Meet Our Team

Founder &
Executive Director

Tahiel Jimenez Medina

He / Him

Tahiel Jimenez Medina is the founder of Mamá Papaya and a first-generation Colombian / Croatian Queer immigrant filmmaker rooted in Minnesota, the unceded lands of the Dakota peoples.

Through Mamá Papaya, Tahiel is building the nurturing, equitable, and safe creative home he wishes had existed for his mother and younger filmmaker— and for every storyteller who dreams of telling their story.

His films have premiered at Palm Springs International Short Film Festival, FICCI, and Provincetown International Film Festival. His short film LENGUA received the Jury Award for Best Short Film at MSPIFF. Recognitions include The Apichatpong Weerasethakul Playlab, The UFO Film Lab supported by BAM, The Jerome Fellowship, Yaddo Residency, and The McKnight Fellowship among others. He has been a guest lecturer at the University of Minnesota and St. Olaf College.

Director of Culture & Operations

Nicole Donoso

She / Her

Nicole Donoso Sánchez is a filmmaker and Policy Organizer at Voices for Racial Justice. Originally from Bogotá, Colombia, and now based in Minnesota, she moves between the worlds of policy and storytelling, using both as tools for collective liberation.

As Director of Culture & Operations of Mamá Papaya, Nicole seeks to amplify silenced voices and invest in the talent of QBIPOC emergent film makers in MN. She believes filmmaking is not just about the final product, but about creating a transformational process, one rooted in care, community, and equity at every step. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Policy and Global Studies with a concentration of Human Rights in Latin America.