Nicole Solis-Sison

info@nicolesolissison.com • www.nicolesolissison.com

R E S E A R C H I N T E R E S T S

Multi-disciplinary artist and leader with experience in organizing, leadership, design, marketing, branding, augmented reality, photo, and video that brings together communities with visual media and experiential storytelling at the intersections of media, fashion, immigration and policy.

E D U C A T I O N

Professional Education: Circular Economy, 2022 - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA

BA in Practice of Art: Photography + Sculpture and Marketing, 2016 - University of California, Berkeley, CA

Summer Intensive: French Language, Film and Literature, 2016 - University of California Center, Paris, France

AA in Human Behavioral Studies and Fashion Design, 2013 - Pasadena City College, Pasadena, CA

P R O F E S S I O N A L E X P E R I E N C E

Professional Experience
Current Undocumented Justice, Documentary, Director Marlene Morris
Co-Producer
  • Funded by Perspective Fund and Latino Public Broadcasting
  • Slated for release in 2023 on PBS
    • Current - 2018 Undocumented Filmmakers Collective, Organization
    Founding Member, Funding and Development Lead
  • Funded by MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, Perspective Fund, New Media Ventures, California Endowment, Vilcek Foundation, and Sundance Institute
    • Current - 2017 Creative Director and Producer
    Freelance and in-house at Matter Media Group & Popshift
  • Oversees production teams and creative vendors for branded photo and video in the following areas of editorial, print and digital campaigns. Services include content production, design, creative direction, strategy, branding, product launches, PR distribution, impact campaigns, product collaborations, brand partnerships, and events.
    • 2022 - 2021 Yellow Rose, Narrative Feature, Director Diane Paragas
    Impact Writer
  • Available to stream on Hulu, Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, The Roku Channel and Starz.
    • 2021 - 2017 General Assembly, Private School
    Instructor
  • Hosts quarterly workshops and classes around digital storytelling, branding, storytelling and content marketing.
    • 2017 - 2016 Avametric, Virtual Reality Fashion Tech Start Up
    Design Department
  • Executed the first Virtual Fitting Room with Gap and Google. The AR Application was launched at CES 2017.
    • 2016 - 2014 Al-An deSouza, Professor of Photography + Artist
    Photography Assistant
  • Al-An deSouza is a California-based trans-media artist whose works restage colonial-era material legacies through counter-strategies of humor, fabulation, and (mis)translation. They serve as the chairperson of the Art Practice Department at the University of California, Berkeley.

    • E X H I B I T I O N S

    Professional Experience
    2023 Recordar/Anhelar: Aesthetics of Undocumentedness Fall Exhibition, The Dalton, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA
    2023 Aesthetics of Undocumentedness Symposium & Exhibition, Charlottesville, VA
    2021 'F.Y.I' Short Film - SEEDS Allied Media Conference, Detroit, MI
    Producer
  • Undocumented Filmmakers Collective first short film 'F.Y.I' special screening
    • 2020 'Not A Safe City' Sky Installation, X MAP - In Plain Sight, San Diego Immigration Court House, San Diego, CA
    Guest Artist + Photographer
  • Over 4th of July Weekend, 2020, In Plain Sight launched the nation's sky typing fleets to spell out artist-generated messages in water vapor, legible for miles. These messages were typed in the sky over detention facilities, immigration courts, borders, and other sites of historic relevance. In Plain Sight uses art and engagement to break through this wall of secrecy, exposing to public scrutiny the sites of detention centers, paid for with your dollars and operated in your name.
    • 2017 'Copper' Short Film and Photo Series by Summer Mason - Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
    Creative Director
  • 'Copper', a short film and photo series that explores the collective grief of Black death in American society.
    • 2017 'Zero Waste Cart' - Sierra Club, Zero Waste Fair, Los Angeles, CA
    2017 'Zero Waste Cart' - Zero Waste Convergence, San Francisco, CA
    2017 'Zero Waste Cart' - Humanity Education Rights Summit, Los Angeles, CA
    2017 'Zero Waste Cart' - The 14th Factory, Los Angeles, CA
    2017 'Zero Waste Cart' - Pro Arts Gallery & Commons, Oakland, CA
    2017 AR/VR Fitting Room APP Powered by Gap and Google, CES - Consumer Trade Association, Las Vegas, NV
    2017 'Copper' Short Film and Photo Series by Summer Mason -B4BEL4B, Oakland, CA
    2016 'Zero Waste Cart', San Francisco Prototyping Festival - Yerba Buena Center of The Arts
    Prototype Artist
  • Designed a mobile pop-up installation that offered free sustainable alternatives such as mending workshops, textile recycling, and sewing stations for under-resourced communities in partnership with the San Francisco Urban Planning Committee and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
  • Installation was revealed in service to the community in the Tenderloin District in San Francisco, California.
    • 2016- 2014 '75 Pound Jacket' + 'The Mending Collective' + 'UNdocumented', Worth Ryder Gallery, Berkeley, CA
    Sculpture. Social Practice, Photo Installation
  • Multiple pieces ranging from sculpture, socially engaged work and a photo installation were installed at various exhibits at the gallery for the course of three years in group student exhibitions
    • 2014 "Untitled" Photo Series, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA
    Artist
  • Group student exhibition

