Kayden Phoenix

Kayden Phoenix is a queer Chicana writer and director from Boyle Heights, California. Upon entering the industry, the first thing she noticed was the industry dominated standard- complete with character generalizations. In response, she became a huge advocate for diversity both in front and behind the camera. Her stories have been well-received on the film festival circuits. Her latest short, Penance, went to the Oscar-Qualifying film festival, Cinequest; won Best LGBTQ award for LA Film Awards; got nominated for Best Director and won “Love is Love” Best Film award at Queen Palms International. Penance was purchased from Gun Powder & Sky’s horror platform, Alter, which boasts over 3 million subscribers. Besides giving voices to stories, Kayden created Chicana Directors Initiative, a non-profit for Latina Directors and Latina DPs; she was a recipient of Panavision’s New Filmmaker’s program; and semi-finalist for the first Universal Animation Writer's program. Kayden is credited as creating the 1st Latina superhero team in comicbook history with her graphic novels, A LA BRAVA. She recently licensed her Latina superhero team to McMeel Publishing in 2024. Kayden continues fighting for equality with her next set of graphic novels, The Majestics, Universe of Native and Latina Princesses. “A big part of my life’s purpose is to give voice to stories as multifaceted, atypical, and diverse as the people we find in the real world.”