Founder and Executive Director, Lysa Heslov, was born in Savannah, Georgia. After moving to Los Angeles, Lysa became a successful independent film producer.  She produced such indie favorites as Black Circle Boys, Attention Shoppers, Bug, and Hank Azaria’s Nobody’s Perfect. Lysa recently took a hiatus from producing to raise her two children, Maya and Olivia.

Lysa’s humanitarian efforts began with Hurricane Katrina. Days after the storm, Lysa and her husband donated all of their airline miles and were able to purchase sixteen plane tickets to evacuate survivors from the Hurricane. Soon after, Lysa heard of a Katrina family that had lost virtually everything, and were days away from being evicted from their temporary housing. In the five months the family lived with the Heslov’s, they were able to get back on their feet, rebuild their lives, and have a new home of their own.

Last year, Lysa ran the APLA marathon to raise funds for people suffering from AIDS living in the Los Angeles area.

After losing her sister-in-law and best friend to breast cancer Lysa, along with a supportive team, walked 40 miles and raised over $40,000 for cancer research.

Lysa traveled to Darfur’s refugee camps in November 2007 where she led a kite-building workshop, which culminated in the first ever Darfur Kite Festival.  Her experiences in Darfur compelled her to create her non-profit, Children Mending Hearts, in order to use the creative arts to help children suffering from conflict.

In January 2009, Lysa traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo on behalf of her support for the International Medical Corps to conduct an art/photo exchange between at-risk children in the United States and their brothers and sisters in Africa.  The exchange began with an arts workshop with at-risk children at Inner-City Arts in Los Angeles who created scrapbooks that were given to the refugee kids in Congo.

Lysa is currently a full time student working toward a Masters in Child Development. In 2008, she was awarded the prestigious Krupnick Award for best college essay, entitled “Coming of Age.” She is currently writing a self-help book, Coming of Age At Any Age.

Lysa is married to writer/director/producer Grant Heslov who, along with his partner George Clooney, wrote and produced good night, and good luck, which was nominated for six Academy Awards.

Marketing Director Erin Martin is a business executive with a diverse background.  She has extensive experience in business development, marketing, project management, client relations and producing.  Erin first met Lysa Heslov when they produced an independent film together in 1996.  Having grown up in the Chicago area in a family passionately involved in civil rights and social justice, Erin was eager to combine her creative business and producing skills with social change.  She renewed her commitment to this cause with Lysa shortly before Lysa traveled to Darfur in 2007 on the first arts exchange that would inspire Lysa’s founding of Children Mending Hearts.

Most recently, as a marketing/business consultant, Erin has worked with clients including Loyola Productions; TVBizNet, a company connecting young entrepreneurs with dealmakers; and Enzoology Entertainment, a science-themed kids multimedia internet brand.

Previously, Erin was Vice-President Technology & Entertainment for Good News Holdings, a multimedia start-up, where she functioned as the bridge between technology and content among the company’s various divisions and partners.  She was instrumental in the company’s IPTV initiative, creating strategies for cross-platform monetization of content.  Erin was integral in developing B2B relationships for LightsTogether, the company’s patent-protected networking technology, and on the executive team designing investor presentations and the marketing plan for first adopters of this networking technology.

Prior to joining Good News Holdings, she launched Lunaria Films, after working for three years as a development/production executive at Dolly Parton and Sandy Gallin’s Sandollar Productions.  Erin has been a producer on five feature films and 12 short films, and an executive on another eight feature films. 

Early in her career, in Chicago, Erin spent 12 years in investment banking, first as Director of Marketing with the Midwest Stock Exchange where she was on the executive team that developed the Options Exchange trading floor; and then with Nuveen Investments as Vice President, Marketing where she oversaw a $2.5 billion channel of distribution, designing and selling marketing programs, and speaking nationally on investment strategies and tax programs specializing in charitable giving strategies.

Born and raised in Chicago, Erin holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Clarke College and pursued graduate studies at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University.  Erin has been involved in various charities in Los Angeles.  Previous Board memberships in Chicago include The School of the Art Institute and Friends of Prentice at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.