Experience Summary
Ms. Suzette Zayden is a highly skilled Belizean creative sector, communications, gender, and media expert who serves as a Technical Consultant at GPL and the owner/CEO of Fer De Lance Productions Ltd. Ms. Zayden has over twenty years of experience as a producer and writer in Belize’s media and film sector. She has also worked with many private companies, public institutions as well as local and international NGOs to research and develop projects and PR materials focusing on the environment, children, gender, human development, culture and migration.
Ms. Zayden’s proven project management and coordination skills include the management and execution of the Belize International Film Festival – which she founded and executed all 16 editions to date. She has also acted as the Belize Supervising Producer On Record, for numerous international films shot on location in Belize; ensuring, smooth entry and exit for non-Belizean personnel, equipment, local crew hires and rentals for productions with crews of 30 to 80 people.
Having worked for over 10 years with the Government of Belize within the culture sector as the Coordinator of the Film and Media Unit for the National Institute of Culture and History, Ms. Zayden has also acted as the Facilitator of the Belize Film Commission, to develop Belize’s Film Industry through the design and implementation of capacity building actions and practices to influence policy.
Qualification Summary
Ms. Zayden holds an MPhil Degree in Screenwriting from the University of Bergen, Norway, a Diploma in Film Production from the renowned Escuela Internacional de Cine y Television (EICTV) of San Antonio de Los Banos, Cuba, and a BA Degree in Communications specializing in Broadcast Production from Loyola University in New Orleans, USA, which she attended as a Fulbright CAMPUS Scholar.
Availability for Consultancy
Ms. Zayden is available to help Governments, Firms, NGOs, and Development Agencies develop creative economy, communications, gender, and capacity building strategies. She covers engagements in the creative, tourism, development, governmental, and women-led business sectors.