BIO
DEBRA WILLIAMS,
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER / WRITER
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 has worked in wellness environments including public health, mental health and addictions support for over 18 years, and is currently the Director of Experience and Inclusion at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. She wrote the book from a place of grief as a tribute to her maternal grandmother and mother, who passed away just before the start of the COVID19 Pandemic. 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 2SLGBTQ+ communities. Church Hat is a tribute to their example that love always wins and the importance of solidarity and allyship.
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 agreed with the potential for it to become an animated short film. The creative parthership with Eric and Miceal O'Donnell has led to the completion of a unique 7min, animated short film that captures the empathy and message of the book.
