ABOUT THE HOSTS
Ariel Baska
Ariel Baska is an openly disabled filmmaker, journalist, and academic author. She received her B.A. in Classics from the College of William and Mary and her Master’s in Gifted Education from George Mason University. She has taught Latin at all levels from middle school to high school for 16 years in Virginia, as well as teaching coursework in theatre, foreign language, special education, and D/deaf education. She was the 2015 recipient of the A. Harry Passow Award from the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), in recognition of her work with twice exceptional students in the classroom. She has written several articles and book chapters on different topics in gifted education and has presented at many national and international conferences on the topics of gifted education, foreign language education and the classics. Her books, co-authored with her mother, Joyce VanTassel-Baska, include a Latin curriculum guide for gifted students, Ancient Roots and Ruins (2014), Second Language Learning for the Gifted (2017), and Interventions That Work with Special Populations in Gifted Education (2018), based on a decade of her classroom research as a Latin teacher. Their most recent work together is Curriculum Planning and Instructional Design for Gifted Learners (2020), with Prufrock Press.
Ariel writes, directs, and produces films. Her first film, a horror short which she wrote, directed, and Kickstarted, Our First Priority (2022), premiered in Berlin. You can read more about it here. She has a number of upcoming projects in the realms of horror, documentary, and animation - more information can be found here.
Ariel curates a weekly film series, Anime Invasion, at the Alamo Drafthouse in Winchester, as well as programming for local film festivals. She contributes to Comics Bookcase and writes a column on disability representation within horror films for Ghouls Magazine.
Rabia Sitabi
Rabia is a well-seasoned pop culture specialist and a multi-disciplinary marketing professional. Born in Europe, with Asian and African roots, she comes from a very involved and diverse household. She is outspoken on issues that pertain to her identity as a queer, disabled woman of color, and brings a unique perspective to how she consumes media and culture.
Rabia started her career in Marketing and Technology on behalf of social justice issues when she was only 15 years old. Her interest and expertise grew as she created new systems for the local government in the Netherlands to reaching out more effectively to minorities and youth through JAA (Youth Active for Amsterdam), an advisory council for the Mayor. Ever since, she’s been working and growing in different industries using her agile thinking to switch between them.
While studying, the internet and specifically social media started growing, as did her interest. Rabia has been a beta tester/early adopter for platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and more. Since then she has had a keen interest in new technology and still curates startups and new tech for well-known platforms as well as advising tech startups on business development.
As the founder of Culture Agency, she helps young POC women by training them and introducing them to the marketing industry, with an emphasis on using and implementing new tech in sustainable ways. She has experience working in a variety of areas, from government, to fashion, to fine arts, radio, cinema, cultural organizations, international embassies, non-profits, and technology.
Under the brand Cultured Curator, she has hosted a variety of conversations with important cultural figures from around the world on radio, television, and various social media platforms. As the Queen of Horror on Clubhouse, she regularly hosts Global Horror Events discussing specific countries and their relationship with the horror genre, as well as interviewing prominent international directors.