Kamisha Smith is an M.F.A. candidate in film and video production with CCNY’s Media and Communication Arts Department. She holds a bachelor’s degree from New York University where she majored in history and Africana Studies. After receiving her bachelor’s degree Kamisha worked as a special education teacher through the New York City Teaching Fellows program. She also has served her local and international community as a researcher and as the assistant coordinator of a global nonprofit organization. As a filmmaker, Kamisha is focused on representations of African-Americans in the media and on the media’s coverage of issues that affect African-Americans. Kamisha intends to use film as a vehicle to help positively influence public policies.  Her first work Military Promises premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Museum of Modern Art. Her current projects deal with gentrification and cultural maintenance in the Harlem community and exonerees in the State of Louisiana and the obstacles that they face.