about

“It’s about loving something, having so much love for something, that all that can be done with the overflow is to create. It is not a matter of wanting to, not a singular act of will; one solely must.”

— Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Soraya Simi is a Director, Producer, and Writer.

Originally from Arizona, she moved to California with a full-ride to USC's prestigious Film & TV Production program, with a minor in Environmental Studies.

Outside of school, Soraya lived on a sailboat to study the impact of climate change and the legacy of colonialism in the Caribbean. She rode jet skis in the biggest waves in the world in Nazaré, fought for the protection of a World Surfing Reserve in Baja, and drove solo across the American West until she hit a ditch at 85mph, miraculously survived, and had to hitch a ride with a truck driver across state lines. Soraya independently directed & produced award-winning films and published essays about these experiences.

She cut her teeth at production companies like Farm League, where she learned how to infuse stylistic, original filmmaking in commercial campaigns. After that, Soraya and two college friends started their own boutique production company to produce high-level, high-budget branded content and commercials for major corporations, often featuring celebrities or people at the top of their craft. Somehow they managed to never reveal that they were still students, which is a good story for another time.

After graduating, Soraya met globally renowned Paralympian and Marine Veteran Angela Madsen, who had seen Soraya’s sailing documentary at her local yacht club. The two worked closely together to produce Soraya’s first feature film, ROW OF LIFE, which follows Angela’s harrowing 2020 Pacific Row that gained worldwide attention. It is a significant and deeply personal story that exemplifies the complexity of a close character-director relationship, and how the stakes in non-fiction storytelling are not imagined, but very real.

Currently, Soraya is an EP & Co-Director for a true crime series about a wrongful conviction, Executive Produced by John Legend’s GET LIFTED, SCOUT Productions, and NBC Universal, set in her hometown, Tucson.

She occasionally teaches an after-school filmmaking program to middle schoolers, and founded a local film collective, 805 Film Co. in Santa Barbara. With half her family overseas, Soraya is thoroughly well-traveled and speaks fluent French.

She is open and available for new work opportunities.