Bio of Executive Director
Deborah Warfield is also the Founder and Owner of Worldwide Family Media Productions. This video production company assists families with preserving their legacies through documentation, homegoing celebrations, video production summer camp sessions, family resource directories, consultations with family museums, in addition to capturing a myriad of family events. Vision Crew is a division of Worldwide Family Media Productions and empowers youth producers to become media literate while learning to produce documentaries as tools for social change. Deborah has recently been a guest Producer/Director at Western Michigan University and co-taught with Dr. Jennifer Machiorlatti as part of this summer’s Youth Media Initiative. Another documentary “Cyclebreaking: Communication Patterns Within Relationships” was featured in Boston Film Festival. The financially empowering after-school Youth Entrepreneurial Preparation Program was written and facilitated by Deborah and piloted first at the YMCA as an economic health maintenance initiative. The second phase of the program was part of New Genesis Project Impact. This program involved interactive curriculum, field trips, periodic video documentation, business mentorships and individual support groups involving school and family representatives. The Department of Labor and Economic Growth and Development recognized Worldwide Family Media Productions as “Small Business of the Year” Award winner for 2006. Deborah served on the Disability Resource Center Board and is currently serving a two-year term on the Governor-appointed Michigan Rehabilitation Council. In her earlier years Deborah was a House Director for a group home of challenged teen girls, a Co-Manager of a Collective Community Government at Antioch College where she obtained her B.A. in Communications/Media Arts. Deborah was the first to serve as a Community Outreach Worker with the Kalamazoo Deacons Conference. One of her most interesting internships was working with the New York State Division of Human Rights. One of her most unique career opportunities was apprenticing as a Cement Finisher in Hartford, Connecticut for three years. Deborah is also part of the Media Ministry Team at Christian Life Center and has a daughter who is employed by and also a student of the Berklee School of Music. Deborah’s most recent project includes working directly with members of the Community Leadership Board of the Race Initiative while continuing the development of Worldwide Family Media Productions. Her long-term goal is to facilitate the birth of a Community-Based Youth Media Collective that produces professional teen documentary producers.
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Worldwide Family Media Productions produced their first documentary “We Speak Life” in 2007. This documentary explored quality of life issues and co-morbidities associated with African-American teens in Kalamazoo. The documentary was presented at the Symposium hosted by WFMP at WMU Little Theater. Teens were a vital part of that production crew. “We Speak Life” documentary also placed in the first round of the 2008 Kalamazoo Teen Film Festival. This documentary has been added to the Media Arts Academy curriculum and is used to enlighten participants about staggering statistics and health disparities between African-American teens and Caucasian teens in Kalamazoo County.
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