Daranee Teng (she/her) is an educational equity researcher-practitioner, daughter of Thai-Chinese-Indonesian immigrants, adventurer, and community leader. As Daranee enters her third year as co-chair of the Colorado Dragon Boat Film Festival and as a Colorado Dragon Boat Board Member, she is excited to be a part of the continued evolution of the event as a celebration of the diverse cultural identities within the Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community.

Marin Lepore is a Denver-based screenwriter, director, and activist who grew up in Colorado, and lived in Beijing from age ten to sixteen. She is also the co-founder of Sad Girl Productions.

Falling within these groups herself, Marin is passionate about creating inclusive films that celebrate women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ people. She has served as a board member for Women in Film and Media Colorado and part of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Task Force at the University of Colorado Denver, where she graduated with a BFA in Film & Television.

Learn more about Marin and her work at marinlepore.com

Roma Sur is a screenwriter, filmmaker, and an educator at the University of Denver, where she teaches Scriptwriting and Film Production. She writes young adult and female driven dramas with levity. Sur was recently featured in Marquis Who's Who of America 125th edition, for excellence in arts and entertainment. She is currently on the Executive committee of @Womanhood_theseries Season 2. She loves her role on the Colorado Dragon Boat Film Festival programming committee, as it is a wonderful way of giving back to the Colorado community through cinema that celebrates her AANHPI roots.

https://www.surcreations.com/

Janet Shih Hajek is a Senior Counsel with Agilent Technologies, Inc. Janet has served on the board of directors for the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center (APALRC), National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), and Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, D.C. Area (APABA-DC). Janet is an alum of The George Washington University Law School as well as The American University in Washington, D.C. In her spare time, Janet is also involved as a parent volunteer for the Denver East High School Boys Tennis Team.

Dr. Elaine Yang moved to Colorado in 2012 from North Carolina. She received a Doctorate of Pharmacy from UNC-Chapel Hill. Her presence in the AAPI community has been with the Board of Directors of the Colorado Dragon Boat from 2014-2020, Co-Chair of the Colorado Dragon Film Festival and most recently with the Board of Directors of Asian Girls Ignite. “Each year, I have memories of audience members reliving parts of the film through shared dialogue. The space for community engagement is an important vision of the festival. I feel proud that film allows us to accept there are many ways to understand one another together as a community.”

Sara Moore is the Executive Director for Colorado Dragon Boat, the umbrella organization that encompasses the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival, the Colorado Dragon Boat Film Festival, and the Emerging Leaders Program. Sara brings over ten years of non-profit executive management experience. Sara has managed large scale events, significant fundraising efforts, and is a key leader in the AAPI community. Sara is most proud of bringing Colorado Dragon Boat into a stable and thriving financial position.

Lorraine Eloriaga has been an integral part of the Philippine American Society of Colorado (PASCO) and contributor to the community. At the age of 5 she was already performing traditional Filipino dances at cultural presentations.

In 2010, Lorraine became Chief Timer assisting the dragon boat race committee for the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival. Fourteen years later, Lorraine is a key part of our dragon boat community. In 2019, Lorraine became Race Director, and in 2023, she joined the staff as Program Manager!