Co-Hosts Rachel Martens and Janette Afsharian present a podcast conversation with Shine Global Co-Founders Susan MacLaury and Albie Hecht, who will discuss their background, mission, and future focus. Shine Global is the Academy Award-winning non-profit media company behind War/Dance (Oscar nominee, Emmy winner), Inocente (Oscar winner), Anuja (Oscar nominee), and many more. Their latest documentary, The Business of Trouble (dir. Kristi Jacobson), screens at this year’s festival as part of the Resilience Shorts program.

Susan MacLaury — Co-Founder
Susan MacLaury served as Executive Director of Shine Global from 2005–2024. She executive produced the Emmy Award®-winning, Academy Award®-nominated documentary War/Dance, as well as The Harvest (La Cosecha), the Academy Award® winner Inocente, 1 Way Up in 3D, The Eagle Huntress, Liyana, Tre Maison Dasan, Through Our Eyes: Homefront, and Home Is Somewhere Else. She is also the producer of The Wrong Light and Virtually Free. Susan is dually degreed in social work administration and health education and was associate professor of health education at Kean University from 1994 through 2013.

Albie Hecht — Co-Founder
Albie Hecht is a Co-Founder of Shine Global and an award-winning producer. He previously served as President of Nickelodeon, where he oversaw the development and production of SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Blue’s Clues, and All That, co-created and executive produced the Kids’ Choice Awards, and produced the Oscar-nominated movie Jimmy Neutron. He later became creator and President of Spike TV and General Manager of CNN’s Headline News Network before joining pocket.watch as Chief Content Officer, where he created and executive produced the Emmy-nominated Ryan’s Mystery Playdate. Hecht produced the Oscar nominee and Emmy Award winner War/Dance, and the Oscar-winning documentary short Inocente.