Our Story
Shoes Off Media was founded by three passionate filmmakers who met on the set of HBO's Take Out with Lisa Ling. After sharing memorable experiences on location, we realized there was a need to tell more stories from underrepresented communities, made by those within the community.
We created Shoes Off Media in order to meaningfully share the cultures and experiences so often overlooked or misrepresented by mainstream media. We aim to enter every space with respect, empathy, and a collaborative spirit, always taking our shoes off at the door.
With a diverse background in television, film, and commercial production, and decades of experience as storytellers working with some of entertainment's biggest brands, we bring unparalleled expertise to every project. No project is too small or too big for us to handle.
Today, Shoes Off Media is dedicated to producing compelling, powerful content that resonates with diverse audiences. We are proud to tell the stories that matter, reflecting the rich tapestry of our communities.
Co-Founder | Executive Producer
Carol is an Emmy-winning Korean American Producer and Filmmaker with over 15 years in television production and marketing. She was recently the Creative Director for the award-winning Independent Lens series on PBS. Prior to this role, she served as a Supervising Producer at Discovery Warner Bros TLC, led podcast promotion at NPR, and was the Director of Production at PBS. She has spearheaded campaigns for entertainment giants such as National Geographic and AMC. She serves as a mentor for Asians in Advertising and is a member of A-Doc, Women in Film & Video, and BGDM.
Co-Founder | Head of Production
Shannon Sun-Higginson is a biracial Chinese American documentary producer and director. Her first feature GTFO was funded on Kickstarter, premiered at SXSW, and was featured in the NYTimes. She executive produced feature documentary The Witmans (Discovery), produced Peabody award-winning docuseries Philly DA (Sundance, Berlinale, PBS), and directed two episodes of docuseries Take Out (HBO Max). Most recently, she produced feature docs Kenyatta (Frameline, SF DocFest) and Grand Knighthawk (ABC, Hulu). She is a two-time Sundance fellow.
C0-Founder | Head of Development
Kitty Hu is a queer, Chinese documentary filmmaker and impact producer. As the daughter of immigrants, Kitty’s work applies community-centered documentary tactics to amplify character-driven stories that reflect the work of our social movements, looking at topics like labor, housing, culture, migration and climate. She recently directed the Emmy-nominated L.A. Rebellion: A Cinematic Movement (PBS Artbound) and produced Taste the Nation (Hulu), Wild Hope (PBS), Take Out with Lisa Ling (HBO Max), America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston (PBS). Kitty has served as a doc features juror for the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival and is a mentor for Cinema Next. She also supports impact opportunities at BGDM and is a proud member of A-Doc.
Values
Centering those with lived experiences and co-conspiring with communities on the ground. We believe in collaborating with participants as equal contributors to a project, and being intentional about hiring crew from similar backgrounds to the participants whose stories we’re telling.
We lead with an abundance mindset—our communities’ stories are inherently valuable and we aim to uplift, not compete. We hope that through our filmmaking processes and practices, we can lead by example and work with the industry to adequately fund our stories.
We’re knocking down the door and keeping it open. As we build with Shoes Off Media, we hope to support under-resourced creatives and community-engaged media. We aim to lead with transparency and accountability, and bring more of our communities into the process.
We are people first. We carry a human-centered approach to our work processes and operate with honesty, respect and grace. Practically, this means we want the people we work with to prioritize their mental health and wellbeing, have work-life balance and engage in an open line of communication.