    • S P E A K I N G E N G A G E M E N T S

    P U B L I C A T I O N S

    Nicole Solis-Sison Substack

    Creativity is Boundless: An Inclusive Guide for Supporting Immigrant, Migrant, and Undocumented Artists with Fellowships, Grants, and Residencies, Define American, 2023.

    An Open Letter from Undocumented Filmmakers to the Producers of Living Undocumented and the Broader Media Industry, Medium, 2019.

    Building a Portfolio That Will Land You the Clients You Want, 99 Designs, 2019.

    The Power of Brand Storytelling Through Design, 99 Designs, 2019.

    How Art Can Be Thought: A Handbook for Change written by Allan deSouza, Duke University Press, 2018.

    H O N O R S A N D A W A R D S

    Rockwood Documentary Leaders Fellowship, 2023

    Sundance - Asian American Collab Scholarship, 2022

    Define American Fellowship, 2022

    Undocumented Filmmakers Collective Elevate Fellowship, 2021

    Sundance Interdisciplinary Grant, 2021

    Peerspace - Space for Change, 2020

    Sundance Documentary Fund Screener, 2020

    I Stand With Immigrants Fellowship, 2019

    Eisner Award for the Highest Achievement in the Arts, University of California, Berkeley, 2016

    Art Department Honors Program, University of California, Berkeley, 2015

    M E M B E R S H I P S / A F F I L I A T I O N S

    Speaking Engagements
    2023 Define American Inclusive Guide for Allied Organizations, Virtual Zoom
    2022 The School of The New York Times, Fordham University, New York, NY
    2022 Undocumented Justice x Immigrants Rising Pre-Law Fund, Virtual Zoom Screening
    2022 Branding and Digital Storytelling, Thomas Jefferson University, Virtual Zoom Screening
    2021 'We Exist': A Dialogue on Self-Representation of Undocumented People in the Arts and Media, University of California, Berkeley, CA
    2021 Undocumented Justice x Hispanics In Philanthrophy, Virtual Zoom Screening
    2021 Latinx Heritage Month + Filipinx American History Month Power Chats, California Endowment, Instagram Takeover
    2021 The HEAL Shorts Program by Members of the Undocumented Filmmakers Collective, Philly Asian American Film Festival, Philadelphia, PA
    2021 Immigrant Narrative Features Panels, Urbanworld Film Festival, New York, NY
    2020 Beyond the Status: Working with and Investing in Undocumented Creatives, BlackStar Film Festival, Virtual Zoom Screening
    2020 Undocumented and Unerasable: Reclaiming Undocumented Narratives and Storytelling presented by FireLight Media, Sundance Film Festival 2020, Park City, UT
    2019 Social Media Content Strategy, Social Media Week Conference, ADWEEK, Los Angeles, CA
    2018 Women In Tech & Entrepreneurship, General Assembly, Los Angeles, CA
    2018 The Future of Fashion, General Assembly, Los Angeles, CA