberlin College.

Erik Lammerding

Tech and Communications Entrepreneur

Erik's focus is corporate development & platform strategy. Before founding N3TWORK, his current endeavor, Erik was responsible for building Apple’s consumer market for 3rd party apps. His team focused on helping develop, deliver and market the highest quality products on both iOS & Mac. Key relationships included: Electronic Arts, Airbnb, Time Warner, Conde Nast, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Instagram, FiftyThree, Nike, Twitter, Path, Netflix, HBO, PopCap, Jawbone, MLB Advanced Media & Zynga. Prior to Apple, he was part of the founding team at FusionOne, an early pioneer in the area of Internet based services. There he led the the strategic partnership efforts, helping build branded & integrated relationships with Nokia, HP, IBM, Palm and Apple. He currently serves as an advisor to: Blakjet, Circa, Moonfrye & RedRover.
Non-profit activity includes: Charitywater.org, Technology advisor to wearethorn.org.

Ellen Friedman

Philanthropic Executive Director

Ellen Friedman is Executive Director of the Compton Foundation, which seeks to ignite change toward a sustainable, just, and peaceful future. The Foundation’s program strategy supports transformative leadership and courageous storytelling in the areas of peace, environment, and women’s reproductive health, rights, and justice.  Previously Ellen served as the executive vice president of Tides where she worked for 23 years with individual donors and other social change activists. During her tenure at Tides, Ellen led the Community Clinics Initiative, a partnership between The California Endowment and Tides, which supported the technology capacity development of California’s Community Health Centers. Ellen brings to her work a deep interest in organizational design and leadership, innovative grant program development and implementation, and a passion for transformative social change around the world. www.comptonfoundation.org

Alan Eyzaguirre 

Silicon Valley Pioneer

Alan Eyzaguirre is a Silicon Valley pioneer focused on corporate marketing and communications. At Apple, Adobe, Nokia, IDG and LACMA, Alan has helped visionary leaders define consumer messages and executive communication platforms. Alan has closely worked with some of the most notable leaders of our time including Tiffany Shlain, Michael Govan, Jerri DeVard and Steve Jobs on everything from keynote presentations, yearly strategic reviews and brand transformation campaigns. As an Alumni of the Aspen Institute Seminar, Alan has served on various executive offsites including a recent gathering of the Association of Art Museum Directors. Alan Eyzaguirre’s global marketing and communications experience is an asset to entrepreneurial and corporate organizations.

Geralyn Dreyfous

Academy Award Winning Exec Producer

Geralyn Dreyfous is an executive producer of several Oscar and Emmy-Award winning films and series. Geralyn taught Documentary and Narrative writing with Dr. Robert Coles at Harvard University. She is the Founder/ Board Chair of the Utah Film Center and a charter member of the Utah Coalition for Film and Media. In 2007, she co- founded Impact Partners Film Fund. IP has been involved in the financing of over 30

films, including The Cove, which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary; The Garden, which was nominated an Oscar; Freeheld, which won an Oscar; Born Into Brothels, which won an Emmy; and Hell and Back Again, nominated for an Oscar. She was also Executive Producer on In A Dream, The Invisible War, Anita, Connected, The Crash, and The Square.