meet the team

Artistic & Executive Director, Founder

Coming from Tel Aviv, the daughter of indie filmmakers who made Israel’s first anti-war film, Nili started a filmmaking program for homeless youth in 2009, and made it a stand-alone organization in 2015. Outside the Frame has become a household name for homeless youth empowerment in Portland. It was named Best New Nonprofit in 2018. She is the 2022 recipient of OMPA’s Commitment to Good Award. She has two kids and a wife who is a midwife. Learn why Nili started OTF years ago in this video.

Operations Manager

Erin is a radical documentarian who works in the mediums of audio, print, and video. Her work focuses on themes of the untold story, the unheard voice, comparative experience across identities, and the clean and sharp edit. She is the Executive Director of the podcast It Did Happen Here, which is also a book published by PM Press. She has also produced documentaries on the discovery of the antidote to tear gas, musicians experiences with covid, and is the co-director of the award winning film Arresting Power: Resisting Police Violence in Portland, OR. She is a founding board member of Outside the Frame.

Culture & Programs Manager

Devon is Outside the Frame’s “Den Mom,” orchestrating all youth facing programming and supporting staff and youth to shape OTF in reciprocal, responsive ways. Devon cultivates relational creativity at the intersections of consent and accountability practice, anti-ableist embodiment, accessible art, and cultural somatics. In her free time, she hangs with her two daughters and listens to plants.

Finance & Admin Director

Vanessa Dominguez has provided bookkeeping, development and data management services to Outside the Frame since 2020. As a teen, she was a member of the "Papers" Youth Crew, helping to produce the documentary film, "Papers: Stories of Undocumented Youth" with Graham Street Productions. Later, she and other "Papers" alums co-founded Momentum Alliance, a youth non-profit where Vanessa served as Youth Director and then as Executive Director. She currently works as a contractor while she and her husband raise her son Nico.

Mentorship & Social Services Liaison

As a houseless youth in PDX, Joey was a program participant with Outside the Frame starting back in 2010 and went on to be one of our first Peer Mentors. In 2018, they left Outside the Frame to work as an Outreach Worker at HomePlate Youth Services for nearly 3 years, and they now work at Outside In as an Alcohol & Drug Specialist. Joey helps to develop and run weekly programming and trains our incoming Peer Mentors. In their off-time, Joey is a self-described “multi-faceted meganerd,” and a fierce, queer advocate for social justice every step of the way!

Film Career Manager & Pathways Manager

Maria Moreno is a Venezuelan filmmaker, a PSU School of Film graduate and an Outside the Frame Alumna. She is an instructor for film workshops and manages the Production Assistant Training Program for the Oregon Media Pathways program. She works as a freelance producer & assistant director for clients such as TIME, Nike and Hulu. In her free time, Maria programs film screenings centering Latine stories.

Equipment Room Manager

Makayla was 21 years old and living on Portland’s streets when she signed up for a workshop with Outside the Frame. Eighteen months later, having caught the filmmaking bug, she broke into the film industry; she worked on Hulu’s series Shrill, as a puppet wrangler on a Cartoon Network show, The Shivering Truth and many more. In between she works with Outside the Frame teaching the Production Assistant Bootcamp, weekly workshops and directing and shooting films.

Equipment Educator

Jon is an audio engineer, musician, documentarian and video artist.  They help teach and facilitate weekly programming and help manage equipment. They have been recording music for 15+ years and produced several albums by local artists, as well as his own band, Jonny Ampersand. They have worked in public access television in NYC and community radio in Portland.  Other hobbies include record collecting, woodworking, DIY electronics, and cat whispering.

Peer Mentor

V’s experience with Outside the Frame began when they became a program participant during 2017. V remained involved with OTF and pursued other creative endeavors through the years. Now, V is passionate about being OTF's newest peer mentor as well as being an instructor of circus arts to ages 4 and above.

Peer Mentor

Ant Diaz is a Film student at Portland State University who is passionate about storytelling and community engagement. Ant has experience as a Ganas Mentor, Cinema Coordinator, and Marketing and Production.

Their involvement with organizations like MEChA, Dream, and GANAS highlights their commitment to uplifting marginalized voices. Ant brings a unique blend of technical skills and cultural awareness to every project.

Graphic Design Intern

Vincent (that/it) discovered Outside the Frame in winter of 2022, shortly after becoming homeless at age 21. Since then, it wants nothing more than to be an experimental artist. Vincent frequently creates mixed media pieces, designs characters, plays with sounds and explores 3-dimensional media that all carry a vulnerable discomfort that wishes to be seen. In its current role, that explores concept creation, illustration & doodle parenthood. Find Vincent’s work on Instagram.

