Barefoot Bios

Chandler Griffin- Founding Director

Chandler Griffin is a New York City based filmmaker and educator who has designed and led media workshops for the past 8 years for such esteemed institutes as The International Film & Televisions Workshops. His projects have taken him to film and teach in Latin America, North America, the UK, Africa, and India. Chandler is the Founding Director of Barefoot Workshops. He has developed and produced educational programs in Northern Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, Honduras, India and various locations in the USA. He is a Founding Member of Video Volunteers and has collaborated with Navsarjan Trust, PLANusa, 1 Giant Leap, PBS, The American Cancer Society, FXB, Ocean Classroom, Maritime Challenge, The Ford Foundation, The RFK Center for Human Rights, FilmAid International, The International Film & Television Workshops, Global Media Adventures, WITNESS and the State Department's Digital Freedom Initiative. He holds a BFA in Photography and a BFA in Video/Film from the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Alison Fast - Program Director

Alison Fast is a television producer for networks such as Telemundo, NBC/Universal, MTV and PBS. In 2003, she co-founded the youth program, One Global Tribe (www.oneglobaltibe.org). She has produced and documented international events including, World AIDS Orphans Day in Los Angeles and South Africa, and the World Water Forum in Mexico City. She spent six months documenting the power of grassroots media in Brazil, and speaks Spanish and Portuguese fluently. Her goal is to use media and new technologies to bridge diverse communities around the world and to support the exchange of best practices to meet development goals. Her focus is on: youth empowerment, indigenous communities, HIV/AIDS, and global strategies for peace and a sustainable future. She is a member of Africa Sustainability Coalition (www.csafrica.org), and recently became Barefoot Workshops' Program Director for Africa and The Middle East.

Deepti Rohatgi - Key Advisor

Ms. Rohatgi works as Director of Middle East IT and Telecommunications Policy at the United States Department of State. Some of Ms. Rohatgi's notable achievements during her tenure at the State Department include, creating an Arab Regional IT Association, negotiating the Telecommunications and E-Commerce Chapters of the UAE-US and Oman-US Free Trade Agreements, establishing a trilateral dialogue between the US, Iraqi and Jordanian governments on telecommunications issues, and managing the US Governments relationship to the United Nations Information and Communications Task Force. Ms. Rohatgi has also worked extensively with the World Bank, USAID, FCC, US Senate and US Consulate Jerusalem to facilitate an ongoing training program for the Palestinian Authority on high technology issues. She holds a M.S. in Industrial Engineering and a BA in Public Policy both from Stanford University.