Michelle Aguilar

Michelle was raised in South Lake Tahoe, Ca. She received a B.A in Business Administration with an emphasis in Non-profit studies from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Upon graduation, she joined the United States Peace Corps as a Community Economic Development Volunteer is Central America. During her 27 month service, Michelle became interested in using film as a tool to connect people, alleviate ethnocentrism, and provide visual and narrative evidence to help people learn about the world in which we live. She is interested in creating films that use probing questions and explore the idea of social change. Michelle has traveled to over 30 developing countries to capture and share unique, inspiring and pressing stories. Her thesis project explores the contemporary chocolate movement in the United States and examines the economics of Fair Trade from the point of view of the indigenous farmers in Panama.