Studio Assistant

After becoming homeless in 2018, Ashe discovered Outside the Frame and instantly fell in love with working behind the camera. They worked as a director of photography and actor on the award winning short film Doomed to Repeat. And is now an equipment room intern at OTF. In their free time, Ashe enjoys making art. Their favorite camera is the C-70.

DIT and Editing Assistant

Ollie’s first intensive was the 2018 Object Stories exhibition at the Portland Art Museum, and they’ve been involved with OTF programming ever since. 

They earned a software engineering certificate and worked for Nike and Intel

They keep digital media backed up and organized for OTF.

They enjoy helping their peers cultivate their ideas and create films.

They are currently working on a book that will be published in 2028.

Mentor & Cinematographer

Travis is a professional in the film industry working as Director of Photography, Camera Operator and Camera Assistant for the past 7 years. His first mentor in photography is a houseless person. Travis sees that learning is always a two way street and values both learning and teaching with the youth. He has a lust for life and thrives in environments where he can spread this energy and excitement for learning and creativity. Find him at travisjstanton.com.

Post Specialist

Drawing from a career in both independent and studio filmmaking, Chris Hackett helps guide young creatives through the technical and artistic processes of post-production, ensuring their stories are told with clarity and impact. He’s worked on multiple feature films, including PIG, Let's Have Kids, and Horsegirl, specializing in the delicate balance between technical precision and artistic expression. Chris is dedicated to mentoring underserved youth, providing them with the skills and support to transform their ideas into compelling films. His work not only enhances the technical quality of each project but also empowers young voices to share their unique perspectives with the world.

Filmmaking Mentor

Sam Sanchez is a Puerto Rican filmmaker and photographer whose work has been featured internationally at the Cannes Film Festival. Graduating with a B.F.A in theatre along with a tandem honorary film degree, Sam has spent the last fifteen years bringing visual spectacle to productions via light and lens. Working on set in both the narrative and commercial space, Sam has contributed on projects for a wide range of clients including Apple, Adidas, Jordan Brand, Nike, Netflix, Hulu, and In n Out Burger.  
An avid music lover, Sam is most often found just vibing to his favorite tunes, dancing and singing. here

Mentor, Audio Engineer & Cinematographer

Kai Tillman brings their extensive technical background in film to Outside the Frame in the form of facilitator, mentor and wild idea concoctor. Kai is a trans/genderqueer cinematographer, director and audio engineer. They have been honored to be a selected participant in the Filmando en Cuba workshops with Abbas Kiarostami in 2016 and Werner Herzog in 2017. Their short films have been screened in over 30 film festivals internationally including Locarno Film Festival, Outfest LA, Fringe Film Festival UK and Musée D'art Moderne de Montréal. Check out their work at storytank.com

Marketing Consultant

Prior to co-directing the Oscar-qualifying documentary DOWNWIND (2023) and The Invisible Enemy (2024), a documentary short film, Mark Shapiro headed Entertainment Brand Management for the animation studio LAIKA from 2007-2019. In addition to studio identity, he also handled marketing endeavors for LAIKA's five Oscar-nominated features: Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings and Missing Link. Before LAIKA, he managed several categories for Nike USA Communications including Nike Community Affairs, Nike Basketball and Nike Tennis. He also served as a Mentor in Publicity and Marketing for SxSW Film. Mark sits on the Klamath Film Board of Directors and curates film programming at festivals around the world. A native of Seattle, Mark attended Emerson College in Boston and received his BA (English) from Colorado College. He completed post-graduate education studies at Lewis & Clark College in Portland.

Organizational Development Consultant

Rebecca Shine is a co-founder of Graham Street Productions and producer of the feature-length documentary films Papers: Stories of Undocumented Youth and 14: Dred Scott, Wong Kim Ark & Vanessa Lopez. She is also one of the co-founders of Momentum Alliance, a youth-led non-profit that emerged from the “Papers” Youth Crew. Rebecca brings her secret passions for finance, database development, systems building and evaluation to support Outside the Frame’s magical work from behind the scenes

Board President
Executive Director of Homeless
Solutions Coalition of Clackamas County

Board Treasurer
Former Senior Auditor at Foster & Associates, now owner of Lydia Crumbley, CPA, LLC

Board Secretary
Contracted service partner for Washington County's Supportive Housing Services

Board Member

Senior Principal Engineer at Intel, Emeritus

*Advisory Board Member

Development Consultant

* Advisory Board Member

Board President Emeritus

Senior Clinical Director of Behavioral Health, Central City Concern

*Advisory Board Member

Alumni & Outreach