Hanelle M. Culpepper

Selected for the inaugural class of 2019 ReFrame Rise directors, Hanelle M. Culpepper is an energetic and unflappable award-winning director whose television credits range from superhero action adventures to thrillers and genre films to character-driven dramas. In 2019, she was chosen to direct the pilot for Star Trek: Picard, making her the first woman to launch a new Star Trek series in its 53-year history, and earning her a Variety's 2019 Inclusion Impact honor. In 2021, Hanelle was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series for her work on the show's pilot, 'Remembrance'. Hanelle earned her B.A. from Lake Forest College and her M.A. from USC's Annenberg School. After working as the assistant for Oscar-winning screenwriter/director Callie Khouri, she was selected for AFI's prestigious Directing Workshop for Women (DWW), which launched her as an emerging director to watch. Her DWW short A Single Rose won numerous awards and screened at film festiv