We Speak Podcast
DR. KAIWIPUNI PUNIHEI LIPE, GUEST ON THE NCHE PRESENTS: LEADERS PURSUING HEALTH EQUITY IN AMERICA PODCAST, TALKS HAWAIIAN CULTURE & CONNECTIVITY WITH THEIR LAND
WASHINGTON– On the premier episode of NCHE PRESENTS: Leaders Pursuing Health Equity in America podcast, host Dr. Gail C. Christopher talks with guest Dr. Kaiwipuni Punihei Lipe. She is an extraordinary leader who discusses the culture of native Hawaiians, the challenges they face and their connectiveness with their homeland.
Uplifting and upbeat, Dr. Lipe believes in a “connectiveness” on earth. “In all places in the world, I believe that at one time or another there were principles that connected us to each other and a place for us in our stories,” she says. “We know that we are born from this land, that the land, the sky, the sea, the birds, the plants, the animals they’re all part of our family. It’s a lens or a framework that invites us always to be thinking of the ways we are connected, even when we’re not biologically related. And so that is a core principle that we are trying to teach anyone who is in our presence.”
Dr. Christopher, executive director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity (NCHE), adds, “It’s very exciting. If we love this place, how can we work together to take care of it? That is just so profound and so important. Thank you for sharing that ancestral wisdom with us. We all hail from ancestral wisdom. We are trying to catch up with our ancestors in learning to live in harmony with our environments and in concert with one another.”
Citing spiritual strength and resiliency of their culture, Dr. Lipe notes that many Hawaiians struggle “in so many ways, all very connected to the loss of our lands; more than half of native Hawaiians live outside of Hawaii. We cannot afford to live on our own homelands.”
Dr. Lipe is the inaugural director of the Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Advancement office at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM). She holds a BA in Hawaiian Studies, an MS in Counseling Psychology, and a PhD in Education Administration.
Listen to the engaging conversation HERE
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Dr. Gail C. Christopher is the Executive Director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity, Senior Scholar at the Center for Advancement of Well-Being at George Mason University, former Senior Advisor and Vice President of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. Her new book, RX-Racial Healing is available HERE. Follow Dr. Christopher on Twitter @drgcchristopher.
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About NCHE
Founded in 2014, NCHE established to promote health equity through action, leadership, inclusion, and collaboration. We work to create environments that foster the best possible health outcomes for all populations, regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or nativity. NCHE also works to improve conditions for health and well-being, including those related to housing, education, income and wealth and the physical and social environment. Further, it is imperative that we address historic and contemporary structural, institutional, and interpersonal racism, which fuels inequities in our society.
Los Angeles Production Designer and Art Department Professional Discusses the Creative Vision Behind Building Worlds for Film and Entertainment
Mexican-born Production Designer and Art Department professional Angelica Figueroa is stepping into the international media spotlight with a featured appearance on The Andrew Eborn Show on Octopus TV.
The interview, “The Invisible Architect of Hollywood: How Mexican Visionary Angelica Figueroa Builds Worlds in Films,” explores the creative work audiences rarely see happening behind the camera — and the extraordinary amount of research, imagination and craftsmanship required to create the visual environments in which stories come alive.
Figueroa, originally from Morelos, Mexico, earned a BFA in Filmmaking from the New York Film Academy and has established herself in Los Angeles working across Production Design, Art Direction, Set Dressing and Prop Master roles.
Her growing body of work demonstrates the versatility required of a modern Art Department professional, spanning narrative filmmaking, music and performance videos, promotional productions and independent projects.
Rather than simply decorating a set, Figueroa approaches production design as an extension of character and story. Research, sourcing, props, color, texture, architecture and period-specific details can all become part of the visual language of a production.
That philosophy has helped define her emerging career.
As a Production Designer, Figueroa worked on What a Valentine, starring acclaimed actor Jim Beaver, and Tamales, starring Virginia Novello.
Her credits also extend into major music and entertainment productions. Figueroa has worked as a Set Dresser on a Willow Smith performance video, a promotional production for Wild ’N Out, and the “Tell Me” project by OneRepublic and Karan Aujla.
Her work as Art Director on the period short film Sunrise Boulevard, set in 1955, required the creation of a visual environment capable of transporting audiences into another era. Figueroa contributed through art direction, set dressing, props and sourcing, helping establish the film’s period-specific world.
Sunrise Boulevard was subsequently selected for the Burbank International Film Festival and received a nomination in the Best Production Design / Art Direction category.
Additional Art Department credits include Canta Santiago, Oroboros, Ikigai and Rebel Flower(s). On Oroboros, Figueroa served as Prop Master, working with story-specific and actor props as well as sourced, practical and breakable set pieces.
Her appearance on The Andrew Eborn Show gives audiences an opportunity to discover the person behind that work and gain insight into a profession that plays an essential role in filmmaking while often remaining invisible to the audience.
Andrew Eborn brings an extensive international media background to the conversation. An international lawyer, strategic business adviser, broadcaster and media personality, Eborn is known for conversations spanning entertainment, television, film, business, technology and culture.
For Figueroa, the interview represents another opportunity to bring attention not simply to individual credits, but to the specialized creative discipline behind them.
Production designers and Art Department professionals help determine what audiences ultimately see on screen. Before an actor enters a room, someone has considered what that room communicates about the character. Before a period story can feel authentic, someone has researched the objects, furnishings, materials and visual details necessary to make that world believable.
That is the space in which Angelica Figueroa has been building her career.
Her work reflects an ability to move between creative vision and practical execution — transforming research and storytelling concepts into physical environments that can exist convincingly in front of the camera.
As Figueroa continues developing her career in American film and entertainment, her appearance on The Andrew Eborn Show introduces a wider audience to a filmmaker whose contribution happens largely behind the scenes but becomes visible in virtually every frame.
WATCH THE INTERVIEW
Watch Angelica Figueroa on The Andrew Eborn Show on Octopus TV:
ABOUT ANGELICA FIGUEROA
Angelica Figueroa is a Los Angeles-based Production Designer and Art Department professional originally from Morelos, Mexico. A graduate of the New York Film Academy with a BFA in Filmmaking, she works across Production Design, Art Direction, Set Dressing and Prop Master roles. Her credits span narrative films, performance videos, promotional productions and independent projects, with a creative approach centered on research, visual storytelling, props, sourcing and detailed environmental design.
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