KAREN B. SONG (Director, Producer, Co-Creator) began her 20+ year career in the entertainment industry producing and commissioning music albums on major labels, TV programs, and music videos, working with artists ranging from Madonna, Beyoncé, Bono to Missy Elliot & Patti Smith, and some of the most influential music video directors. She continued on to live events through a span of production, development and marketing roles, working with Ricky Martin, Britney Spears, Alicia Keys & the VH-1 Fashion Music Awards. She’s also provided various media and production services for countless non-profit organizations and their live events, such as GLAAD, Astraea, The Sister Fund, Red Hot Organization, and Keep a Child Alive. She was the Associate Producer on the star-studded TV programs and music albums “Ain’t Nuthin’ But A She Thing” (Polygram Records/MTV Worldwide) and “Inner City Blues: The Music of Marvin Gaye” (Motown Records/MTV Worldwide); and was the Director of the Music Video Department at Elektra/Warner Bros. Records. Her stint in theater includes being a member of the HB Ensemble and working with Tony Award-winning Director Jack Hofsiss. A body of short plays she wrote, “Love and Other Natural Disasters,” was produced at the Manhattan Repertory Theater. As a film/video Director & Producer, she’s directed various music videos, narrative shorts, documentaries, and worked with the advertising industry’s top agencies in commercials, branded content, radio ads & live events media (ie. American Express, Verizon Wireless, Mini-Cooper/BMW, VICE). She directed a music video & documentary short for Meshell Ndegeocello’s “Comet, Come to Me” album and has narrative feature film and TV projects under various stages of production & development. Some of her work can be found at www.singasongproductions.com
WANDA ACOSTA (Co-Creator, Producer) is a stalwart icon in lesbian nightlife in downtown New York. The creator and co-host of Sundays at Cafe Tabac, she has been creating and producing events in NYC for over 25 years. She was an owner of WonderBar, Starlight, and Clubhouse in Manhattan’s East Village. She also hosted and curated, events at many venues in NYC, PR and Florida. She has worked with a diverse range of clients and media, including The New Festival (New York Gay & Lesbian Film Festival), Mix NYC (New York Gay & Lesbian Experimental Film/Video Festival), The L-Word/Showtime Networks, Miramax Films, Tribeca Film Festival, Twist/Columbia Records, fashion/art magazine Visionaire, and non-profit organizations such as GLAAD, Empire State Pride Agenda, Astraea Foundation, Hetrick-Martin Institute and the LGBT Center. In collaboration with Electric Sheep Co. and L-Word/Showtime, Wanda developed a queer dance event, an experimental simulcast on secondlife.com, an online virtual world. She also published Tulip, a free quarterly pocket-zine for women. Most recently, she was awarded the Community Advocacy Award from The Leslie Lohman Museum of Art. She is the host and producer, of The Podcast, Sundays at Café Tabac.
wanda-events.com
RHYS ERNST (Editor) is a filmmaker and artist. He has shown his work at the Sundance Film Festival, Oberhausen Film Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Whitney Biennial, Walker Art Center, and Hammer Museum. He has won awards at the Chicago International Film Festival, Outfest, Oslo Fusion, Mezipatra Film Festival, LA Transgender Film Festival, and Seattle Transgender Film Festival, in addition to two Special Recognition GLAAD Awards and an Emmy nomination. He lives in Los Angeles.
rhysernst.com
MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO (Music Composer—Original Score) is an acclaimed American musician, vocalist, composer, producer and songwriter renowned for her innovative blend of funk, soul, jazz, and R&B. With a career spanning over three decades, she has earned critical praise for her powerful voice, virtuosic bass playing, and thought-provoking lyrics. Ndegeocello’s work often explores themes of identity, love, and social justice, establishing her as one of the most influential contemporary artists. Her debut album Plantation Lullabies (1993) received widespread acclaim and she has since released numerous Grammy-nominated albums, including 2024 & 2025’s winners, The Omnichord Real Book and No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin. She has composed countless TV and film scores, including Ava Duvernay’s Queen Sugar. Her music was featured at the original Café Tabac parties.
ANGELA SHORE (Associate Producer) is a creative director who has influenced the health & beauty industry for her outstanding vision in wellness for the past fifteen years, also founded Jiva–Apoha (Sanskrit) for Soul-Healing. Previously a long-standing career from hospitality management to representing talent in New York City, Angela provides a creative style and unique approach with strategy and integrity. She swaggers a little rock & roll yogi vibe, and never leaves home without wearing a turquoise cuff or two, Angela strongly believes that effective collaborations can leverage each other’s strengths while maintaining communications is key for great achievements.
