ABOUT NAJA PHAM LOCKWOOD
Naja has executive produced multiple documentary and narrative films focusing on social justice issues
including Try Harder!, Coming Home Again, Gook and Cries From Syria. In 2020, Naja produced 76
Days directed by Hao Wu, revolving around the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The film won
a Peabody Award and a Primetime Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary
Filmmaking. Naja is the founder of RYSE Media Ventures, which supports stories of diverse voices, and
an investor in Impact Partners Films, which has financed the Academy Award winning
documentary, Icarus, as well as Won’t You Be My Neighbor and Audrie and Daisy. She co-produced The
First Days, which is a collaboration between StoryCorps and PBS's Academy Nominated Last Days in
Vietnam which aimed to collect, preserve and celebrate the stories of Vietnamese American refugees and
Vietnam veterans throughout America.
Naja graduated with a BA from Boston University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Born in
Vietnam, Naja immigrated to Massachusetts during the Fall of Saigon. As a refugee, Naja continues to
advocate for immigrants from her undergraduate years to her current work with the Governor's Workforce
Services. She serves on the Committee for Ethnic Studies and Asian American Studies at Harvard
University and The Coalition for Diverse Harvard. She is the Founder and CEO of Naja Lockwood
Designs to support female artisans of Southeast Asia. Throughout Naja’s life, there has always been a
commitment to social justice and making sure the voices of the under-represented, the minority and the
oppressed are heard. Connect with Naja on Instagram.
DESCRIBE YOUR PASSION FOR STORYTELLING.
My work in film combines a love for storytelling with a commitment for social justice. Storytelling
entertains, educate and inspires us. It has the power to change the way we think about ourselves, our
world and its people. As a refugee, I fled from war-torn Vietnam to the United States when I was a young
girl. Part of my mission in life is to give a voice to the voiceless and tell that story that has not been told.
The medium I choose is film. I continue to believe that we can heal and transform our culture through the
power of storytelling.
HOW HAVE YOU BEEN INVOLVED IN THE ARTS, MEDIA AND FILM?
I’ve been in the industry since 1997. Prior to relocating to Park City, I was the Arts Commissioner of San
Francisco, sworn in by Mayor Willie Brown and then Mayor Gavin Newsom, focusing on fundraising and
community outreach. In addition, I was a Trustee of the Asian Art Museum, working on the successful
$170m capital campaign. Upon arriving to Park City, I served on the Sundance Utah Advisory Board and
partnered with Sundance Institute to build and fund the Sundance Screenwriters Fellowships for Asian
American filmmakers. I lectured at the University of Utah on Asian and Global Cinema and promoted
Asian filmmakers as a Trustee of the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM). I have been an investor
through Impact Partners Films, which supports documentaries that enrich and ignite social change.
Through Impact Partners Film, we have launched many careers of young filmmakers.
WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT WORK NOW?
In this moment of racial awareness with the goals of racial inclusion and equity in the entertainment
industry, I am working to promote authentic stories from filmmakers of color through fundraising,
whether in the form of grants or equity. I am developing and producing stories of the Vietnamese diaspora
with themes of war, identity and trauma. There is not only one road for a woman but many roads and
what she decides as her priorities throughout her journey in life. As I move toward a new chapter in my
life, I am excited to also venture further into telling my own stories as an American, a woman and a
Vietnamese refugee while reclaiming our identities as Vietnamese Americans beyond the War.