Connie M. Florez is an indigenous filmmaker based in Honolulu, Hawaii. Lead producer for the award-winning feature film Waikiki in addition to 40 plus other film producing credits. She is a fellow and mentor of Hawaii Creative Lab- State of Hawaii Film Commission, and a mentor to Hawaii Women in Filmmaking. She serves as a Special Government Panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, and is a recipient of the General Motors Alliance Award for Women in Film. For five years Connie has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She is the originating producer of Firebrand and is involved in all aspects of indie filmmaking from development, casting, locations, production manager, planning and budgeting through distribution.