B I O G R A P H Y
Catalina, a native of the coffee-growing region in Colombia, grew up in a place where story telling was an inherent part of the weekend gatherings with family and friends. A luscious and contrasting environment, nurtured her imagination and after she graduated high school in 1997, she embarked on a trip to Europe where she learned different languages and experienced new cultures.
She attended UC Berkeley where she got a BA in Molecular and Cell Biology, but during her studies she discovered the world of film criticism and analysis while taking some of her humanities pre-requisites. As she discovered the applications to her career, she understood that more than working at pharmaceutical companies or for the government doing medical research, all she really wanted to learn was the story behind the mechanics of the human body.
After college she decided to apply to film schools all around the world to continue with her education, but several circumstances took her back to Colombia where she continued her education in business and finance and then worked for the Frisby Foundation in 2003.
Following on her family’s footsteps, she opened her own company Kayros that represented and distributed several brands of learning toys in Colombia. She later met who would become her husband and together they opened another company, a fast-casual restaurant chain specializing in wings and beer called Wingz.
After the wedding the family started to ask for kids. Catalina realized that before bringing children to the world, she had to first realize her dream: to become a filmmaker. “If you want to tell your children to follow their dreams, how can they trust you if you haven’t realized your own?”
So Catalina and her husband grabbed their bags, sold their things, and moved to California, where she finished her MFA in Filmmaking at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles in 2013. She worked as a Development Executive for director Simon Brand at his Production Company Kree8 Productions until March of 2017 and built up his Project Catalogue from the ground up. She also wrote several of his music videos and many of the pitches for the shows in development. She has directed 5 short films including Twice and her thesis short film Eugene, several product integrations for brands like Twix, Ford and Hershey’s and is currently a full-time screenwriter with two feature scripts in development.
She lives with her husband in Hollywood, CA since 2011.
P R O J E C T S
& PRODUCT INTEGRATIONS
Designed visual story, color palette, wardrobe, and set decoration based upon the client’s product guidelines and target.