Rachel Raimist

Dr. Rachel Raimist is a formerly tenured college professor turned television director. She is passionate about telling stories of smart women, messy families and teen life. Her directing credits span genres including drama, comedy, action, musicals, science fiction and fantasy. She has recently helmed episodes of Elsbeth (CBS), Bel-Air (Peacock), The Spiderwick Chronicles (Roku), Sex Life (Netflix) and Wu-Tang: An American Saga (Hulu), among others.

At the Directors Guild of America (DGA), Raimist made history as the first woman appointed Co-Chair of the Special Projects Committee by President Lesli Linka Glatter. She currently serves as Alternate Co-Chair of the Women’s Steering Committee and has served as Co-Chair of the Disability Committee and Alt. Co-Chair of the Latino Committee. A passionate advocate for equity and representation, Raimist co-founded the DGA’s annual Women’s Day and leads initiatives spotlighting groundbreaking, diverse directors. She continues to champion inclusive storytelling both on screen and behind the camera.

Rachel currently teaches directing through her passion project The People’s Film School and the Youth Cinema Project of the Latino Film Institute as well courses for Sundance, African Creative Television and the Stowe Story Labs. She has taught filmmaking, feminism and storytelling at more than 30 colleges and universities and has filmed and taught in more than 20 countries. She serves on the Advisory Board of Kōawa Studios at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and is Visiting Assistant Professor at Occidental College where she teaches screenwriting and production.

She is co-editor of HomeGirls Make Some Noise, the first anthology on hip hop feminism and directed Nobody Knows My Name, the first documentary on women in hip hop. She has been a proud member of the Crunk Feminist Collective since 2010 where she has contributed to blogs, a substack and the anthology, The Crunk Feminist Collection.

Rachel earned a MFA and BA in directing from UCLA Film School and a PHD in 2010 in the Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies where the Rachel Raimist Feminist Media Center was named in her honor.