Mercedes Yolanda Cooper is the Executive Vice President of Public Programming at ARRAY, the award-winning arts and social impact collective founded by Ava DuVernay. Originally pursuing film directing through Columbia College Chicago’s M.F.A. program, she later shifted her focus to storytelling through marketing and public programming. She currently curates community cinema initiatives such as the ARRAY 360 film series as well as the artist development program LEAP, the Law Enforcement Accountability Project. She holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Maryland and studied abroad at the University of São Paulo.