An anime girlie turned night owl CrossFit manic, Searit (SA-AH-DEE) Kahsay Huluf (HU-LOOF) spends the majority of her time contemplating when she should make her next cup of coffee (minimum three a day). Born in Fresno, CA and raised in LA to a single Ethiopian mother, she studied at UCLA’s Film school, concentrating on screenwriting and animation. After graduating, Searit moved to the Bay Area and got HELLA excited to work at Pixar Animation Studios in 2015.

Late at night and on weekends, she tirelessly worked on her live-action narrative and documentary short films, such as “Bark”, “buna”, “GAMERS”, “Exploring Blackness”, and “19th Amendment Doc”, some playing at film festivals such as SXSW, SFFILM Festival, Frameline, Cinequest, CAAM, and Pan African Film Festival.

Impressed by her films, Jim Morris, President of Pixar, personally invited her to join the prestigious Sparkshorts program where she directed Pixar’s first stop-motion short film, “Self”, streaming on Disney+, mentored by Trevor Jimenez and Domee Shi. She is currently part of the Women in Animation Mentorship program, mentored by Mark Osborne.

During her spare time, Searit watches endless hours of anime, is a major foodie and coffee fan, and enjoys solo traveling.