The work,
as it happened.

Before Kind Kulture, there was Umbrella Cinema Promoters — founded in Kigali, Rwanda in 2012 by Dydine Umunyana in her early twenties. The conviction was simple and radical: young Rwandan women deserved to tell their own stories on film. Nobody was going to hand them a camera. So Dydine built the program herself.

Each year, young women from all four provinces of Rwanda gathered for an intensive 15-day workshop in cinematography, directing, scriptwriting, and editing. There were no participation fees. Everything was funded through grants and partnerships — because the work was rooted in one belief: financial capacity should never determine whose story gets told.

Among those who believed in this work enough to fly from San Diego to Kigali to lead it was Michele Zousmer — humanitarian photographer, advocate for marginalized communities, and one of the most important mentors in the program's history. Michele's commitment to giving voice to those the world overlooks made her a natural partner for what Umbrella Cinema Promoters was building. Her presence in those workshops was not incidental. It was foundational.

Over seven years, more than 20 young women completed the program, received certificates, and left with something far more valuable than a credential: the knowledge that their story — specific, unpolished, entirely their own — was worth telling.

The official launch at Kigali Serena Hotel on March 24, 2013 was not a small gathering. It was a public declaration. This work mattered. The institutions and individuals who showed up to say so helped make everything that came after possible.

In January 2025, wildfires swept through Los Angeles and left thousands of families — particularly in low-income communities — exposed to dangerous smoke with no way to protect themselves. Air purifiers, which reduce indoor particulate matter by up to 85%, were simply out of reach for the families who needed them most.

Kath Nash — designer, Adobe staff member, and community organizer — acted first. In one week, she raised $4,000 on her own and distributed 38 air purifiers and 9 humidifiers to people struggling to breathe. Then she called Dydine. Together, they built something much bigger.

Through donations made directly on our website, and corporate matching activated through Adobe and Google (via Benevity), the initiative raised over $9,000. Levoit donated 120 air purifiers. Coway partnered on 300 more. On February 15, 2025, Kind Kulture hosted a free, walk-in distribution event — in English and Spanish — at Carla's Fresh Market in Highland Park, who generously donated their space. More than 15 community volunteers made the day possible.

Breathe Easy Los Angeles was a one-time response to an urgent moment. It will not be repeated as a program. But it is proof of something important about who Kind Kulture is: when this city needs us, we show up.

Stories in Color is Kind Kulture's first benefit gala — an evening that brings together storytellers, artists, community leaders, and supporters around a shared conviction: that the stories of those history tried to silence deserve to be heard, celebrated, and preserved.

This is not a typical fundraiser. It is an experience — grounded in the Kind Kulture methodology of Mirror, Bridge, and Change — where guests will encounter survivor testimony, commissioned art, and the kind of honest conversation that changes how people see each other.

Proceeds support The Center for Human Dignity — Los Angeles and Kind Kulture's ongoing storytelling, education, and community programs.