Buzz Editor

Monalisa Okojie is currently based in Los Angeles, California. She was born an Ishan Princess from Edo State, Nigeria. She had the privilege of attending St. Mary’s Private School and later on, Federal Government Girls College Calabar before becoming a lawyer in Nigeria. She practiced law for eight years before deciding to change career paths. In 2008, she graduated from the prestigious Gemological Institute of America located in Carlsbad, California, and also received an MBA and an MPH from California Southern University. She is fluent in Yoruba, Ishan, Pigin English, and English. Today, she is a wife, a mother of three, an extremely successful businesswoman, a philanthropist, and a global traveler. She is passionate about fashion, believes in humanitarian work, and in spreading love and kindness, especially to the less fortunate. She is often sought after to speak at various events and universities and is seen by many as a voice of inspiration to all.

Dylan started Yesterday’s Donuts in late 2015 from the ashes of his previous project. After stabilizing the first lineup, we released our first EP, Frankensteined, in 2017. Shortly after, the band was overhauled as we went through the loss of two drummers and a guitarist. Things began to look up when then-bassist Jonathan switched to drums. By July of 2018, we were complete again with the addition of Kelly and Louis on bass and second guitar, respectively. We have since stuck together and released our mini LP “Too Much Noise, Not Enough Space” in 2019, and are currently working on our first full length, yet to be titled.

My name is Edgar Cruz, CO-CEO of Ekstrepe. I am a cannabis Equity Applicant within the jurisdiction of Long Beach, California.

I am in the process of building a cannabis cultivation, distribution, and manufacturing business at a large scale.

My passion for the cannabis industry began back in 2012 when I was volunteering as a budtender at a dispensary while also working in the banking industry. At the time, I was bringing in more revenue from the dispensary then I was working a regular 9-5 job. The reason behind why I decided to pursue the financial industry was to build proper connections, learn how to manage money properly, to gain an understanding of how banking truly operates and how I can correlate that with my future business. Due to the rapid increase of cannabis legalization worldwide, federal legalization is right around the corner. Therefore, it will require some sort of federally funded and insured banking system.

Soon after, I decided to launch my Cannabis delivery service called College Cruz Collective with the guidance of a few entrepreneurs. During the operations of my delivery service, I was also keeping up with rules and regulations in Los Angeles county regarding proper licensing for legal cannabis retail storefronts. Most people are aware that obtaining licensing in the cannabis industry requires a nice chunk of money. This is where the Social Equity Program goes into play.

CANNABIS SOCIAL EQUITY PROGRAM
The goal of the Cannabis Social Equity Program is to recognize and address the long-term impact that federal and state cannabis enforcement policies have had on low-income communities in the City of Long Beach.

The Equity Program is designed to support equal opportunity in the cannabis industry by making legal cannabis business ownership and employment opportunities more accessible to low-income individuals and communities most impacted by the criminalization of cannabis.

Now I am an approved applicant with the city of Long Beach.

my earliest memory i had getting into the idea of makeup and hair was threw my mother , she was a hair dresser and a avon lady and back in the day she use to go door to door when that was a thing, i think this was during the late 70s around the time disco hit , donna summer blazed the radio , and my mom a disco queen , she loved to do her makeup and hair in the bathroom, and i would just sit and stare and take note , when my mom would take me with her on a avon lady house call i watched my mom bring happiness to a woman even with just a lip color ..it set a tone, soon after i started to become familiar with fashion magazines, the time when linda and cindy and naomi were dubbed the first supermodels, the 90s were on and popping they were on every cover , i would started to draw there faces on paper, i would draw and sketch a eye , or a face , detailing lashes and shading people around me started to be amazed with how good i could draw ,thats kinda how i got into makeup , was from sketching and drawing art came so natural to me,thankgod for fashion magazines and art it helped me to escape into fantasy over my bullys at school , i was a target for being gay, and growing up in late 70 and 80s it was cool, was avery different and scary time, … so i channeled my energy into drawing art , music , fashion, i found my self doing my friends hair and make up by age 16 i dove into the beauty industry , graduated cosmetology school, and began my salon work it wasn’t long before my talent for styling started to shine, and everyone was telling me i should move to hollywood , so i started to have a dream, that maybe i could move to hollywood ,take a chance get out of the town i grew up in .a chance to be free so i landed in los angels in 2000 and my journey began…taking any job i could to pay the rent, many struggles along the way but i never gave up , I’ve been blessed to work some amazing people , reality stars like camille grammar of the Bravos beverly hills house wifes , to music artist Katy perry , I’m so great full for my journey as it still continues to grow .

I’ve been writing all my life, but when I moved to Los Angeles I discovered how much I really love directing. The rest followed. I do everything now – if it has something to do with the logistical side of production, chances are I know how to do it.

As far back as film school I was always trying to push my own boundaries and test myself. That led me to Campground, my second short film and an absolute nightmare. It was an extremely ambitious project involving the desert, port-o-potties, a level of gear I had no experience with, and many, many moving parts. But we got it done, in no small part due to Andrew Menjivar, who came in to do post production sound and ended up doing…basically everything else in post. Andrew’s one of those people who is good at everything he touches, so naturally I held on to him. It was through him that I met Thresa Richardson. A few small projects were enough to seal the deal: we liked to work together. We needed a team name when we did the 48 Hour Film Competition, so I threw Tequila Mockingbird out into the air, and now here we are. People respond well to the name, to our branding in general, so we stuck with it.

Writer on a mission to tell stories that are complex, have characters people can relate to, and work for the Valley Film Festival, as a distribution coordinator, helping other filmmakers sell their films! n LA centric dramedy I wrote with Drew McAnany called “1/2 New Year” just came out on Prime, Spectrum, Charter, Comcast, Fandango, Google Play, Apple TV, XBox via Comedy Dynamics.

My previous film, “Still Green” is an edgy coming of age drama distributed via Osiris Entertainment.

The Valley Film Festival started our distribution wing in 2012 and have since become a place where over 30 distributors come looking for our films.