Angela is an exemplary member of our Café Tabac community, and a great supporter of our project’s mission to tell its enduring story of women’s empowerment and lesbian visibility. Her thumbprint mirrors our Café Tabac ideal of creative individuality connected to a larger social vision. According to Angela, so much about the Café Tabac era fueled the growth and strength of her personal development and journey in life.
She generously opened up with us in her interview for our film, vivid memories of the time she spent at St. Vincent’s Hospital during the time of Café Tabac. As the East Coast’s largest AIDS ward, she made frequent visits to her friends and her most beloved Uncle Ricky, all of whom she lost. She shared with us how important it was to have a sanctuary like Café Tabac to come to after those visits, where she could be free and let go in a space and community of people where nothing had to be explained. She formed close bonds with friends and extended family which endure to this day. She attributes Sunday night host and co-creator Wanda Acosta’s genuine warmth and love, the reason why it resonated so deeply for a generation of women, and calls Wanda “our night mama.”
We are so proud to announce Café Tabac alumna Angela Shore, an out and proud lesbian, has officially joined Café Tabac’s team as Host Committee and Associate Producer to our energizing feature documentary!
REBECCA WEINBERG (Costume Designer) is an Emmy award winning costume designer and advertising stylist. Rebecca’s work in the television series, “Sex and the City” received rave reviews and the show became the “Go-To”, “Must Watch”, series that set the bar for fashion globally.
In addition to Sex and the City she has also been the costume designer for “Spin City”, “The $treet”, “Miami Rhapsody”, “Big City Blues” and “Mannequin”.
With over two decades in the fashion styling industry, Rebecca is known and celebrated for her high level mix of fashion and street style compilations. Rebecca is a tastemaker and a visionary who loves what she does and brings her passion, proven expertise and playful inspiration to every project she joins forces with.
rebeccaweinberg.com
RUBEN TOLEDO (Illustrator) Ruben Toledo is a painter, sculptor, fashion chronicler, and critic. His illustrations have been published in top international fashion magazines including The New Yorker, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country, Visionaire, and the New York Times. His watercolors of one hundred global cities are found in the Louis Vuitton City Guide series for LVMH. He created an animated film about the history of couture entitled Fashionation, and has illustrated many books including Nina Garcia’s series of books on fashion and Laren Stover’s The Bombshell Manual of Style.
Toledo’s illustrations often reflect his keen interest in fashion and his ability to capture the essence of a garment or a subject with fluid, expressive lines and a playful use of color. His artistic contributions extend beyond the page; he has also worked on window displays, mannequins, and even designed sets for theater and dance performances. Toledo’s work is celebrated for its wit, elegance, and the seamless blend of art and fashion.
TAJAMIKA PAXTON (Consulting Producer) Taj Paxton is currently the Head of Logo Documentary Films. Under her guidance, the division won its first Emmy Award in 2016 for the critically acclaimed documentary Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine and a subsequent Emmy in 2017 for Out of Iraq about two soldiers in love and fighting to be reunited. At Logo, she has carefully selected films with pressing social causes. Out of Iraq was screened on the floor of the UN. Hungry highlights chefs fighting for gender and equality. The IF Project, about a Seattle police officer’s commitment to prison reform, has been selected to tour with the US State Department as a part of its cultural exchange program. Paxton was named by Newsweek magazine as one of the people changing the face of Hollywood. Her work has also earned a Humanitas Prize for works that inspire human freedom. Her mission is to use great storytelling to bring us closer to equality. Tajamika Paxton’s creative career has included positions in film, television and music. She was the head of Forest Whitaker’s SpiritDance production company for three years. Alongside him, she produced two feature films, the Fox 2000 comedy “Chasing Papi” and the award-winning independent film “Green Dragon.” She was an MTV Films Executive, supervising “The Wood” and serving on the development team for “Election” and “Varsity Blues”. She managed acclaimed recording artist Meshell Ndegeocello during her Grammy nominated second album and was also an Associate Producer on Star Jones’ first TV show. Taj’s writing was published in the groundbreaking collection of essays edited by Rebecca Walker entitled What Makes A Man: 21 Writers Envision the Future.