BIO
DEBRA WILLIAMS,
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Debra Williams is an empowerment coach and author of the children's book that this is based on. She is of Caribbean descent with a family that moved from Jamaica to Canada when she was young. She wrote this book as a tribute to her mother and maternal grandmother. Both women broke generational trauma and challenged stigma in the Caribbean community as they showed acceptance, love and understanding to everyone in a large family with relatives and friends who were members of LGBTQ communities. Church Hat is a tribute to their example that love always wins and the importance of solidarity and allyship.
She is the executive producer of the animated short film. A long-time volunteer at the Toronto International Film Festival, she started taking time off to attend the festival as a movie lover and met Eric Cotten in line at a Midnight Madness screening. When she published her children's book, Eric read it and saw its potential to become an animated short film. It has been as a result of his encouragement that she has pursued this creative venture with him and Miceal O'Donnell.
