The Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE) and NBCUniversal recently announced their Emerging Executives Committee (CEEC) for 2025. Aimed at fast-tracking the next generation of Pacific Islander assistant and coordinator-level employees, this initiative has completed its eight years as an industry-leading accelerator program.

Backed by supportive voices from various industry executives, 2025’s Emerging Executives Committee is prepared to continue moving the industry forward. This year’s members include:

Brandon Kitajima Estrella

Currently an executive assistant at CBS Studios working in Drama Development, Brandon Estrella is experienced in creative productions. He is originally from Hawai’i, a Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and Television graduate, and has already worked on several projects. Brandon has worked in Cable & Streaming Current for CBS Studios on shows for significant streaming platforms like Paramount+, Comedy Central, Netflix, AppleTV+, and Prime Video.

Claire Feng

As creative assistant to the Head of Wholly-Owned TV Development at Amazon Studios, Claire Feng has supported the development of upcoming Prime series like Overcompensating. Raised by Chinese immigrants in New England, she graduated from NYU with a degree in Entertainment Business. She worked at UTA before transitioning to unscripted development at Bravo, MTV, and Animal Planet.

Hannah Hwang

Hannah Hwang is an executive assistant to the co-head of UTA’s TV Literary Department and has served as the co-lead of the UTA Unity AAPI Community Group for the past two years. Originally from Koreatown, Los Angeles, Hannah started her career as a first-generation Korean-American child actress before earning a bachelor’s in performing arts and theater from the Korea National University of Arts. From there, she started working at UTA.

Maria Victoria C. Balenton

Currently a coordinator for comedy, animation, streaming, and cable development at CBS Studios, Maria is a voice of the AAPI community in her field. Initially graduating from CSUN with a degree in cinema & television arts, she pursued a career in development and has worked under UTV, ABC, and CBS Studios across genres.

Sara Chen

Sara Chen is an entertainment coordinator at UCP and Universal International Studios and an LA-based development specialist. Before starting at Universal Studio Group, she graduated from Northeastern University with business, English, and cinema studies degrees. Later, she participated as a West Coast Page in the NBCUniversal early career program.

Sarah Paek

Currently a film coordinator at James Wan’s Atomic Monster. Sarah is a dedicated storyteller and horror lover. After earning a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College and working as an aerospace engineer, she found her true passion in film when she participated in post-production on iZombie.

Taylor Killefer

As a motion picture literary coordinator at Verve, Taylor works to tell diverse stories in film and television. After graduating from Chapman University with a TV Writing and Producing degree, she was selected to run CAA’s Moebius Film Festival and was noticed. Taylor went on to work at Color Force and Netflix before moving on to Verve.

Looking to the Future

Executive vice president of TV programming diversity equity and inclusion at NBCUniversal said about the continued initiative: “We know that long-term success in this industry is often predicated on the strength of your professional relationships… Through our shared commitment [with CAPE], we are proud to provide the next generation of entertainment executives with access to critical knowledge, mentorship, and the unspoken rules that govern this industry.”

In a similar statement, CAPE head of programs Rhian Moor said, “We established from our research investigating the workplace experience for Asian American executives in entertainment that it is key at the entry level to connect with higher-level executives, proactively seek mentorship, actively work on increasing visibility to supervisors, and develop a personal voice rooted in one’s experiences and identity.”