Charise M. Studesville

 Writer / Director / Founder

 Charise Studesville was nine-years-old when she got her first job as   a professional dancer as the only child in an adult dance corps.   That same industriousness has driven her professional life since   then.  In 2007, Charise jumped into the production side of the film   business with Martin Chase Productions, headed up by Debra   Martin Chase. This included a weekly commute between Chicago   and Los Angeles, working at Martin Chase during production of   Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 and The Cheetah Girls: One   World.

 Charise attended the USC/Warner Brothers Directing & Producing   Summer Program at the University of Southern California, and     directed her first independent and award-winning film, The Hands.   She then directed and produced a feature documentary on the

 organization Common Threads, and the impact of “food deserts” on   the health and welfare of inner-city children in American cities.

 She founded Hollywood Chick Mafia, "a community of creative   rebel chicks in Hollywood, supporting each others' badassery," and   hosted rooms on Clubhouse throughout the pandemic in support of   women in the industry. Currently, she has several projects in film,   television, and publishing, in development, as well as a women-   driven creative venture with business partner, Ananda Lewis.

 Charise was honored as a 2022 WIF Multi-Hyphenate Mentee,   under mentors Marta Cunningham and Alissa Bachner, a 2023   featured artist in Kente Royal Gallery’s Black History Month art   show in Harlem, a 2024 fellow in the Stowe Narrative Lab, and as   a 2025 esteemed fellow in the HerArts Film Lab in Paestum, Italy,   a program focused on "empowering women's voices in cinema" in   the international marketplace. In 2026, she has been chosen as a   participant at The Writers Lab in NYC, a program spotlighting   women writers over 40, underwritten by such notable talents as   Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman.

 In all of her creative work, Charise uses truth to illuminate darkness   within the human experience, and loves stories and characters that   speak to the human capacity to rise above the murkiest of waters   in life without losing sight of the beauty that can bloom—like her   lotus flower logo of Lotus Girl Films.

 As a fierce advocate for women, Charise is a proud member of   WIF, Film Fatales, Women In Media, and Alliance of Women   Directors.