Sweet Blackberry: Creative Team: Karyn Parsons, Gina Kamentsky, Coati Mundi


	Gina Kamentsky; animator, sculptor, and inventor has produced

and directed numerous animated films including A Little Pet Story, featured in the Short Shorts Film Festival in Tokyo and Bebe Nicholas, a collaboration with Svetlana Rockwell, daughter of pinscreen animator Alexandre Alexeieff.

Ms. Kamentsky has a worldwide reputation in the toy industry having worked with companies including Hasbro, Mattel, Fisher Price Toys and as a design consultant for Lego Toys and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab. She brings over 20 years experience in producing interactive media, animation and products for children to Sweet Blackberry. Visit Gina's website by clicking here.

Sweet Blackberry launched to critical acclaim in February 2005 with its first DVD release, The Journey of Henry Box Brown. Narrated by Emmy award winning actor, Alfre Woodard, The Journey of Henry Box Brown brings to life for young children an extremely important chapter in American History, telling an extraordinary tale of human courage about a man who shipped himself, in a box, from Virginia to Philadelphia to freedom.

Sweet Blackberry’s plans are ambitious--- creating content that works across multiple media platforms—leveraging the power of stories to teach and reach young children wherever they may be. Sweet Blackberry is the brainchild of actor/writer, Karyn Parsons (Lush Life, Fresh Prince of Bel Air). As a new mom, Parsons was motivated by a strong desire to instill a sense of culture and heritage to her daughter. Inspired by her own mother and upbringing, Parsons created Sweet Blackberry—delivering to all children, stories that need to be told and heard.


	In 1996, Karyn Parsons created, co-wrote and co-produced the Fox

Television half-hour sitcom Lush Life. Following production of the pilot, Parsons attended New York University’s film intensive program. Upon completion of that program, Parsons returned to Los Angeles to produce and star in Lush Life. In 1999, Parsons attended Santa Monica College and studied writing under the tutelage of Jim Krusoe, editor of the award-winning Santa Monica Review Literary Journal. Through the college, Parsons received a scholarship to the prestigious Squaw Valley Institute of Writers and received mentorship from such noted authors as Amy Tan, Anne Lamott and Richard Ford.

She has co-directed the short films Stromboli and Eye Spy and has recently completed her solo directing effort, one she also wrote and produced, entitled Jake and Lily. Karyn has also acted in such films as The Ladies Man and Mixing Nia, and alongside Denis Leary in The Job for ABC. She is best known for her role as Hilary Banks on the long-running NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

Keep up to date with Sweet Blackberry by reading Karyn's blog.


	Coati has served in the music and film business as a composer,

performer, actor and music supervisor.
He is one of the founding members of
the Grammy nominated musical group
Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band (Cherchez Le Femme) and of the critically acclaimed group Kid Creole & The
Coconuts. He has worked in various capacities with an eclectic array of
artists including Ruben Blades, Deborah Gibson, Nona Hendryx, Chrissie Hynde, Wyclef Jean, Grace Jones, Buster Poindexter, Tito Puente, Machito,
Madonna, Vernon Reid, Sly & Robbie,
The Roots and MC Shan. Visit Coati's
website by clicking here.


	Mark Page started drawing at a very early age drawing cartoon

characters from television and heroes from the pages of comic books. Throughout middle and high school he immersed himself in art classes at the Pasadena Art Center, becoming a full time student in illustration after graduation.

Mark has worked in the film industry and for The Walt Disney Company as an imagineer, designing rides and attractions for Disney theme parks.

He continues to do design work in the field of entertainment along with fulfilling a lifelong dream of illustrating books for children. Mark Page lives in Upland California with his wife Nikki and their little dog Lola. Visit Mark's website by clicking here.


	R. Gregory Christie

received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in media arts from New York City’s School of Visual Arts in 1993. While attending SVA, he had a position at the Guggenheim Museum, and interned for the Newark Star Ledger. His spots began appearing in that newspaper in 1990. Within a few years Christie’s work was gracing the covers of numerous jazz albums, including Joe Sample’s Old Places, Old Faces (Warner, 1996) and Coltrane: The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings (GRP, 1997). He also dipped his brush for Moserobie Music, based in Stockholm, Sweden. Along the way, his illustrations began appearing in numerous American, Asian, and European magazines.

In 1996, Christie’s work caught the eye of editors at Lee & Low Books. They commissioned him to illustrate The Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children (1996). The book won the American Library Association’s 1997 Coretta Scott King Honor Award for illustration and the Reading Magic Award from Parenting Magazine —truly significant achievements for a first-time book illustrator.

The artist went on to illustrate books about many historical and cultural figures, including Richard Wright and Langston Hughes. In 2000, he won a second Coretta Scott King Honor Award for Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth. Additionally, he received a Certificate of Excellence from the New York Times, declaring Only Passing Through “One of the Year’s Best Illustrated Children’s Books.” He received that award again in 2002 for Stars in the Darkness, a story that promotes gang prevention.

Christie, a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine, continues to create art for album covers, books, and other media from his studio in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Visit Mr. Christie's Web site at: www.gas-art.com.