As part of an ongoing series, we want to introduce you to the Shine Global family and especially our outstanding and hard working board members who help move Shine forward.
Name: Regan McCarthy
Joined Shine Board of Directors: 2016
Title: Senior Partner at Songmasters
Current Role on Board: I have served on the Development Committee and am currently Chair of the Governance and Nominations (G&N) Committee for the Shine Board. The governance part is something I love (but it can put some folks to sleep), because good governance that is clean, simple, human and compliant with law make lives in organizations easier all around. The nominations part is fun – it is the future of the Board and we get to meet great people interested in Shine.
What I do in my day job: I am currently Senior Partner at Songmasters, where I am responsible for three related but different areas: I manage Songmasters’ relationships with charitable and philanthropic organizations (since everything we do benefits these organizations in some way); I create and co-produce media and technology projects (a great deal of fun designing logos, websites, slogans, brands, etc); and I oversee the marketing and communications projects we take on with and for non-profits, a growing part of our business. I have been blessed by having many adventures over the course of an interesting professional life but will spare us from the details here. It is simply faster and easier to refer those who might want to know more to view my bio on the Songmasters website.
Why did you join Shine’s board?
Sometimes there is a convergence of opportunity, timing, interest and skill that all meet at a perfect moment – and a decision seems both easy and inevitable. It was like that for me about joining the Shine Board. I had many years in academic and non-profit administration and fundraising under my belt, media and technology development (including producing for PBS and others), board development, and marketing/branding both for- and non-profits, so I hoped I had a skill set that could help a solid emerging organization. And I have a long personal interest and history of using media and technology to both push the envelope in reaching kids educationally but also in using their power to bring attention to important places and civic issues, including media reform in post-war zones. When I was approached by the then Chair, Don Melnick, about joining the Shine Board, everything came together for me personally. But just as important – perhaps even more important – was how amazing both the Board and the actual work of Shine is – who could not be proud and eager to bring shoulder to the wheel of an organization that does great work consistently, needs help in growing so it can do this more and for a long time, and operates with such integrity of both vision and operations?
What’s a favorite Shine moment for you?
Previewing The Eagle Huntress was an astounding moment. It was like being given a private glimpse into a small part of the world making a dramatic change at a time when that part of the world will increasingly figure more and more prominently in world affairs. Mongolia is in most peoples’ minds a country of yaks and steppes. But it is a vibrant country with emerging cities surrounded by large areas sparsely inhabited by traditional peoples. The Eagle Huntress brought us into the vast yet small story of how the love of a father and grandfather for their daughter allowed them to respectfully break with a millennia of tradition to let her gender-bending passion and talent for eagle hunting take flight, literally. At that preview, I felt great gratitude to see the preview and awe for the real people whose story I was witnessing.
How do you use your specific skill set in your work as a Shine board member?
I probably answered this above, so just let me add this: I try to use my skills to anticipate and solve practical problems of Shine from the perspective of Board roles and responsibility. This is really different from doing this from an executive or staff role, because it requires a new balance in the leadership dynamics of an organization. It can be a challenge, requiring tact and respect, yet firmness and clarity. These are attitudes more than skills – and I hope I bring these to Shine as well.
What is a Shine challenge that you feel supporters should know about?
Shine uses the power of film to tell stories of resilience of children and their families in really tough circumstances. It uses documentary filmmaking to do this and documentaries are the hardest form of film to get funded. Documentaries can receive wide acclaim but attract limited viewers. Yet they are the most influential in changing hearts and minds, in raising awareness of what is really happening, and in generating real action if needed. This is the challenge I believe both potential and current supporters of Shine should know about: that changing the world based on evidence is hard. We march forward only through truth. The real support of folks committed to that mission is essential, imperative, and simply, very basic.
See the full list of Shine’s Board of Directors Members and Board of Governors Members here and read the profiles of board members Dario Spina here, Keith Brown here, Kay Sarlin Wright here, Marilyn DeLuca here, Al Cattabiani here, Bill MacArthur here, Don Melnick here, Robert Baker here, Anne Prost here, Adrienne Lopez here and Gail Khosla here.
Deanna Cuadra is a sophomore at Columbia University and is majoring in Film and Media Studies with a concentration in East Asian Studies. She is from a small town outside Sacramento, California. As someone who strongly believes in the power of storytelling, Deanna has always been attracted to ways film can make a difference. This passion was nursed in high school, only to further grow once in college along with her dedication to education for children in low literacy regions of the world. That is why Shine Global presented such a wonderful opportunity to further explore the importance of telling stories. And because Shine specifically works to give a voice to at-risk children around the world, Deanna feels these stories are especially important to tell. As the marketing intern, Deanna works to promote the empowering messages of Shine’s films.
Paige McCall is a senior at New York University studying Film and Television. She’s from a small town outside of Seattle, WA that is best known for being where they filmed Twin Peaks. Paige is a writer who’s had a lifelong passion for storytelling through films, and loves creating content for younger audiences, specifically teenagers who feel they haven’t had their voices heard or that their thoughts aren’t valued. Outside of school, Paige has worked for many years with a Seattle-based company that creates inspiring books for kids and families, even writing two of her own. She was immediately interested in Shine because of their emphasis on creating content for at-risk or underrepresented children, and decided to intern for another semester in order to continue learning more about the non-profit world. Paige has spent the majority of her time at NYU working on television writing and production, and hopes to continue working in these areas after graduating this Spring.
