News & Commentary written by Nava Mau

Nava Mau is an award-winning filmmaker, actress, and cultural worker. Nava wrote, produced, directed, and starred in “Waking Hour,” a short film that screened in festivals around the world. She was selected as a Production Fellow for the Netflix documentary “Disclosure,” and worked as a producer on the short film “Work,” which premiered at Sundance. She has also acted as a series regular in the HBO Max series “Generation” and the upcoming Netflix series “Baby Reindeer.” For 8 years, Nava worked in the fields of healing justice and culture change with community-based service providers, student organizations, and survivors of violence. She has been awarded the NewFest Audience Award and the YoSoy Award from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation.

Nava received her BA in Linguistics & Cognitive Science from Pomona College, after studying in Paris and conducting research in Guadalajara, Mexico. She then worked with survivors of violence for three years; first with immigrant survivors as a legal assistant, and then as a peer counselor and advocate for LGBTQ survivors of violence in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her range of experience also includes curriculum development, workshop & dialogue facilitation, and public speaking. All of her work has revolved around questions of culture and how to collectively change it for the better.

Nava worked for 8 years in the fields of anti-violence, healing justice, and political education. She is an editor of the forthcoming anthology Paradise on the Margins: Worldmaking by Trans Women of Color.