Biography

Cheryl Slean is an award-winning writer, director, producer and educator with extensive experience writing, directing and producing for diverse media, including print (fiction, creative nonfiction, journalism, technical writing), theater, video, film, and web content. She has a background in science and technology, including a B.S. in Astronomy from UCLA, and years of experience working as a computer programmer, technical director and educator in 3D visual effects (Robert Abel & Associates, Rhythm & Hues, Inc.).

While living in Los Angeles, Cheryl became an actor performing in television, film and theater, but later shifted focus to writing and directing. Her plays have been produced in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and New York, and have received many accolades and grants including from the Los Angeles Weekly, HBO, Flintridge Foundation, Washington State Arts Commission, Artists Trust, and the Seattle Mayor's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs.

Cheryl has written and directed several award-winning short films, which have screened at dozens of film festivals around the world, as well as online and on public television, and received worldwide distribution. Her feature film screenplays have been optioned in Hollywood and regularly make finalist cuts in competition at Sundance, Austin, Chesterfield, Nicholl fellowship, etc.

For the past several years, Cheryl has been writing content and producing and directing educational documentaries and multimedia. Recent clients include the World Health Organization, University of Washington Medicine and Medical School, the Foundation for Healthcare Quality, and Talaria, Inc., whose educational research projects are funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and Center for Disease Control (CDC).

Cheryl has an MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington, and has taught writing at the UW, Seattle University, University of California at Riverside, and as a writer-in-residence in Riverside County high schools. A certified mindfulness facilitator with a longtime meditation practice, Cheryl teaches mindfulness meditation at Mindful Schools, Insight Community of the Desert (Palm Springs), Against the Stream L.A., UCLA and elsewhere.

Cheryl is also an activist in the climate action movement, working toward leveraging the arts and contemplative practice in support of sustainable change. She is a co-founder of L.A. EcoDharma and Desert EcoDharma, and is a coalition partner in 350.org and SoCal 350 Climate Action. She is co-executive producer of the L.A. Climate Action Arts Festival, a citywide, multidisciplinary event timed with the U.N. Climate Talks in Paris, Dec. 2015. The festival means to engage artists and broader communities in creative responses to the climate crisis.