About Marcia Fingal

Marcia Fingal is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, a skilled journalist, and an accomplished photographer whose experiences span the globe. A staunch community advocate focused on issues of social justice, her extensive travel and multi-cultural experiences led to a passion for documenting the stories of people and places she visited.

"I will go almost anywhere in the world with a camera to raise awareness about people existing on the fringe of society. I want to tell human stories through powerful images. Whether we’re talking about 21st century genocide, the sexual trafficking of young children, climate change in Africa, or crippling poverty in our own back yards, the power of images remains extraordinary. Through the lens of a camera, we see regular people transforming trauma into triumph, challenge into accomplishment.”

Born in Guyana, South America, raised in New Jersey, she graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in English and Journalism. “I love the small village where I was born. Neighbors were like family—looking out for one another, sharing whatever we had. Growing up in suburban New Jersey was a huge adjustment, but the vital connection to neighbor as family never left me.”

Marcia began her professional career in public relations and journalism as Model Editor and Assistant Fashion Editor at the iconic Essence Magazine. “I’ve had an ongoing love affair with fashion and its ability to define style and personality in fresh, creative ways.”

It was at Essence where she developed a fashion sensibility that helped launch her modeling career in Paris, London and New York. Marcia appeared in television commercials promoting major brands like Dove, Infiniti, Microsoft, Verizon, Chase Bank, Royal Caribbean, Prudential, Nike, Campbell's and Pillsbury.  For several year, she hosted Uptown, a weekly lifestyle program that aired on the Time Warner  Network. Poignant storytelling ignited a need for empowering disenfranchised communities and now fuels the fundraising and philanthropic work she does. 

In the summer of 2002, she went home to Guyana to make her first film, A Slice of Guyana, a social commentary about every day life in two small South American villages, Rose Hall and Hopetown. “I wanted to show the common humanity of people living lives different from what we might expect in the United States, yet drawing attention to the thread connecting all of us. Wherever I go in the world, I realize people are not all that different. They want the same things for their children and their families.”

In the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, she made her way to the Gulf Coast region of the United States, nine months post Katrina (May 2006), determined to tell a comprehensive story of survivors and the rebuilding of lives. The result was her sophomore film, Hurricane Katrina - Life After the Storm, which won the Curator’s Award for Best Documentary at the 2007 Reel Sisters Film Festival held in New York.

Next came,  Umoja - Moments of Grace, a film Marcia shot on location in South Africa. She was documenting the gospel choir of Marble Collegiate Church on their first tour of that region. “I was not prepared for the incredible impact being in Africa produced. Unpacking apartheid through the power of music, truth-telling, reconciliation, and race, understanding the role of young people and the church during this time, capturing the scourge of HIV-AIDS—documenting these conversations and moments shaped me profoundly.”

Marcia approaches filmmaking as a journalist— interviewing her subjects, creating segments that link to tell stories of politically or socially isolated people, while gently persuading an audience to care about the persons in the story. “The devastation of the Lower 9th Ward following Hurricane Katrina still haunt me all these years later. I spoke to many residents with difficult survival stories—days on rooftops, and in the Superdome, activists working hard to rebuild, but realizing the storm created a new reality where relocating vs rebuilding were the options to consider.”

Following her film successes, Marcia parlayed her talents into global advocacy, the empowerment of women and girls, education as a great equalizer, and sustainable development projects for communities in need. She combined her communications expertise with strategic support for vulnerable areas across the United States. She traveled to countries in Africa and the Middle East (Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Oman) as well as to her home country of Guyana, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Dominican Republic.

She has a proven ability for partnering and engaging with grassroots organizations and non-profits working for meaningful change in their communities. “There are three billion people living on less than $2.50 a day and this is unacceptable! I remain committed to leveling the global economic landscape so adequate access is available to all who need it.”

In 2016, Marcia became the Managing Director for The Declaration Initiative (TDI), a comprehensive project dissecting six killer areas that trap approximately 32 million Americans in poverty each year. TDI, the brainchild of former college president and philanthropist Claire Gaudiani, focused on creating middle class access to the bottom 10% of Americans by shrinking and dismantling educational, economic and health disparities in underserved areas, while promoting support through national service.

Marcia subsequently worked as the Chief Outreach Officer and Global Impact Program Manager for Intersections International. The multi-cultural, multi-faith, global social justice ministry of the Collegiate Church of New York worked on peace-building, humanitarian aid, and supporting vulnerable communities around the world. The Collegiate Church Corporation, founded in 1628, is the oldest corporation in North America. “My deeply rooted faith instilled from childhood, informs the advocacy I do. I believe intrinsically we are all our brother’s keeper and our sister’s protector. We are responsible for one another, especially in the face of inequality and injustice anywhere in our world.”

Marcia understands the creative process from both the artist and the organization perspective. She chaired the Board of Directors for Odyssey Networks, now Odyssey Impact, the media non profit creating and using digital storytelling to demonstrate how people of faith engage the world, have voice in the public arena, and help propel social and civic movements.

She also served on the Board of Governors for Opportunity International, the micro-finance organization committed to providing opportunities for budding entrepreneurs, farmers and locals in the developing world. “I remember going to Cartagena, Colombia on a site tour and visiting the modest home of a fund recipient. He was able to employ several of his neighbors with the small candy business he started with his micro-loan. His home was a small wood framed room—clean, ordered, uncluttered with a dirt floor. It is extremely humbling to enter a home with a dirt floor, yet I was honored to meet Miguel and proud of what he was doing in his rural community.”

Marcia worked as the Publicity Director for a large community development agency in the Bronx. “Whether around the block or around the world, I am adamant about creating and supporting projects that use impactful storytelling to advance social movements in ways that change outcomes for the under resourced, marginalized and disempowered.”

Marcia currently serves as the Director of Communications, Branding & Partnership Development for AissataArt, a designer start-up committed to supporting women and girls of color in reaching their boldest potential through exercise, mental wellness and art. “Every day we have the opportunity to make a difference where we are. Change comes with deliberate action when we see something that needs fixing. It doesn’t matter who you are, we can all contribute in meaningful ways. Use the magic you bring to the world.”