About Gina Margillo

Gina Margillo is an award-winning filmmaker, strategic activist, and communication professor, harnessing storytelling to create connection and drive social change. Her work spans continents and causes—supporting social justice movements by designing and implementing campaigns, films, courses, and multiplatform experiences for international nonprofit organizations, UN agencies, and governments. From conflict zones to classrooms, Gina’s global experience in the field grounds her work in insight and depth.

With a foundation in Social and Behavioral Change Communication and a focus on Education Entertainment, she has led transformative initiatives ranging from sexual and reproductive justice and environmental health to biodiversity/conservation, HIV prevention and immigration. She blends communication theory and practice with the arts for deeper understanding and sustainable impact. Collaboration is at the core of her process, centering dialogue and shared learning to ensure that every voice is heard and valued.

Gina also champions powerful, purpose-driven cinema as a film screener and grant reviewer for the San Francisco International Film Festival and SFFILM. As a trained End of Life Coach, works with people at all stages of life, and organizations, to normalize, plan for, and transform how they approach death and dying. 

At the heart of everything she does is a deep appreciation of our shared humanity, a commitment to social justice, and a desire for telling nuanced stories that honor both our connections and our complexities.