Paola Mendoza is a film director, activist, author and artist working at the leading-edge of human rights.

Her work thoughtfully tackles the complex issues of poverty and immigration on women and children in the United States. Paola is a Race Forward Fellow, an Opportunity Agenda Fellow and a Pop Culture; Becoming America Fellow. She was named Glamour’s Woman of the Year in 2017 and one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film.

About

Rosa’s Miracle

In 2018, Rosa began a seemingly impossible journey with her four children. She joined over 7,000 people and walked from Honduras to the United States’ southern border.

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Mourner’s Walk

Honoring the 356,000 people whose lives have been lost to COVID this year. Artists and activists gathered in Jackson Heights, Queens—New York City’s “virus epicenter”.

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Sanctuary

Gripping and urgent, co-authors Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher have crafted a narrative that is as haunting as it is hopeful in envisioning a future where everyone can find sanctuary.

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“Mendoza and Sher’s descriptions of emotional trauma are heart-wrenchingly raw.
A story of survival and hope, Sanctuary is a gripping work of fiction, with a message about xenophobia that’s rooted in a scarily real world.”

— New York Times

“[This] stunning work of YA dystopian fiction…is a triumph in its genre and so politically astute that it sears.”

— School Library Journal