Katrina Parks
Director, Writer & Executive Producer

Katrina is drawn to projects that highlight strong women and enrich our culture and environment.  Her latest film series Route 66: The Untold Story of Women on the Mother Road is being broadcast through American Public Television on PBS stations across the Nation. Her television credits include programs for A&E, Discovery Channel, Food Network, Fox, History, Lifetime, PBS, Travel Channel and TLC.  The Harvey Girls: Opportunity Bound was Katrina’s full-length directorial debut.  Katrina’s short film Wrappings, which she also wrote and directed, won a SASA Award from the United Nations. Katrina has a BFA from the University of New Mexico, an MFA from San Francisco State University in Film Production and a Masters in Contemporary History from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Katrina is a co-founder of the non-profit Cinefemme, which supports women filmmakers. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America.

Tarek Baig
Associate Producer

Tarek created an interactive story map  for our lesson plans highlighting women’s history on Route 66, and he will help to produce several upcoming interviews about the atomic legacy on the Mother Road.  A graduate of Saint Louis University, Tarek is an award winning researcher through his literature analysis paper, Civilizing the Colonized, and American history paper, Social Mobilization: An Analysis of Military Propaganda in Film. He has written two original screenplays, The Melting Pot (2020), a historical drama, and A Day in the Life (2021), a coming-of-age story he self-directed.

Michael Parks
Executive Producer

Michael’s career path has taken him from working in England’s House Of Commons to successful careers in architecture, music, film and television. Michael’s producing, directing and production credits include films and television for Disney, Fox, DreamWorks, Touchstone, Sony, Walden Media, Mark Burnett Productions, ABC, NBC, CBS, Discovery, Nat Geo, Lucas Films and PBS among others. Along the way Michael has climbed the treacherous slopes of Mt. Everest, filmed inside the Russian Kremlin, negotiated with the President and Governor of Panama and worked on Oscar-winning films.

Kari Kussmann
Educational Content Creator

Kari is the driving force behind our educational content initiatives. A seasoned educator with a decade of experience in teaching and curriculum development, Kari brings a wealth of knowledge and a love of learning. Originally from Seattle, Washington, she earned her B.A. in History and Spanish from Occidental College and later obtained a Masters in Secondary Education from San Francisco State University. A historian at heart, she believes that understanding our past is essential to being active citizens in the present and future. Kari's brings history to life through engaging academic activities, most recently producing lesson plans for our 3-part documentary series, Route 66: The Untold Story of the Mother Road. Having recently earned her Masters in Contemporary History from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Kari combines her love of learning with a global perspective. She currently splits her time between Madrid, Spain, and Seattle, Washington.