Name: Alicia Sams 

Organization: Independent Producer/Director

 As a producer, program director, team leader and mentor, I am passionate about developing talent and helping people design strategies to achieve their vision and form a narrative.

My professional life has taken many twists and turns which has allowed me to be nimble, entrepreneurial and live very happily in a world of ideas and action. With over 30 years of experience producing and directing award-winning documentaries and feature films I've become adept at the art and craft of storytelling with impact as well as developing bespoke, sustainable business strategies for the projects I have been involved with. I produced and directed (with Amy Rice) the Emmy Award-winning HBO film By The People: The Election of Barack Obama which chronicled the presidential campaign of then-Senator Barack Obama in 2008. Additional credits include Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse, Long Strange Trip; Amreeka; Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay and many more. In 2012 I conceived of, produced and directed the Emmy-winning Detroit Public Television series Arab American Stories. As Director of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics’ Pritzker Fellows Program from 2015-2023, I brought leading political and public service practitioners (elected officials, activists, journalists, non-profit leaders, diplomats, policy-makers) to campus each quarter and developed seminar series with them that used their expertise to help students identify practical pathways into public service. 

Throughout my career, both in film and at the IOP, I have developed and mentored talent and have a knack for helping people realize and articulate their vision in multiple formats, be it film, journalism, program, policy and organizational development or career advancement. I am a connector - of people, ideas, communities. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to use my experience and vast (if slightly unorthodox) network to help people, particularly women, achieve their goals and build a sustainable path forward.