I come at this from two pretty different places that fit together. One is science: I studied Biological Sciences at Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia, and chemistry was my favorite part — three semesters of biochemistry, two of organic chemistry, and physical chemistry on top of that. I spent several semesters as a teaching assistant for general biology, helping first-year students through the stuff that usually scares people off early. I still remember what it felt like when something...
I come at this from two pretty different places that fit together. One is science: I studied Biological Sciences at Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia, and chemistry was my favorite part — three semesters of biochemistry, two of organic chemistry, and physical chemistry on top of that. I spent several semesters as a teaching assistant for general biology, helping first-year students through the stuff that usually scares people off early. I still remember what it felt like when something like a methyl group finally clicked for me, and I love handing someone else that same “oh, that’s it!” moment.
The other side of me has spent over 25 years making films and television around the world — Paddington in Peru, Jack Ryan, La Reina del Sur, across Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Tunisia, Qatar, Mexico, and now the US. I also went through UCLA’s Professional Program in Screenwriting, a full year of classes and writing.
Directing, at its core, is teaching: you’re constantly taking something in your head and figuring out how to hand it to someone else so they can run with it. I’ve also tutored screenwriting one-on-one and with small groups of friends, watching someone go from a vague idea to a story that actually has a spine.
I’m fully bilingual, in the real sense — I can teach chemistry, biology, writing, or film in English or Spanish and it feels exactly the same either way.
Before any of that I spent years in outdoor education, as a camp counselor and later camp director, running ropes courses and expeditions with kids and teenagers. That taught me patience, and how to read a kid who’s about to give up versus one who just needs a different way in — the same thing I bring to a chemistry problem or a scene that isn’t working yet.
