Paola Mendoza is a film director, activist, author and artist working at the leading edge of human rights. A co-founder of The Women’s March, she served as its artistic director and coauthored the New York Times best seller "Together We Rise: Behind the Scenes at the Protest Heard around the World." Paola’s most recent book Sanctuary was released to critical acclaim by Penguin.

Mendoza is also a film director whose films have premiered at the most prestigious film festivals around the world. Her films have thoughtfully tackled the complex issues of poverty and immigration on women and children in the United States. She was named Glamour’s Woman of the Year in 2017 and one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film.